My body went stiff, and he quickly amended. “I’m not saying anything bad about him. Bowen seems nice enough. I just…don’t want to see you rush this and then get hurt. People aren’t always who they appear to be at first. It takes time to see who they really are.”
I could have argued that Bowen wasn’t a stranger.
I could have confessed that, in Bowen’s arms, I felt safer than ever before.
I could have told him I had no idea what a snapshot of my life in ten years would look like, but I knew with an absolute certainty that, if it was up to me, Bowen would be in that picture, front and center.
I said none of it though. Mark was struggling with the idea of me moving out, and it didn’t seem fair to rub salt in his wounds. In his own time, he’d come around.
I was sure. My choice was Bowen. Still, I replied, “Okay. I’ll think about it.”
His arms cinched around me, and his whole massive body sagged. “Thank you.”
Mark and I stood there for a few more moments, that one hug lingering longer than any we’d shared in the past. But then again, we’d never said anything this close to goodbye before.
While he was in the shower, I sneakily rolled my suitcases out to my car. My closet was still full, but it was a good start. A tangible emphasis to the verbal yes I was going to surprise Bowen with when he got home. I didn’t have a ton of stuff, but moving was always an exhaustive process. So, on my way to Grove Hill, I called my office and left a message to forward any buyer leads to a different agent. I was officially taking the rest of the week off.
When I’d told Mark I’d think about it, it wasn’t a complete lie though.
I ran three miles that day with a huge smile on my face, imagining Bowen’s reaction when I told him the good news.
It was a reaction I never got to see.
Because just before I rounded the last corner to go back to my car, my whole world went dark—literally and figuratively.
Remi
“Please, stop the car,” I begged, fear ricocheting inside me so hard I was sure I would be bruised forever.
Maybe it was the pounding in my head or the entire hell-spun reality playing out in front of me, but I was emotionally and mentally wrecked and confused.
Mark Friedman—my best friend, my brother, part of my family—had his hands wrapped around the steering wheel of his truck, driving erratically down the highway. A voice that usually made me smile felt like talons ripping my flesh.
“Slow down, and let’s just talk…please.”
He did not slow down or stop the car, but rather barked a laugh. “Sure. Let’s fucking talk. Ya know, after the plane crash, when you couldn’t remember Bowen, I thought, ‘This is it. She’ll finally fucking see me.’ What were the fucking odds? You got amnesia and forgot the one man who fucking stole you from me. But I haven’t gotten lucky, have I?” Mark sneered as his gaze slid to where I was sitting, still frozen in shock, my face locked in a mask of horror.
He frowned as he took in my expression. “Don’t fucking look at me like that.” His head shook. “Trust me, this isn’t fun for me, either. I mean, where’s the humor in loving a girl for over a fucking decade, wasting away while she’s out fucking some guy who doesn’t deserve her? Worshipping her while she’s trying to move in with a man she barely knows? All the while, I’m there in the same fucking house with her, day in and day out, right under her nose for years. I may as well have been a Goddamn ghost wandering those halls for all you saw me. So I did what I had to do.” His broad shoulders straightened as he winked. “I guess twice.”
Horrified couldn’t begin to describe the thoughts that raced through my mind while he spouted all the ways he “loved” me. There was no making sense of it, despite how hard I tried. I had a thousand things I wanted to say, but every last one of them failed to leave my lips.
“Why, Mark?” The terror in my gut coated the words.
“Don’t fucking ask me that.” His eyes rolled as he clucked his tongue like I was nothing more than a pestering child. He let off the gas as he angled his head toward mine. “For whatever reason, you can’t seem to see who’s right in front of you. You keep trying to run away from me, and I’m sorry, but I can’t let that happen. I won’t let that happen.”
Mark was wrong. I did see who was in front of me. A fucking monster. I swallowed, forcing tears back as the weight of reality crashed down on me. I was completely helpless to stop whatever twisted plan he had in mind. Mark could easily overpower me, and it was painfully clear that the teddy bear I’d once trusted with my life had no qualms about doing whatever he needed to keep me exactly where he wanted me.
