Forgiving Lies (22 page)

With a kiss to my temple, he moved me out from between his legs and situated me so we were facing each other. “Now, let me say all of this before you respond, and try to keep an open mind.” He cracked his neck and thought for too long before he began. “I didn’t take you on the trip to The Vineyard for the sole purpose of us being alone. The trip was amazing. I loved every second with you. But I took you to get you away from here. A couple days before we left, Mason and I separately ran into a guy who was looking in your windows. When he was confronted, he said he was your dad.”

I gasped and jerked back.
That’s not possible.
My mouth opened but Kash spoke before I could get anything out.

“We both knew he wasn’t. We didn’t even have to know about your parents’ being gone to know he wasn’t. He was stumbling over his own words, and when I was talking to him he got a phone call. He said it was you, and whomever he was talking to let him go on acting like it was you. Said you were out eating breakfast with Candice and he was going to meet you. While all of this was going on, you were asleep in my bed and Candice was at camp.

“Mason and I kept a watch for the next couple days; that’s why we tried to get you and Candice to go out so much. He kept coming back; he’d just sit in the parking lot in a dark green Explorer for hours on end, and every once in a while he’d come back and try to get in your apartment or just look in the windows. He got a few more calls while in the breezeway that we were able to listen to. And in the one I heard the morning that we left, he was calling the person he spoke to West.”

My heart was pounding. I didn’t understand what was happening now any more than I had earlier. “West, as in Blake?”

“We think so.”

“Oh my God.” Hyperventilating back full force.

Kash’s face grew tense. “He also said that the package had come in and he’d be putting it on your car as soon as you came back . . . and then ‘West’ could track you.”

“There’s a tracking device on my car?!”

“Baby, no. He put one on but you and I were already gone. Mason took it off and destroyed it.”

“Oh my God,” I repeated, and dropped my head into my hands. “Why is he doing this?”

“That’s not all.” A whimper left my throat and I pulled my legs back up onto the couch to curl into a ball. “I knew I needed to get you out of here so I already had my stuff packed and was waiting for him to leave—he would randomly leave for anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour—and I heard another call. All I heard was him talking about you being at the mall, like he was confirming that’s what someone said, and then he said he was on his way there. You and Candice came back fifteen minutes later. That’s why I didn’t give you time to pack or get ready, and Mason texted me saying he came back not even ten minutes after we left.”

“How did they know we were at the mall?!”

Kash grimaced. “Is Candice in contact with Blake a lot?”

My head snapped back. “What? Why would you ask that?”

“Someone had to tell Blake that the two of you were at the mall. Was Candice texting or calling anyone that day? Does she tell you if she talks to him?”

“She knows I don’t want to talk about him; she was so mad when I told her about what he did. That was the first time she’d ever gotten mad at me like that. So we don’t talk about him or that day at all. I mean—she and Eli went to go see him that night Eli was in town, but that was . . . that was Eli who brought it up. Not her. But Candice is always texting someone—like, it’s weird if she’s
not
on her phone—so I can’t say who she ever is or isn’t talking to. But I do know she talks to him a lot at our classes and hangs out with him.”

He nodded his head and sighed heavily as he held my stare. “I don’t want to say this about her, but I think she’s unknowingly giving Blake information about you.”

I was going to throw up. Or pass out. Okay, maybe both. Trying to take deep breaths, I clasped my hands together and the shaking in my body seemed to only get worse. “She didn’t believe me, but she wouldn’t hurt me.”
But she still may have told Blake where you work . . .

“I’m not saying that. I said ‘unknowingly.’
If
she’s telling him anything, she doesn’t realize she is, because he’s probably asking in a way where she wouldn’t realize it. I can’t be sure though, we’d need her phone.”

“Why is he doing this—why can’t he just leave me alone? Wait. Why are you telling me all this now? Do you think that guy was in here?” All the blood drained from my face. “Oh God. Was it Blake? Was Blake in here?”

“I don’t know, Rach. But who else knows about the journal and song other than me?”

“Um, C-Candice’s entire family knows about the journal, but only Candice knows about the song.”

“And who knows about pancakes besides us?” he asked softly, and reached for me.

“Oh God,” I cried, and my vision instantly blurred as I let him pull me back into his lap.

“Shh. It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m going to keep you safe. I swear.” His lips brushed my forehead and he held me tighter to him. “If Candice hasn’t told him about those things, then either Blake or the other guy is watching us a lot closer than we thought. Do you know a Marvin Cross?”

