Page 20 of The Secrets Behind Us

This ends here. “No. You are not leaving,” I command her.

Her body stiffens. “What?” she asks in disbelief.

“I said you’re not leaving. Sit down. Now.”

She moves to the couch and sits but she’s not comfortable. Her body is ridged with tension as she chews on the sides of her fingers. A sign that she’s nervous.

This time I try a little bit softer. I sit on the other side of the couch. “Sugar Lips, tell me what’s going on?”

She drops her hands and puts them in her lap, then eyes me from the side. “Honestly, I don’t know who sends me those texts. I’ve gotten a few of them over the years, but since I’ve moved back, they have been more and more frequent."

I take in a sharp breath. “Wait…over the years? How long has this been going on?”

“For five years," she murmurs.

I jump up. “For five years? You need to tell me exactly what is going on, right now.”

I pace back and forth in the middle of the living room twisting my fingers into my hair, but Hazel doesn’t say anything. So, I decide a different approach is needed.

“When was the first time you got a threatening text?”

She hesitates. Opening her mouth and closing it, but not saying anything. I don't push any harder, I just keep my eyes on her, hoping that they are pleading with her to tell me the truth.

“The night I left was the first time I got one,” Hazel says reluctantly.

Shit.

“Is that why you left?” I ask with a pain in my voice that even I can hear.

Her eyes soften. “Yes. I couldn’t stay and let someone hurt you.”

I should've known she wouldn't have left me behind for no reason. I start to think back to five years ago around that fight. Who would’ve sent her threatening text back then? I hadn’t been fighting for long. Back then I didn’t really have any enemies so no one comes to mind on who would want to threaten me or Hazel.

“What exactly did the first text say?” I ask trying to put all the pieces together.

“I don’t have it anymore.”

“Did you erase them?”

She nods. "Honestly, I just wanted it to all go away. I erased it. Blocked the number. I did that every time. But somehow the bastard always seems to get a new number to send me. I've even changed my number and moved a few times."

I nod, trying to hear what she is saying. I knew she had changed her number because I had to ask Ricky to get it from Ashley to give it to me.

“Do you have any of the texts?”

She opens up her phone and hands it to me. “Here, you can read what I have.”

I read through her texts, and see she’s gotten a few of them since she’s moved back. Then something catches my attention. I go back and read them again. The word sweetheart is used in almost every text, and there is only one person I know that would use it in this way.

I grit my teeth. It better not be that son of a bitch. If it is, we are done. I hand Hazel back her phone and walk to my room to grab a shirt, along with my keys and wallet.

When I come back out of my room, Hazel stands up with a worried look on her face. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to talk to someone. I’ll call when I’m done,” I tell her in a curt voice.

“Is it dangerous?” Her lower lip is firmly between her teeth.

“I’ll be fine. It's not any more dangerous than any other time in my life I got to see my dad."

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