Page 22 of Beyond Oblivion

“I kind of invited myself. Thought I’d… I don’t know. Clear the air.”

A proud smile spread across his face. “What made you decide on that?”

I shrugged. “Your speech on being brave. If I want a good relationship with my sisters, I can’t expect them to do all the work, right?”

“I’m proud of you, nugget.”

I rolled my eyes and kissed him before grabbing my keys. “Love you.”

“Hey. It’s raining…”

“I’ll drive slow and text you when I get to where I’m going.”

“And when you leave? Please?” he called after me.

“Yes, my love,” I called back.

I slid behind the wheel of the 4Runner and blew the damp, errant strands from my face. Travis was at another convention, so it was just Abby and the kids at home. It was a little late to just drop by, but I didn’t want to give Abby time to come up with a story. I also didn’t want to interrupt the kids’ bedtime. But like Trenton said, I had to ignore my fear and do what scared me. Little bothered me more than my sisters being upset with me, and Abby had always been very protective of her family time, but it was a chance I was willing to take. A phone call wouldn’t do.

I had to see her face when she realized I’d figured out what she and Liis had been up to.

Chapter Six

Trenton

A few minutes after Calvin peaced out, the printer chimed, the sound barely audible over the thunder rattling the windows. I set the paper on Camille’s keyboard for her to review in the morning. “Well, baby, it’s job security, I guess,” I muttered to the empty room, grateful my job involved a different kind of ink. With the rooms sanitized, lobby swept, glass cleaned, lights off, and the back door locked, Skin Deep was officially closed for the night. I twirled my shop keys like a wannabe cowboy on my way out, ready to lock up the front.

A small, dark form stood in the rain on the other side of the double glass doors, and once I got close enough, I realized it was Madison.

“It’s pouring, ya know,” I said, watching her fight to keep her hair from her face. “What are you doing here so late? You lose a bet at the sorority chapter meeting?” I opened the door wide and stepped aside, gesturing for her to come in from the wind and rain.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the lobby for a split second. Outside, the tree limbs thrashed against the storm, and big droplets raced past the beams of the streetlights. I frowned as I pulled out my phone to text Camille to go straight home after leaving Abby’s, and that I’d go to the store instead.

“I’m sorry. I texted you and didn’t hear back,” she said with a sheepish smile. She watched me finish texting and put away my phone. “I thought I’d try to catch you before you left for the night.”

“Spit it out, Maddie. Do you need something?”

She blew out a breath of air, seeming both frustrated and desperate. “I didn’t know who else to talk to.”

“Maddie, if it’s about Mackenzie, I can’t…”

“No, I know.” She shook her head. “I need help. It’s about Aaron.”

“Who?” I asked, genuinely confused. It was like trying to remember how one of my one-night stands liked foreplay, it seemed important at the time, but now that I had a wife to focus on, definitively unimportant.

Lightning crackled across the sky again, highlighting Maddie’s face, now heavy with humiliation. “I told you about him. My ex. We dated all through high school, and once I started college, he was jealous. Really jealous. He demanded all of my free time. It was a fight anytime I mentioned going to a party or even a campus event. He would sit there and watch me study. He wanted me to quit school and move in with him, insisting I needed him to take care of me and life would be so much better and easier for both of us. My parents freaked out. They said he was controlling and wanted me to end it.”

“I thought you said his name was Dylan or… Dayton. Wasn’t it Dayton? And your parents weren’t wrong.”

“I know. I know, and I took their advice. It… it got really bad, Trent. When I told him I needed space a few months ago, he didn’t take it well. At all. So, after a huge and really scary fight, I broke up with him. He goes into these rage spirals and,” her mouth pulled to the side, “he won’t accept it’s over.”

“Did something happen tonight?”

She cringed. “He’s at my apartment. Well, he’s parked in the parking lot. My parents, after Mackenzie, you know, they tend to go overboard about everything and they’ll…” She sighed. “I don’t want to worry them. They’ve threatened to call the cops before. Dad and I got into a huge fight about me moving back home. If I call them and tell them that he’s waiting for me, they’re going to press the nuclear button.”

“Maybe they should.”

“I can’t live under their roof again,” she pleaded. “Do you have any idea what it’s like living with people who act like every time you walk out the door, you’re going to die? It’s suffocating. You don’t know what it took to finally get them to agree to let me move out for college! This will tip them over the edge. They’ll cut me off and I can’t afford an apartment and college on my own.”

---