I tried to think, but my head was spinning with all this new information. “Um, I don’t—I don’t think so. It doesn’t sound familiar. Why?”

“That’s the guy’s name. If you ever see a dark green Explorer, I want you to call me.”

“How do you know his name?”

There was a short pause before his answer. “We called the police and had them run the license plate on the car.”

I didn’t think they would just give that information out. But I was so shaken up, I was sure I was just second-guessing everything right now. I shuddered when I thought about all the times I’d been near Blake recently. The possessive gleam in his eyes . . . his smile, like he had a secret . . . his vows to remind me whom I belonged to. I thought I’d been terrified of him before, but after all this new information, I knew I’d had no idea what he was capable of and fear ran through my veins like ice. “I can’t keep going to school. He’s always there, I can’t—I don’t want to be near him. And what if he knows where our apartment is? What if Candice told him? I can’t stay here, we need to leave! Oh, God—”

Kash grabbed my cheeks and kissed me soft and slow until my body sagged with exhaustion from everything I’d just learned. “I’ll keep you safe, Rachel. If you want to get away from here again, I’ll make it happen. Say the word and we’re gone, I swear.”

I sighed heavily and whispered against his lips, “Thank you.”

16

Rachel

“W
HY ARE YOU
leaving so early?” Candice unwrapped her hair from the towel and vigorously rubbed at it before tossing the towel back into her room. “Or are you going to meet up with your man before class?”

I’d stayed with Kash last night and had only come back to change. “No, I’m, uh— Candice . . . I decided I’m going to withdraw from my courses.”

She froze midstep; her gaze was one of complete shock. “What?! Why?”

I’d been worrying over whether or not I should tell her all night. I hadn’t slept at all because I was so stressed about what was happening and over the fact that my best friend wouldn’t believe me, and I still didn’t know if telling her was the right decision. “Blake has been—”

“Oh my God, Rachel. Again? Seriously?”

“Candice, he’s been breaking into our apartment!”

She rolled her green eyes and shook her head at me. “I swear to God, it’s like I don’t know you these last few months! First you accuse my cousin of rape, then you meet and get engaged to a guy that you
just
met, and now you’re saying my cousin is breaking into our apartment when he doesn’t even know where we live? Classy, Rach. You’ve turned into a real bitch.”

I bent forward and exhaled roughly, as if she’d actually punched me. “Candice.”

“And you know what pisses me off
more
? The fact that throughout all of this, all of this lying to me, all of this acting like you’re so in love with Kash and like you’re some fucking victim . . . you’re
still
dating Blake!”

“Whoa, what?! I—
no
! Where did you hear that?”

“He hates that you treat him like crap at school and that you’re hiding your relationship with him. He showed me all of your texts to him.”

I shook my head furiously and attempted to swallow past the dryness in my throat. “I haven’t texted him since our dates at the end of last school year, Candice, I swear to you.”

“I’m so done with this, Rachel. I’ve been waiting for you to just come clean to me, but for whatever reason, our friendship doesn’t mean anything to you anymore. But if you’re actually going to go through with this marriage to Kash, at least be respectful to my cousin and break it off with him. Nicely.”

“Our friendship doesn’t mean anything to me?! You’re the one who won’t believe me and you’re the only family I have left!”

She snorted and whirled around with her hand on the door. “And another thing. I’d
love
to know how you’ve been going between school, work, Kash, and Blake without Kash or me noticing. Share your secrets sometime, it could really come in handy for me, seeing as
I’m
the slut and all.”

The door to her bedroom slammed shut and I stood there unmoving, just staring as I tried to comprehend what the hell had just happened.
How
had this happened? How had he not only hurt me but hurt my relationship with Candice as well? I hated Blake West with every fiber of my being, and I hated what he’d done to my life.

When I could finally make myself move again, I turned and jolted when I saw Kash and Mason standing at the door.

Kash moved toward me and pulled me into his arms. “I’m sorry, Rach.”

“How long were you standing there?”

“We just opened the door, but we could hear her from the breezeway.”

I nodded against his chest and my body shook on a sigh. “I swear I’m not seeing Bla—”

“Don’t. I know you’re not, babe.”

“Kash,” Mason called from the door. “We
need
to go.”

He released his hold on me and shot Mason a look before grabbing the back of my neck and kissing my forehead. “Wait for me to get back from doing inventory with Mase, I’ll go with you to drop your classes.”

