Page 130 of Forbidden Hearts
Liar. Fucking liar.
“You don’t deserve to breathe the same air! I would ruin you if I could!”
Our other friend, Chris, was holding both my arms behind my back as he tried to pull me away. I attempted to fight him off, but he had a good fifty pounds on me and was a black belt. “Asher, relax.”
I twisted again, wanting to rip my so-called best friend’s head off. “He raped Brynlee!”
Chris pulled me farther out of the room and pushed me against the wall. “Stop. What the fuck are you talking about?”
I told him everything Brynn said in therapy. How he touched her and made her keep secrets about it. Then about how, when she got pregnant, he told her it couldn’t be his because they were never together.
My sister. My fucking sister, who I’d do anything to protect, was touched by that piece of shit.
“You’re sure?” Chris asked, looking into the room where Jonathan was pacing.
“She wouldn’t lie about this.”
He stepped back, running his hand through his hair. “So, what? You’re going to kill him? You have a baby, Asher. You have a daughter, and you’re going to miss her life for him?”
“So, he gets away with it?”
Chris shook his head. “No. I don’t know. Is Brynn willing to press charges?”
I released a heavy breath. “No.”
That was the kicker. I’d begged her every day since she told me, and she refused. She thought it wouldn’t matter because there was no proof, and she wasn’t about to get into a court battle that she probably wouldn’t win. The only reason she said anything was because her therapist encouraged her to so she could heal and because of Olivia. She wanted to make sure that Olivia was never around him.
My sister was brave and strong, and I was proud of her for telling us, but I felt weak and stupid for not protecting her from it. It was my fault he was in her life. My fault he was ever around her. He touched my sister, and when she needed him, he walked away. There should be consequences for what he’d done.
This, at least, explained why our friendship had changed. I’d always thought it was just how life went sometimes. He’d moved to Iowa to start his career as a professor, and I was in Sugarloaf.
The reason was not the distance. It was because he was a piece of shit.
I looked to Chris. “If this were your sister or daughter, what would you do?”
“They’d never find his body, but I would also hope that I had a friend to stop me from ruining my life.”
I pushed off the wall, feeling cagey and broken. “He’s dead to me.”
“As he should be.”
“If he ever hurts someone again . . .”
“I won’t stand in your way. I want to be clear that what he did isn’t okay with me. I don’t want anything to do with him after this, but you’re my friend, and doing something you can’t come back from solves nothing.”
“I know.”
“Okay.”
When we walked back into the room, Jonathan stopped pacing and stared at me. “Asher, I don’t know what she told you, but it’s not true.”
“Shut the fuck up and listen. You took advantage of my sister. You got her pregnant and then slithered away like a coward. This . . . friendship . . . is done. If you ever come near me, my family, or anyone I love, I’ll ruin you. There is no rock you’ll be able to hide under that I won’t unearth. I willneverforgive you for what you did to Brynn, and if Chris weren’t here, you’d be dead.”
I walked out, vowing if this man ever hurt someone I love again, I’d kill him.
Again, he’d done exactly that. Again, he’d taken advantage of a young girl. I should’ve . . . done so many things differently years ago. Phoebe never would’ve met him or been taken advantage of by a fucking predator.
Now she’s going to have his baby, and I am going to make sure he never comes near her or that baby. I will never let him hurt either of them.
