Page 58 of Tied to Hope
Mary said nothing at first, but Brie could see that she was trying hard to get the words out. “We’ve been struggling…you guys knew that. But I never told you what started it.”
“No, you’ve left us in the dark even though we’ve been concerned about you.”
“You know I don’t share shit, Brie.” She paused. “But…I haven’t been able to shake this. I don’t fucking know why. I’m just being stupid.”
“Let us be the judge of that,” Lea told her.
Mary snorted. She didn’t remove her arm from her eyes when she said, “Things were good between us. Hell, even better than I’d imagined. Greg was infatuated with me and couldn’t get enough of me. We were fucking like rabbits all the time and he couldn’t wait to introduce me to all his Hollywood friends. Fuck, it was everything I ever dreamed of.”
Her voice trailed off. “I really thought…”
She was silent for several minutes. Brie and Lea looked at each other, feeling helpless, but Mary had banned them from doing anything to comfort her.
“I should have seen it coming,” she said with disgust. “The fucking day it happened was magical, like I was flying on some natural high or something. Best fuckin’ day of my life. When Greg said he wanted to go out and celebrate, I was all over that shit.”
She paused, her breathing coming fast as she fought off her emotions. When Mary spoke again, her voice was cracked. “I went to take a shower and that’s when I saw it…” She bit her lip, trying to keep from sobbing.
Mary’s voice sounded hollow. “The words were written in the steam on the mirror, ‘Fuck me, Master.’”
She let out her breath. “It wasn’t my handwriting.”
Brie’s heart dropped. “I’m so sorry, Mary.”
“Fucking the bitch in our own bed, and he didn’t even tell me?”
Brie watched Mary’s chest rise and fall as she cried silently.
“That’s just wrong on so many levels,” Lea growled.
Her eyes still covered, Mary nodded, her lips trembling.
“If things hadn’t been going so well, I would have been prepared…” Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head. “I didn’t have a clue what was really going on…”
Brie sensed there was so much more that Mary wasn’t telling them.
“Do you want us to go punch that asshole?” Lea offered.
“No…” Mary groaned. “You two are fucking pussies.”
Even though she was seriously hurt, Mary hadn’t lost her sense of humor.
Wanting to dig deeper, Brie asked, “Did he tell you why he did such a disrespectful thing to you?”
She started shaking her head violently. “It’s too terrible to talk about.”
Brie was certain this had to be connected to her childhood. Although Holloway had sent Mary gifts as a child, Brie had often wondered what kind of relationship Holloway had with her parents, especially her mother.
“Does it have something to do with your mother?” she asked.
Mary went stock-still and it seemed as though the air was being sucked out of the room.
“Mary?” Brie prodded after getting no response.
“I can’t, Brie. Saying it out loud would destroy me.”
“We would never betray your trust,” Lea assured her.
Brie laid her hand on Lea’s shoulder and shook her head. “Mary, you don’t have to tell us, but we want to help you.”