I needed to get these classes dropped before things got too busy on campus, and there was no way I was waiting until next week to do it. “I’m fine, I’ll just go get it done and come back here to wait for you.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

After another hard kiss he let me go. “We’ll be back soon.”

I forced myself to my car and over to campus. The woman in administration eyed me curiously before giving me a look that clearly said I’d just made her Friday morning awful. It took all of five minutes, and I wanted to let her know she should try smiling instead . . . but I couldn’t even force a smile on my face at the moment. So, I just thanked her, left her presence as quickly as possible, and headed toward my car.

I was less than a row away when he grabbed my arm and dug his fingers right into a pressure point. “I would love to know why my cousin is beginning to question me.”

“Let go of me or I’ll scream.”

“Scream and I’ll kill someone you love.”

I turned to finally look up at Blake’s cold blue eyes. “W-what did you say?”

“Exactly what you thought you heard. Now, let’s go.”

I dug my feet into the ground and tried to walk toward my car. “No! Let me go.”

“For shit’s sake, Rachel,” he growled, and leaned close so it looked like we were hugging, “don’t be difficult or I’ll make good on my promise.” From the tone of his voice, I had no doubt he would.

“Please, just let me go home, how did you even know I was here?”

Blake blew out an annoyed breath and dug his fingers into the pressure point harder before walking us toward his car. “Candice called me this morning screaming at me. Demanding to know what I did that would make you go drop all of your classes today. I was already on campus, so I’ve just been waiting for you.”

Wait. Does that mean she believed me?
Hope and an ache for the friendship Candice and I had always had blossomed in my chest but was quickly replaced by fear when Blake put me in his car and lifted his shirt just enough to show me the gun holstered to his hip.

“Run, Rachel. I dare you.”

M
Y CHEST TIGHTENED
and I choked on a sob. “No.” My horrified whisper was barely audible as I looked at the screen in my hands. “No, God. Please, no!”

“Now, Rachel . . . are you going to be difficult again?”

I cried out and gripped the iPad tighter, letting my fingers trail over the video feed. Shaking my head quickly, my legs gave out and I landed on the hardwood floor of Blake’s studio apartment with a dull thud. “What—what do you want from me?”

“You, Rachel. Just you.”

“You’re sick, Blake.”

Grabbing a good amount of my hair in his hands, he yanked back and a cry of pain left my chest as I fell from a sitting position to my back. “I’m going to pretend like you didn’t say that. You’re mine, and someday soon you’ll understand that.” He took the iPad from my shaky hands and zoomed in on the house of the people I loved. “If not, I can promise you they won’t be the only people you lose. Just think, sweetheart, if it was this easy to get close to them, how easy do you think it’ll be to get to Candice, or your precious boyfriend?”

“You can’t do this to them! They’re your family, how could you—how would you be able to live with yourself? What did I do to deserve
any
of this? You raped me and harassed me!
Why?!
All because I didn’t want to be with you?”

How a guy like Blake West could turn into a monster of this magnitude just floored me. He gripped my jaw hard and crushed his mouth to mine. I’d kissed him before, and I hadn’t felt anything. But after this, I felt like I needed to scrub everywhere he’d touched me and brush my teeth until I no longer could taste him.

“You. Are. Mine.” With that he released his grip and my head smacked against the floor. He straightened and pulled his phone out of his pocket. In seconds the person answered the phone. “Can you please show my guest that I’m not fucking around with this?” It sounded like more of a demand than a question, and as soon as his phone was back in his pocket, he was on the ground with me, pulling me up so I was sitting in between his legs, my back against his chest. Both his legs wrapped around mine, pinning them to the ground, and he maneuvered his arms so I couldn’t move mine, all while he held the iPad up in front of us.

I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut, but I couldn’t stop looking. It was like watching a train wreck, although nothing was happening on the screen. It was still just the video feed of the Jenkinses’ house. Same as it had been for the last few minutes since he’d pulled it out. My breathing escalated as I continued to stare. Seconds felt like hours as I waited for something to happen. All of a sudden the silver Audi’s alarm started going off in the driveway and I shook my head, trying to figure out what this proved. “No!” I screamed as Candice’s dad walked outside, looking at his car, then around the street for whatever had made the alarm start. “George, no! Please go back inside. He’s your uncle, Blake!” I stared in horror as he made his way down the long walkway. Halfway to the driveway his car exploded and I screamed again, thrashing against Blake as I watched George fly backward a few feet before landing on the grass. “
George!
”

“He’ll be fine, sweetheart.” Blake set down the iPad to better contain me and his lips were at my ear. “I want you to be a good girl and do exactly as I tell you. Or next time, he won’t be walking away.”

