“She fucking did,” Mason clips, then moves faster with me in his arms. I don’t know where his truck is, but he’s carrying me for a long time. I realize after about ten minutes that we’re walking back to his house. I was going the wrong way. Of course. Story of my life. Going the wrong way. Falling for the wrong men.
Lightning flashes and then thunder booms in the sky.
Rain. Fat drops of rain come fast, come hard. The dark, wet sky sounds furious.
I see lightning hit a tree and watch it split down the middle. It crashes away from us, hitting the ground with thunderous noise that’s amplified by more angry thunder. The lightning-split tree probably looks a lot like the barely beating thing in my chest right now.
“Fuck,” he cusses and breaks into a jog with me in his arms and the longer he’s running, the harder the rain comes down on us. The wind picks up, blowing my tears off my face. But that doesn’t stop them from coming; I cry the whole way there.
By the time we finally get to his house, you could probably wring us out to fill the swimming pool in his back yard.
The door slams and he carries me straight upstairs into the master bedroom bathroom, sets me on the counter and pulls towels from the cupboard.
I try to get off the counter, but he grabs my hips and starts purring, so I just flop against him as he dabs at my face and hair, making that sound while he dries me.
He then undresses me, making the sound all the while, then dries my now goosebumpy, freezing-cold naked and limp body.
He strips down, dries himself quickly, dropping the wet towels on the floor with his suit and shoes and my dress and underwear and then he plucks me off the counter and carries me to bed, throwing the blanket back and climbing in with me, pulling me close and then covering us.
My teeth chatter. He wraps me up with his arms, tugs the blankets closer, and holds me close, purring louder. His body is suddenly warming me, like he’s a heating lamp. His purring travels into my skin, through my bones, down to my marrow as I continue to bawl my eyes out for all my stupidity, for what happened to my sister, for the fact that I’ve never felt so fucking broken in my life.
“Baby, listen…”
“N-no. No,” I whimper.
The purring starts up again. He keeps purring, so he can’t do any more talking. I weep until I fall asleep.
***
I wake up, alone. And like a tsunami, the emotions crash over me. I’ve got a weird view of doors. Oh. He’s pulled those pocket doors over. I get out of bed and on my way to the bathroom, I put my ear to the wood. I hear voices downstairs.
I go into the bathroom and close the door, then lock it.
My eyes are swollen from last night. Red. My hair is a disaster. And things are even worse on the inside.
When I emerge after a scalding hot shower, I don’t feel any better. In fact, it feels like there’s a thousand pounds of lead in my chest.
I open the bathroom door, still wrapped in towels, and see my sister standing there. Looking pretty, wearing a purple dress with a white cardigan. Her eyes are full of concern.
“Oh Amie,” she whispers.
I immediately burst into ugly sobs and fall into her, nearly losing my towel.
Ivy wraps her arms around me and tries to steer me to the bed.
“I n-need clothes,” I stammer, gesturing to the closet.
“I’ve gotchu,” she whispers, continuing to steer me to the bed and once I’m sitting, she goes into the closet.
Mason is in the doorway with a coffee cup in his hand. Our eyes meet and I crumble.
He brings it over and pulls me close.
“No,” I cry out, pulling away while clinging to my towel.
“Mason, give us a couple minutes, okay?” Ivy requests.
Mason hesitates. He looks almost as bad as I do. His eyes are bloodshot and I don’t think he’s slept.
He heaves out a sigh and puts his mouth to my forehead.
“I love you. I wanna talk to you, explain.”
“I don’t need you to do that,” I mutter. “I don’t want anything from y-you.”
His body goes tight and he stares directly into my eyes. “Amelia.”
I tear my gaze away and mercifully, he goes. Ivy sets a bundle of clothes and a hairbrush on the bed before pulling the doors closed and turning to me. Her chin wobbles.
I reach for the panties and bra she put down and get into them, crying and taking probably five times as long to get them on as I would if I had my shit together. I nearly trip getting my undies on. My sister steadies me and I manage to pull them up. She then helps to clip my bra shut before pulling a big, red sweatshirt over my head. I sit down, pulling my arms through and then manage to get my yoga pants up.