Goddess Sacrifice (16 page)

But she couldn’t glare long—his swollen, red eyes pleaded with her to open up. She sighed as she looked away from him. She didn’t want to hurt him any more than she absolutely had to, but he wouldn’t leave, and she couldn’t explain the real reason why she had to do this. If he wasn’t going to leave, then maybe she didn’t have a choice about hurting him more. She was already torturing him anyway.

She walked over to her corkboard and started taking down his pictures. She heard him move, but he didn’t come over to her. She figured he was walking toward the door, but then she heard her mattress squeak. She turned around, and he was sitting on her bed with his hands on his face, trying not to cry as he watched her take down their memories.

She didn’t look at him as she walked over to the trashcan and threw them away. Then she walked over to the two vases of dried roses that Adin had given her on their first date. She ripped them out and threw them in the trash too. Her gaze flashed around her room and saw the conch shell on her nightstand that Adin had brought back from his trip to Florida. She walked over and picked it up while Adin’s eyes stayed locked onto her. She dropped it into the trash on top of the dead flowers. She scanned the room again and didn’t see anything else. When she put her hands on her hips and looked down to ready herself to talk again, she saw her wrist…and her watch.

The beautiful watch Adin had specially made for her had been on her wrist every single day since he had given it to her. She loved this watch. He put so much thought and time into giving her the perfect birthday present. As she thought about that, she lifted her hand and stared at it.

Adin’s breath caught, and her eyes flashed over to him. He was shaking his head, his hands still over his mouth.

She started taking off the watch and felt new tears forming in her eyes. He stood up and stepped over to her.

“Don’t,” he whispered.

She took off the watch and held it up for him to take.

“It’s yours,” he murmured.

She grit her teeth. “You told me you’d take it back if it made me uncomfortable.” She paused, staring at him, at his pale blue eyes, wet lashes, tear-streaked face. “It makes me uncomfortable,” she lied.

He sighed. It looked like he was reaching for the watch, but he put his hand around hers instead. “You don’t have to wear it,” he whispered. “Please just keep it.”

She pulled her hand away from his and stepped over to her opened jewelry box. She tossed the watch in and slammed it shut. Then she folded her arms while she turned around to face him. “I think that’s everything,” she whispered, trying to sound detached, but not doing a very good job of it.

Adin walked over to her and put his hands on her arms. His breathing hitched as he continued to cry. “I’ll be at my grandma’s when you’re ready to talk.”

“I have nothing else to say,” she whispered as more tears leaked over.

He put his hands on her cheeks and lifted her head up so he could look into her eyes. “I will always love you, princess.”

Those words were like another stab to her wounded heart. Adin said the exact same line to her all season long in her dream.

So he was right. Parts of her dream were about their break up.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead with quivering lips. She inhaled a long breath, burning his scent into her memory.

He slowly stepped away from her and walked over to the trashcan. He bent over it and picked up the conch shell. “Er, since y-you don’t want this anymore, can I have it?”

She looked to the side as she started to cry. She took a deep, jagged breath and shrugged her shoulders, not looking at him.

Adin walked to the door and placed his hand on the knob as he turned back around to look at her one last time.

“I love you, Legacy. I will love you forever. Nothing will ever change that,” he whispered.

She wanted to tell him that she loved him too, that she wished their love was enough, that she didn’t want to break up, but she couldn’t tell him any of that. She just nodded as she looked at him.

Adin slowly opened the door and walked out, leaving it open. She heard him walk slowly down the stairs and out of the house. He didn’t make it to his car before she lost all control. She cried so hard that it rained suddenly and fiercely. She was so emotional that she hadn’t noticed if it had been raining all along, but if it had already, it wasn’t raining like this.

She slumped back to the floor as she sobbed. Adin’s new Porsche was much louder than his Camaro, so she had no problem hearing him start it and pulling into his grandma’s driveway. When his engine died, all she could hear was the rain pounding on the roof of the house. She wondered if he stayed in his car or if he went inside. He could be sitting in his car right now, crying just as hard as she was.

