Page 95 of Call You Mine

Unable to take any more emotional distress, I turn away from Damon and head toward my brother’s car. Though just when I don’t think he’s going to say anything to stop me or justify what just occurred, he speaks.

“You can’t leave me like this Wynter,” he mutters under his breath, so low I can barely hear him, though I know Ace and Scarlett have as well. “I need to know.”

I know what he’s asking, but I won’t make it this easy for him to walk away. I want him to ask me why I lied, why I ran. I want him to fight for what I thought we had. What I wish we had between us now is that there’s going to be three of us. I don’t want to do this alone, though since I’m the one who’s betrayed him, I’m not allowed to make that choice.

I don’t know what the future will hold.Is this just a bump in the road, an obstacle we need to fight to overcome? Or is this it? Is this how it ends?

With one hand on the door handle, I turn and look over my shoulder to meet his gaze once last time. “Then ask Damon. One last thing you get to ask me before I disappear and you never hear from us again.” I hope my brother and Scarlett don’t catch what I’ve implied by saying the wordus, but it’s not like I’ll be able to hide the truth for long.

For the first time tonight, Damon’s expression shifts from pain and anger to vulnerability. “Who is he?”

I swallow the lump stuck in my throat and it burns, bile making its way back up. There’s only one thing I can say, and it’s the truth.

“A monster.”

The driveback to my brother's beach house is in complete silence. For one, I know his mouth is bloody and sore from the way Damon’s fist used his pretty face as a punching bag, and vice versa. On another note, I don’t think either Ace or Scarlett knows where to begin.

I’m not sure about him, but I know Scarlett caught on to what I said to Damon—us. There is an “us” he’s never going to see again. I’m sure she’s concluded what’s going on besides my sudden weight loss and dark circles underneath my tear-stained eyes. Not to mention the argument Damon and I just had. But she’s giving me the space to decide what I want to say.

So I break the ice first, unable to stand the damn silence any longer. I’ve always hated silence. When the world ceases to exist is when my mind reels with unanswered questions and hateful thoughts of my past, present, and future.

I should have left it buried in my memories, yet the past refuses to stay dead.

“Where’s Caeli?” I ask, having wondered since they both arrived where they’d left my niece in the middle of the night.

“The wonderful thing about having your best friends as neighbors, late night emergencies like this one, are easier to manage with stand-in babysitters. Jade came over to watch her, but I just texted her to take Caeli back over to her house for the night. It seems like we won’t be getting much sleep tonight.”

Dread fills me with how much of an inconvenience I’ve caused.

“I’m so sorry for getting you out of bed and away from you, baby. I thought about calling someone else, really the only other person who came to mind was Stella but, with Ember being so little still and everything they’ve gone through recently, I just…”

“Don’t apologize,” Scarlett tells me, turning to face me. “We’re family Wynter. Family is always there for one another.”

But he was their family first, and now I’ve gone and fucked shit up for him.

Ace scoffs as we pull into their driveway, and I’m not so sure he meant to aloud. Only my brother has never been one to do things unless he means them.

“Sounds like not everyone feels the same way,” I murmur under my breath.

“Trust me little sis, there’s a lot I’m feeling right now,” he says as he throws his car door open and slams it after stepping out.

Enraged by his mood and frustration like he’s the one who got dumped and beat on by his baby daddy, I rush out after him, not stopping until I push him from behind. He stumbles but quickly catches himself before he trips.

“We’ll get in line, big brother. You’re not the only one and frankly, I’m not interested in hearing about it. I asked your wife to come to me, not you, so don’t think I’m just going to spill my guts because you showed up and beat the shit out of my boyfriend, when honestly no one asked you to.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” he shouts, for the first time tonight, getting a good look at my disheveled state. His eyes flick to the vomit stains on my chest. “Goddammit, Wynter,” he curses, turning away from me.

“No, please say it. You said you have so much to say. Why don’t you just say it?.”

“Want me to say it. Say how you never should have gotten involved with him. How you called my wife in the middle of the night begging for her help, like you were in danger? How when I arrived I saw him with his hands on you while you were crying. How I saw red and beat the shit out of him for whatever he’d done to you without even knowing the extent of it. All I knew is that you were hurting.” Ace’s eyes go nearly black, anger vibrating within him as he waves his hands in the air in desperation. “Then he fucking hits you, regardless of how it happened, he lost control and hit you, knocking your ass on the floor, Wynter. Now this,” he points down at the stains on my shirt. “Please don’t tell me it’s what I think it is.”

Without thinking twice, I lay my hand across my stomach, confirming what he already suspects. Scarlett comes up behind me, placing her hand on my shoulder. “Come on, let's continue this conversation inside before we wake everyone up. I’ll make some tea, get you some ice and some clean clothes to change into.”

I nod, letting her lead me into the house. Ace doesn’t immediately follow us and I know it’s because she must have given him a look to warn him to back off.

Once inside, Scarlett leads me upstairs and into one of their guest bedrooms. She steps out for a moment, only to come back with a clean pair of sweatpants and a shirt for me to wear. She lets me know she’ll leave me to change while she gets us some tea and ice for my face. If it weren’t for her reminder, I’d have forgotten I was injured. The wounds underneath my skin hurt ten times worse than anything physical.

Stepping inside the bathroom, I lean against the marble sink, staring at my frightful reflection in the mirror. My eyes are bloodshot, black mascara smeared all around them and the skin right under my left eye is bright red with hints of purple formingwhere the blood vessels have bursts. This is going to look nasty in the morning.

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