Page 83 of Loving Trent
“Perfect timing. We were just telling your story, but I think it would be better coming from you,” Demon says, standing up and offering his chair to her.
No one speaks as we all watch her slide into the chair across the table from me. Sonny slides his hand over and covers hers. “Take your time.”
“Thank you.” Her voice comes out weak and broken. It’s rough, like she hasn’t used it in years. She never looks up from the table as she starts to speak. “I’ve made many mistakes in my life, but the biggest was not taking you away from that monster. The first time he started to control me, I should have left, but I was pregnant with you, Trent, and scared out of my mind.”
She pauses and takes a deep breath before continuing. “I won’t go into detail about the abuse I suffered because it’s not important. What’s important is that I never…” Her head lifts, and her green eyes swim in tears as she looks at me. “I never thought there was anything wrong with you. Nor did I agree to sending you away. I fought him hard that night, but I was too weak.”
“You said you fell down the stairs while vacuuming,” Betty says.
“I lied. I tried to get you out of there,” Eve says, looking at Betty, who leans closer to me. “But Josiah said he would kill me, then you, and lastly have the people who had Trent kill him aswell. I believed him, and for that, I can’t apologize enough. There are not enough words in the world to say how sorry I am for what happened to you,” Eve raises her hands to wipe at her tears, but Sonny beats her to it.
“It’s–”
“You were a victim,” I say, cutting Sonny off. It shouldn’t be him who tells my mother it’s okay. “I’m not going to lie and say that I didn’t hate you because I did. I hated you so much that I thought I’d never be okay. But I learned that was only a coping mechanism. For me to wake up each day and pull myself out of bed, I had to believe that I hated you. I was never that close to Josiah, but you…” Shawn twists in my lap when my voice breaks, pulling my face into his neck.
“You can do this. I’m so fucking proud of you,” he whispers before kissing my hair.
I pull back and plant a quick kiss on his lips before focusing on Eve once again. There is a slight smile on her face, and that makes me brave enough to say what I have to. “I loved you more than I loved him, and thinking that you hated me so much that you would send me away, hurt. I’ve tried to let go of that pain. I know I need to in order to finally fully heal from what happened but it hurts.”
“I could never hate any of my babies. I love each of you with all my heart,” she says, her eyes bouncing between Betty and me. “I also understand that I made mistakes, and my mistakes changed our relationship. It’s okay to be angry, hurt, and even hate me. All I ask is that you give me a chance to make it better. To make up for what I’ve done.”
“What happened five years ago?” Betty asks.
“I overheard Josiah’s conversation with someone in the office. They talked about a company and how it would help them hide the money they got from the camp. I heard Josiah say that he would handle everything. Then the conversation turned tosome issues with a website that Josiah said he couldn’t fix. After he left the next day, I snuck into the office, and I guess he didn’t close down his computer for whatever reason. Maybe he thought I was still too scared to go against him, and truth be told, I was, but as soon as I saw what was on the screen, I knew I had to do something.
“There were pictures and videos of children being abused and taken advantage of. I don’t know how I did it or even why I did it but I had to know. I had to know if the man who was supposed to be the father of my children, the love of my life, and our protector, participated in selling images of my son.” She focuses her attention solely on me, and my stomach drops. My hand flies to my mouth as I gag, but thankfully, nothing comes up. Shawn tightens his hold on me as everyone gasps around us.
“I hurriedly shut the computer and thought of a million ways I could kill Josiah. It was like something snapped in me. It would have been easy but I thought better of it. All the kids in those pictures and video’s needed to know justice had been served. So I called you, Betty. I guess Josiah overheard me, and that night he beat me until I told him what I planned to do. The next thing I know, I’m in a small dark room?—”
“Stop, I can’t… I can’t…” I can’t breathe anymore. The weight on my chest is killing me, and I don’t know how to get it to stop. I don’t need to hear anymore. I don’t want to hear anymore. All I want is to kill Josiah, but I can’t do that.
“Come on, love,” Shawn says as he stands and pulls me out of the chair. I let him lead me away from everyone without uttering a single word.
Forty-Two
SHAWN
I should never have left him.
I should have been here.
I hope that I’m enough to get him through this.
Pulling Trent through the house, I continue to pray that I’m strong enough to handle all this. Pushing the door open to the room he has been sleeping in, I step over his bag, heading straight for the bed. Turning around, I wrap my arms around Trent’s neck, hating the void look in his eyes and the pain that is clearly written on his handsome face. He wraps his arms around me and buries his face in my neck right as I fall onto the bed. Using my weight, I roll us until he is under me.
Sitting up, I point to the head of the bed and say, “Get up there.” Trent moves, and I’m relieved because it means that he’s still with me. Once he gets comfortable, I crawl up next to him and pull on him until his head rests on my chest.
“She loved me,” he says, and his voice fucking shatters my heart. It’s so broken, sad, and I want to find this Josiah fucker and end him for hurting this fantastic man.
“No, love. She loves you.”
His hands tighten, and my shirt bunches up even more, but I don’t mind. “How do I replace the image that I’ve held so tightly in my mind with the truth?”
My hands rake through his hair over and over again, like I do when Harley has her headaches. “It will happen slowly with time. Over time, when her actions remind you that her words are true, you will slowly replace the bad with the good.”
Trent's body shudders as he lets out a long breath. “They sold pictures of me.”
I grit my teeth and push down the anger that wants to consume me. The cage door slams on the monster inside that roared to life when Eve dropped that bomb. “I know, love, and I’m so fucking sorry that they did that to you.”
