Page 81 of Bring me Back

“I don’t owe you any explanation. You need to leave.”

There. Assertive. Firm. I was almost threatening to call the cops, I just wanted her out.

“I told you I won’t leave.” She pressed a hand up to her forehead. “This is ridiculous. I had fucking Ryan calling me about this bullshit. What the hell, Dan?”

I opened my mouth, but we were interrupted by a tumble upstairs. I closed my eyes in defeat, breathing through my nose, holding the door open even though all I wanted was to close it. But if I closed it, Katie would start a scene. I had no doubts about it.

“I need you to leave right now.” I gritted over my teeth.

It took just a second for my desperation to give me away. Katie glanced upstairs. “She’s here, isn’t she?”

“I’ll call the cops, Katie,” I said, but it fell on deaf ears.

“Delos Santos?” It was a mix of hatred and mocking. “Are you fucking with me?”

Hallie’s last name was the prayer unsaid. In the second that it was off Katie’s lips, it floated through the house, bounced off the walls, and filled the gaps of our existence. Intertwined. Hallie, Katie and me. I was the fucking string that connected them. I was the thread that should be cut.

I opened my mouth to order Katie out once more. I said it so many times the words started to lose their meaning. But the last orders never left my lips. The heavy boots on the wooden floor announced my time was up. I tipped my head down, knowing well my fate.

The excuses ran through my mind. One worse than the next.

It’s not what you're thinking.

I didn’t know.

She’s leaving now.

Fake. Premeditated. I knew this was something I had to face eventually, but my whole body screamed not to be now. Not like this. Not when it tasted so much like betrayal and my lips still tasted like hers. Katie raised her eyes beyond my head. I felt the tingle in the back of my neck, and, with a sigh, I turned to look at Hallie.

Completely dressed and still looking thoroughly fucked. My bite marks over her neck, her tousled hair messy from my hands. She was always regal, my Hallie. Chin up and grace that people couldn’t grasp. I wanted her to look at me. I wanted her to see how sorry I was, to read between my frown, my apologetic gaze. But her eyes burned on the woman behind me. Unreadable.

Maybe that was why Katie was so bothered by Hallie. Katie tried to break her for years, and look at her now? Perfect, gorgeous and whole.

“Aren’t you pathetic enough?” Katie’s voice sliced through the silence, breaking the spell.

I whipped my head back to Katie, a growl growing in my throat like a caged animal. “Don’t speak to her like that.”

Katie huffed. “This is her petty revenge from high school. Can’t you see?” And looking back at Hallie, she added. “Leave me alone!”

Of course, Katie thought Hallie was planning revenge. She was mean enough to do it, so she must have thought everyone lived like that. I shook my head, exasperated about how wrong she was, but Hallie called me.

“Dan?” My whole body warmed with her voice. I stepped away from the door, leaving it unattended. My biggest fear just happened in front of my eyes, nothing mattered anymore. “What’s happening?” Hallie asked.

I faced her, my head tipped up to look into her eyes. My hands shaking, proof of my cowardice. “Nothing is happening,” I told her in sweet tones. “Katie is leaving.” Not as sweet as when I spoke the other woman’s name.

Hallie stilled on the steps, just three from the bottom. Her eyes darted between Katie and me, like it was a math problem she couldn’t solve. It was my fault. I had all the answers, but I didn’t want to have the conversation there in front of Katie. Not when she could twist things just to watch it burn. Not when she was calling Hallie names.

Katie roared behind me, but even that was muted when I looked at Hallie. She frowned, and her gaze found mine. Questioning in silence.

I could always hear her without words. I always gave her answers before she asked them, but there, when I should’ve given them, I remained quiet. Her lips quivered, something mean Katie said behind our backs. She was talking still, but I couldn’t hear anymore. My hands closed in a fist, and Hallie followed the movement. She read the apologies in my eyes and the anger steaming off my body.

“I was going to tell you.”

Even as I said it, it sounded lame. She needed the whole story, and I was giving her crumbs. I turned to the blond banshee, jaw set. “Go away.”

Loud. Unflinching. I was done.

“Dan.” Katie hiccupped, taken aback by my tone for the first time. “Don’t you see what she’s doing? She hates me, always has. This is a plot.” She shook her head, looking back at Hallie over my shoulder. “Did it help? Did it make you feel better sleeping with my boyfriend?”