Page 50 of Crazy in Love

“Don’t I deserve a chance to prove I’m here for good, and-” I stop when I hear Saylor screaming at her sister.

“Why don’t you do what you do best and pack your fucking bags and leave.” Her sister slaps Saylor’s face, hard. Saylor turns back to her sister, and the man gets in the middle, saying something to her sister, who nods and walks away into the garden.

He turns to Saylor and wraps his arms around, and I have to stop myself going over and holding her. That should be me, not him. The man looks over at me, and quickly Saylor go, power walking over to me, and before I can move out the way, he punches me in the face.

“I told you, if you make her cry, I will kill you.” He punches me again. Jason grabs hold of him, and yanks him away.

“Go check on Hayley,” Jason tells him.

I rub my face, wiping the blood away from my lip. The man walks away from me, telling me to fuck off at the same time, and I glance over at Saylor walking over to me.

“Get the fuck out of my house before Uncle Ryan kills you.” Saylor grabs the wine bottle, opens the front door, and walks over to the dining room, and Anika and Jason join her. I watch her for a moment as she fills her glass to the rim and wipes the tears away from her cheek, and I close the front door, slowly walking over to them. I pull the chair out next to her, and she doesn't look over at me, but I sit down hoping she doesn’t kick me out.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and send David a quick message, saying both my phones will be off for a while, then switch it off.

“She’s locked herself in the bathroom,” I hear her uncle behind me, as he walks over to the table. He looks down at me but says nothing and sits next to Saylor.

“There’s nothing in there that she can use for self-harm. We check every night.” I turn to Anika telling her uncle that and sit there in silence, wondering how Saylor has been doing all this by herself.

The time she cancelled plans with me, I thought she was just trying to get out of spending time with me, so she didn’t get attached, but fuck, am I an idiot. There were days I knew there was something wrong, and you could see she had so much going on in her head. Not once did she say anything, she kept it to herself.

Saylor finishes her wine, then refills the glass, and not one person is stopping her, not even her uncle. She runs her hand through her hair to get it out of her face, then wipes the tears away, biting on her lower lip. As though she’s fighting herself not to cry again.

“Saylor, Saylor.” I hear her sister, and Saylor shakes her head a little, swearing to herself. “Can we please play with my dolls?” She stands between Saylor and I, then turns to face me, and smiles. “Is this your boyfriend?”

“No.”

“Yes.” Saylor and I both answer, but right now, she’s thrown me out of her life.

“You look-”

“Hayley, go get your dolls. I've not seen any of your new dolls in a long time.” Her uncle tells her, and she starts jumping with excitement.

“Uncle Ryan, you’re never here. I’ll go get them.” Hayley runs back out of the room, and I turn to Saylor, who’s wiping the new tears escaping her eyes.

“She will have a glass of water in a bit, so crush up her medication and she should sleep. Then I can have another fun day tomorrow.” Saylor turns to Ryan, and he takes her hand in his, patting it a few times. You can see him trying to think of the right words to say to her, but all he can do is give her hand a kiss.

“I will look after Hayley tonight. Please try and get some sleep. You’ve not slept in twenty-four hours.” He stands up and kisses the top of her head when Hayley comes back into the room.

Jason walks away with Ryan, leaving Anika and I at the table with Saylor.

Saylor spins the wineglass slowly, and closes her eyes for a moment. I see a new tear drop rolling down her cheek.

“Get out of my house, or I’m going to call the police,” she says, opening her eyes, but still not looking over at me.

“Saylor, I’m-”

“I’m sorry, but this child doesn’t want to listen to anything a grown-up has to say,” she cuts me off. Pushing the chair away from the table, she grabs her wine and walks away. I turn to Anika still sitting at the table, and she glances between myself and Saylor.

“You should leave.”

“Anika, I fucked up. I accused her of something before even talking to her.” I’m almost begging Anika to help me fix this, because at the moment, Saylor won’t even look at me.

“Mr. Kane, when you came over and accused her, she thought you thought she cheated on you. She’s not angry about Frankie, she knows how much your business means to you, and she knew the moment you found out the truth, you would be here and sweet talk her, and be back to normal.” Anika stands up and looks up at Saylor playing with Hayley. “You called her a child, and right now, she can’t move past that. You have to give her time. She’s heartbroken, her boyfriend said those things, and she’s grieving her best friend who’s just died. Give her time.” Anika walks away from me, and I finally get up and walk towards the door.

She’s smiling at her sister, but her eyes are so lost, and there is nothing I can do for her, but walk away.

Chapter Fifteen

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