After she cried for several more minutes, she slowly stood up and walked over to the trashcan. She pulled out her broken, dead flowers and arranged them back in their vases with brittle petals scattered everywhere. Then she took the photos out and held them to her chest as she fell to the floor, crying.

And she didn’t stop crying for days.

Chapter Thirteen

The last several days were a blur to Legacy. Lissa tried comforting her, but there was nothing she could say to ease the heartache.

Legacy avoided eating because when she did, she threw it back up. She didn’t want to sleep because she’d dream that wretched dream again or worse… She’d dream about the actual break up and had to live through it again. She was a zombie.

Her phone had rung several times over the last few days, but she hadn’t even looked to see who was calling her. She knew if it was Adin, she’d want to talk to him, but she also knew that talking to him would be a mistake. She needed to stay strong, so he could stay alive. Looking at her phone was too much of a temptation to take back what had happened the other day.

Since she didn’t answer her phone, Lissa had been the one to break the news to Calli, and of course she came right over with chocolate ice cream. Legacy tried eating it as she cried, but she just threw it back up too. Chocolate wasn’t even immune to her gag reflex. Calli had stayed with her while she cried tears, and the earth rained. She hadn’t even tried to control her emotions. She figured the damage was already done, and she’d sacrificed enough by letting go of Adin.

It was hours into Calli’s second visit before she was able to even speak coherently. When Legacy calmed down, no matter how briefly, Calli used it as her opportunity to find out exactly what had happened. When Legacy told her the truth, she was utterly shocked.

“I don’t think you’d ever hurt him,” Calli said, shaking her head.

“I can’t take that risk.”

“Maybe after you ascend, you can be together again,” she whispered.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.” She cried. “I don’t want to get my hopes up for something that might not happen.”

“Adin wants to be with you, Legacy. He waited for you for all the years. I know he’d wait for you again.”

“Venus wasn’t here before. She’ll sink her claws into him the first chance she gets.” As she said that, her eyebrows furrowed.

“What are you thinking?” Calli asked suddenly.

“I’m thinking that at the Halloween party, Venus had said she would enjoy watching me suffer and that Adin would turn to her once I was gone.”

Calli gasped. “Do you think she knew this was going to happen?”

“I think it’s possible. If Medusa is the reason she’s here and Medusa put the snakes in that driver’s car to make sure he hit an ice patch, then surely she would’ve told Venus that this could happen.”

“But how would Medusa know? I mean, your destiny isn’t written. She can’t tell the future.”

“I know, but if she planned it just right, then this is exactly what would have happened. She could have just been optimistic with Venus, giving her the confidence she needed to pursue Adin.” Legacy started crying again. “And now Adin will turn to her like she said.”

Calli held her while she cried. After she cried for a few hours, Calli tried to get her to eat something. Legacy still didn’t keep it down. When she had another calm spell, Calli seized that opportunity again.

“River is really worried about you,” she whispered.

Legacy’s head shot up. “What do you mean?”

“Honey, it’s been raining for days, and you haven’t been answering your phone. He knows something’s up. When I go back home, I know he’s going to ask about you again.”

Legacy shook her head frantically as more tears streamed down her face. “You…you can’t tell him what happened! If he knows I broke up with Adin, he’ll use that to his advantage. I-I can’t deal with that right now.”

“Calm down, Legacy. I’ll just tell him you’re sick or something.” She shrugged.

Legacy nodded and looked away. “Do you want to stay the night?”

“I was going to anyway,” she said, smiling at her.

Calli stayed up with Legacy most of the night. She fell asleep a few times, but Legacy’s crying woke her up. The next morning, she left. Thanksgiving was tomorrow, and she had to help her mom get things ready for their family dinner.

Legacy did what she had been doing the last several days—she cried. She cried in the shower; she cried over her breakfast; she cried as she vomited; she cried on her bedroom floor. It seemed like whenever she was alone in her room, she sat in the same spot where she sat after Adin walked out. She didn’t understand why she kept walking over to the same spot on the floor, but she did.

