Page 86 of Twisted Minds

“I wouldn’t use anyone like that.”

“No, but we’ve never been put in a situation where our lives are on the line and one wrong move could have you wrongfully convicted. Could you imagine if he’d just gone with it and turned himself in? Then Derrick would have gotten away with it and hurt more people. There’s no getting out of this now. He’s going away for a long time.”

“More girls have come forward, and two guys from the hockey team.”

“I saw.” Sawyer nods. “I hate this. I hate how he was able to just get away with shit. I hope all his victims get help, and I hope he doesn’t see daylight for a long time.” Sawyer sighs, lying down next to me. “We can’t know what we’d do in a situation like that, and you can be upset he lied to you . . .” He hugs me. “But don’t be upset because you think it was fake. I don’t think it was.”

“How can I even do this again with him?”

“Do you love him?” I swallow but can’t hold back, nodding. “Well then, you can sit here and be miserable or attempt to build back some trust. I think he’s being genuine.”

“Are you a human lie detector?”

“I can sense bullshit when I see it.”

“Yeah. We’ll see when you get a boyfriend. See how understanding you are when he lies to you.”

“Um, excuse me, I am too fucking busy for bullshit like that, and my future man will not lie to me.” He preens. “I can see bullshit a mile away.”

“I’ll remember that.” Shaking my head, it starts to throb.

“If it makes you feel better, I punched him.”

“What?”

“I did. Thankfully didn’t break his nose.” Sawyer grins.

“You’ve gotta stop punching people, especially my boyfriend.”

“Baking is a physical job! It’s not for the weak. I have strong hands. I did some damage I think.”

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Your boyfriend, huh?” Sawyer smirks. “Are you going to sit here and snot on me some more, or are you going to get your man back?” I pull myself up to sit carefully, swinging my leg over the side of the bed. This brace helps a little, but I have to be careful. I’m not going anywhere today, but I can get out of bed, though—that’s a start. I can shower and get dressed, and start to actually process the last few weeks. Maybe Jamie would want to watch a movie . . .

Anything but lying in bed and feeling sorry for myself.

“I need a shower.”

“Oh yeah, so on board with that.” He helps me stand and I grab my crutch. I’ve helped Jamie shower a few times since his accident, maybe I’ll cash in the favor. There are so many things going through my mind right now, but I need time to think. Maybe it makes me stupid, but I don’t care. While there is a lot going on inside my brain, there’s one thought that outweighs them all.

I love him and we aren’t done just yet.

thirty

Mark

“You need to get up.”

“No.”

“Get dressed.”

“No.”

“Well, at least take a shower. My eyes are watering.” Rolling onto my back, all the wind gets knocked out of me as Noah straddles my waist and bounces on my stomach.

“Get the fuck off me!”

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