“No. That’s not what I’m doing at all.”
“Because he’s the last person that you should be worried about considering what we found out.”
“It’s not about him.”
“Then what—”
“Because it’s you!”
She looked taken aback for a bit.
I released a harsh breath. “I don’t want you to be like the others, Trish. I—I need to do right by you. I can’t be stupid about it and that’s why I don’t want to rush it right now.”
Her brows furrowed. “What do you mean, Marshall? You’re mincing words.”
“I can’t be with you right now.” I sighed.
The last thing that I wanted to do was hurt Trisha. But I truly couldn’t be with her right now, not with my mind as fucked up as it was right now.
She laughed humorlessly. “You know what? That’s absolutely no problem.” I had a feeling that that was a lie. “Just know that I’ve waited for you for years, Marshall. Your time’s running out.”
With that, she left to go up to her brother’s room, taking the first-aid kit with her.
I scrubbed a hand down my face. I knew better than to think that was a fair warning. That was a direct threat.
Chapter Seven
Trisha
Every day that I stayed in the house with Marshall felt like a held breath. I didn’t talk to him any more than was necessary and for the majority of the day, I was holed up in my room. He went out to the farm to kill time during his days as well.
All of three days had passed with this behavior between us.
It was killing me.
If it was a one-time thing that happened kind of by accident, I could let it go. But I couldn’t get his words out of my head. He’d wanted me and had hated it when I left. Or was that just another one of his playboy tricks that he used to get girls hot for him? The more I thought about it, the more I felt myself going crazy.
I passed the time by brushing up on my notes and preparing myself for when I had to go back to my residency.
The stress was getting to me with each second that passed by, and every time Marshall left the house—as much as it felt like I could finally breathe—it was an effort not to go down to the nearest bar and get reckless.
But I wouldn’t. It was only a few more days before Zane got back and I could leave this town for another five years. Then again, I thought that I wanted to leave it permanently this time. There was no reason that Zane could give me that would ever be good enough to explain why he was cheating on Amelia.
Every memory I had of the night I found out about my dad, and then the years of arguments that followed haunted me. Add that to my recent discovery—then to the words that Marshall had said constantly replaying in my head—and I was well on the way to making the same mistakes I made a few years prior.
As much as I hated him right now, I looked forward to Marshall’s return to the house when the sun went down. It assured me there was someone else there that could stop me from screwing up my life all over again.
But that evening, he didn’t return before sundown. I was growing antsy waiting for him and so I decided to go to the farm.
He wasn’t there and everything was locked up tight. The moon was high, illuminating the large expanse of open land. It reminded me of the times that the three of us had here as kids. I didn’t understand why we never sought to make coming back here a habit for ourselves.
“Hey!”
I jolted and turned around when I heard a voice. It wasn’t Marshall’s, I knew that for sure, but it was male and that had all my hackles on end.
Someone with a flashlight started approaching and I immediately had my phone in my hands dialing Marshall almost immediately.
“You’re trespassing, Ma’am,” the man said as he came closer.