“Anything!” I promised, and craned my neck to look down at the screen to see George rolling over and getting up on his hands and knees as he looked toward the burning mass in his driveway. “Anything, I swear! Just please don’t hurt him!”

“Smart girl.”

“What do you need me to do?”

Once again his lips were on my neck before brushing against the lobe of my ear. “Be mine.”

I
HAD TO
take deep, calming breaths before I could even open the door of my car. It felt like there was a weight on my chest, threatening to crush down, breaking my heart even more than it already was.

I’d called Kash, asking him to meet me outside of a coffee shop. I needed to do this in public, not just because I knew Blake was watching, but because if I went back to one of our apartments, I didn’t think I’d be able to handle not being able to fall into his arms and tell him everything. I knew he would help if I told him what was going on, but I needed to keep Candice and her parents safe and alive. Just the same as I had to do for Kash.

He stood from where he’d been sitting at one of the outdoor tables and his wide smile had the weight on my chest pressing down. I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t crush him this way. Tears pricked the back of my eyes and I blinked quickly, trying to hold them off. Turning my head so I wouldn’t see his face, I saw where Blake was parked, watching. Just as he said he would.

“Hey, did you get all your classes dropped?” Kash started to pull me into his arms, but I put my hands against his chest and pushed back. “Rach, what’s wrong?”

“We, uh—we n-need to . . . we need to talk, Logan.”

His head jerked back, and while he let me push him back, he kept his hands on my upper arms. His brow wrinkled as his eyes searched my face.

“Um . . .”

“Rachel, what is going on? Talk to me. Did something happen with Candice? With Blake?”

I inhaled sharply but shook my head and tried to put more distance between us; his hands kept me where I was. “No. Nothing about them.” It had
everything
to do with them. “Look, Logan—”

“Why the fuck are you calling me Logan right now?”

“I’m sorry, so sorry to be doing this to you . . .” A short sob rose from my throat and I tried to hold it together as I removed my hands from his chest and grabbed my engagement ring, tugging it slowly off my finger.

Kash’s eyes went wide and his face fell. “Rachel,” he whispered, and the tears that had been threatening their release finally spilled down my cheeks at the heartbreak in that one word.

“. . . but I can’t marry you.”

“What?”

“I don’t love you, Logan.”

He took a stumbling step away from me and another sob tore through me as I held the ring up to him. “You’re—you’re lying.” His eyes turned glassy and I had to look down at my feet. “Why are you doing this?”

“Please, Logan, don’t make this harder than it has to be. Just take the ring back. I don’t want it, I don’t want you.” I cried the last words and took a step toward him, pushing the ring against his chest.

His hand came up to wrap around mine, but I dropped the ring into his palm and jerked my hand away. “Babe, you—I don’t—just yesterday you begged me to go elope! If this is because I said no, babe, we’ll do it. Whatever you want, we’ll do it. If you don’t want the wedding with your friends and Candice’s family, I’ll marry you today. But I don’t understand! We were fine when I left with Mase a couple hours ago, and now you want to call off our engagement?”

My vision started blurring and it had nothing to do with the tears that wouldn’t stop. I thought about George’s car exploding right before my eyes. I thought about Blake’s threats to kill his aunt and uncle
first
. I worked at breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth as I turned and began walking away.

“Rachel!” He grabbed my hand and I whirled on him, my voice rising in my near-hysteria.

“I don’t want you, Logan! I’ve
never
wanted you! Can’t you understand that? You were fun. That’s it. You were dangerous, and new, and it was what I needed at the time. But all you’re good for is a good time. I’m sorry I got caught up in the whole marriage thing, but at least I’m doing this before we go through with it!”

He recoiled like I’d slapped him and dropped my hand. A single tear fell down his cheek and he shook his head slowly back and forth as he continued to retreat from me.

Everything in me screamed to run into his arms, to take back all I’d said. But I needed to keep the only family I had left safe. And though he might never understand it, I needed to keep Kash safe too. Forcing myself away, I put my head down and walked quickly to my car. As soon as I was in, the roar of his motorcycle starting up and speeding out of the parking lot had the weight finally crashing in on me and I slumped against the steering wheel as sobs overtook my body.