It was mid-morning when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. She tried not to gasp, but her mind raced with possibilities. Her heart ached for her love to be on the other side of that door. Just looking at Adin would make her feel better. She knew it would.

She grabbed the side of her desk from where she was huddled on the floor and peeked around to the door. “Come in,” she said as her voice cracked.

When the door opened, and she saw who it was, she threw her hands over her face and sobbed. She didn’t want to see River, but he was here, standing in her doorway.

“Baby?” he barely whispered.

She heard him walk in and set something down on her nightstand before he walked over to her. River dropped to the floor beside her while she cried into her hands.

He reached up and put his hand on her back, and she jerked away from him. “D-don’t t-t-touch me-e.”

“Sorry,” he whispered.

She continued to cry while he sat beside her. He didn’t talk or touch her, but she could feel his eyes penetrating her. When she tried taking deep breaths, he leaned closer to her, not saying anything.

“W-what are y-you doing h-here?” she asked as her breathing hitched involuntarily.

“Checking on you. Calli said you were sick. That you, um, that you’ve been vomiting.”

She nodded, not looking at him. At least Calli didn’t tell him everything.

“I brought you some chicken broth. I think you should try to eat it.”

Her breathing was hitching so hard that her head was jerking to the side as she tried to breathe.

“Baby, take deep breaths,” River murmured.

She didn’t want him comforting her. She groaned as she starting crying again.

“Legacy, you have to calm down.” But she kept crying. “I can’t stand to see you like this. At least let me hold you,” he whispered, his tone agonized.

She looked up at River, and his eyes were filled with pain. He was suffering because she was hurting, and he didn’t even understand why. If she ate his soup, maybe he’d leave her to her misery, and she wouldn’t have to explain.

She started to stand up, and River got up, hovering over her to make sure she didn’t fall. When she struggled to get upright, he put his arm around her waist and pulled her up.

“You’re shaking,” he said.

“I-I’m just w-weak.”

River helped her to her bed and opened the soup. He handed it to her before he sat down beside her. She slowly sipped the soup while he watched her protectively.

After she took a few sips, she tried handing him back the soup.

“No. That’s not enough, baby.”

She sighed and took a few more sips before handing him the soup. Then she leaned back on her pillow and threw her arm over her face as she cried again.

“What’s wrong?” River asked, his tone still agonized.

She cried harder. Then she started to choke. She rolled over to the side of the bed where the trashcan was and hurled the chicken broth right back up.

River ran over to the side of the bed, stroked her forehead, and picked up the trashcan. He took it out of the room, and when he came back in a few minutes later, the bag had been changed.

River set the trashcan beside her and walked back over to the sack he’d brought. He pulled out a lemon-lime soda and handed it to her. “Try this,” he whispered.

She did, but a few minutes later, she got the same result. River stayed with her for hours, trying to get her to keep down the soup and soda, but it never worked. After several hours had passed and she was tired of trying, she started to get sleepy again.

She lay on her bed with River lying beside her, facing her. He stroked her hair as she started to relax.

“You’re not sick, are you?” River whispered as her eyelids drooped.

“Nooo.”

“What’s wrong?”

Her breathing started to hitch as tears leaked over again.

“Shhhh…” River scooted closer to her.

She was too exhausted and weak to think clearly. Besides, he’d find out soon enough anyway. “I broke up with Adin.”

River’s hand stopped stroking her hair, and he stopped breathing. She looked up at him, but he was looking away from her. It seemed as if he was deep in thought, and she knew exactly why. He was already contemplating what this meant for him. While she watched him, his eyes flashed over to hers.

“Sorry,” he whispered, shutting his eyes.

“You’re not sorry I broke up with him,” she said through jagged breaths.

“I’m sorry you’re in pain.”

She covered her face as she cried again.

“Why did you do it?” he asked as calmly as he could manage, she figured.

“I-I don’t want to t-t-talk about it.”