Page 46 of A Constant Love

Alex already made fun of me for having a ‘crazy’ mama, and usually I let it slide. He was just an ignorant little twerp.

But when I saw the tears start to spring up in my best friend’s eyes, I decided enough was enough.

I walked right up to that little shit and asked what his problem was.

When he told me it was my ‘faggot’ friend he had a problem with, I punched him so hard I broke his nose…and cracked one of the bones in my finger.

His mom ran out of the house screaming that I was nothing more than a little tyrant, I just smiled. I didn’t care if I was a tyrant if it meant standing up for what I believed in. I would always stand up and defend those who I loved.

I don’t know when I stopped loving me enough to stop standing up for myself…but I knew it was time to start again.

That night, I became a victim…and I never stopped. I had stayed that scared girl lying on the ground.

On this trip, I had closed so many chapters from my past. This was the one chapter that daunted me more than any of the others.

The James chapter. The chapter that if I didn’t finish writing, I could never truly begin to write new ones.

I had worked so hard on trying to avoid my past and pretend it didn’t happen, when in all actuality, it did happen. Instead of running from it, I should take the good and carry it with me, all while giving some closure to the bad.

Sam Flemming used to be a badass bitch, and I let him take that from me. Four years later, and he was still changing who I was.

But no more.

I pulled out my phone, glancing at the time and making a mental note that on that day, at 12:36 PM, Sam Flemming was done being James Sinclair’s victim. Enough was enough.

Yes, James was the FBI, which made things infinitely more difficult. But that just meant my plan had to be that much better.

It was time to come up with a plan to get that asshole out of my life for good. It was time to stop hiding. Time to stop running.

It was time to go back to Boston.

Chapter 27 - Tyler

Almost a month had gone by since we had gotten home from Kansas. As much progress as Sam seemed to have made on her trip home, she seemed to be more stressed out than ever.

Obviously, she’d been stressed because of James, but this didn’t seem normal. It seemed like she was constantly trying to put some sort of mental puzzle together. Of course, she didn’t tell me what.

Her nightmares did seem to be decreasing, but when she did have them, they were awful. Those nights, I’d have to wake her from a screaming terror, and it would take her hours to fall back asleep, if at all. Some nights, she would fight going to bed for as long as possible to try to avoid the problem altogether.

The lack of sleep was getting to her, and it was written all over her face. The dark circles under her eyes were getting more pronounced, and her normally bright green eyes had lost some of their luster.

Don’t get me wrong, Sam was still Sam. It wasn’t like she was walking around like a damn zombie. In fact, she seemed to have even more of that biting wit and attitude that I caught glimpses of in Kansas.

But there were also little things I noticed. It was her starting to nod off during a movie but forcing herself to stay awake. It was the coffee that she was gulping in double her usual quantities. It was the whiskey she chugged in an attempt to fall into a dreamless sleep when she was too tired to fight it anymore.

With Spring Break right around the corner, I thought it would be a great time to take another little trip. I figured it might be the best way to help Sam get some rest since she doesn’t seem to have the bad dreams anywhere else but at home. Hell, she didn’t even have the nightmares in Kansas.

I’d started planning shortly after we had gotten home from seeing her family, wanting to get every detail perfect. The trip had to be something relaxing, yet also fun. I had to do things to make sure I brought that beautiful smile back to her face.

Sam hated surprises, but I wasn’t going to tell her about the trip too early because I knew she would find a million things to worry about. Instead, I just asked her to keep a few days of break clear of all tutoring appointments so that we could spend some time together, just us. She happily agreed.

The day before we were set to leave, we were sitting at the table eating a frozen pizza for dinner. I’d given Jacinda the evening off to attend her daughter’s school play, and neither Sam nor I had a ton of energy to cook.

“After we get done eating dinner, I need you to do something for me upstairs,” I said between bites.

“Oh really?” Her eyebrows raised thinking that I was going to ask her to take her clothes off.

“Yes. I need you to pack a bag.”