Page 57 of Lie with Me
Once inside, I call for Philly. The café is so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
“Philly!” I nearly cry, trying to stand up.
“Tara?” He turns the corner to the back and spots me on the floor.
“What the fuck?” He rushes over to help me up. I whimper feebly as I stand. I seriously think Nino broke a rib.
“Who did this to you?”
“I’ll give you one guess,” I tell him as he sits me down gingerly at one of the tables.
“Nino?”
I nod.
“Cocksucker.” He storms into the back room, returning a few minutes later with some ice and a clean rag.
“He’s getting crazier by the day,” Philly mutters as he wipes the blood from my lip. “I told you to stay away from him. He’s bad news. He always has been. Hold this here.” He puts the ice bag against my side.
I wince at the light pressure. “If I couldn’t have you, your brother seemed like the next best thing.” I make a bad joke.
“Tara,” Philly chastises me. “That’s it. I’m going to talk to him. I’ve had enough of this shit.”
“What are you going to do?” I laugh maniacally. “Challenge him to a fight on the playground? Winner gets to be my best friend?”
“He’s my brother. He’ll listen to me.”
“Nino doesn’t listen to anyone. You know that.”
Philly and Nino are such polar opposites; it’s almost hard to believe they share the same parents. Philly is the goodlevelheaded son, and Nino is the disturbed troublemaker. It’s been like that for as long as I can remember.
“I’ll figure something out,” I sigh, exhausted. “Right now, I just want to go home.”
“I’ll take you.”
“Thanks, Philly.” I smile weakly.
He takes my face in his hands and tilts it up to look at him. “Sometimes, I think this is my fault. If I could just love you the way you want to be loved. If we could be together, none of this crap would have happened.”
I grab his wrist, close to tears. “It’s not your fault. You are who you are. I love you no matter what. And I do have someone who loves me the way I want to be loved. I made my own decisions, Philly. And now, I have to deal with them.”
He kisses my head. “You won’t have to deal with them alone.”
“I know.” I lean against him, feeling the smallest amount of relief for the first time in I can’t remember how long.
I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING. I’m a fucking pussy who turned over just like that. What can I say? It is what it is. I won’t apologize for how I feel.
After I had woke up hung over as hell, ass flat, still in my clothes, I did a lot of soul searching. Yes, I was angry. Yes, I was hurt. Yes, I felt betrayed. I even lost my shit there for a second. But what I discovered, above all those things, is that Tara not being a part of my life destroyed me most of all. I saw the regret in her eyes, the shame, and the humiliation. At the time, it fueled my anger. Now, it only feeds my forgiveness. Tara needs that more than anything. I’m positive of this. I often wondered what made Ellie forgive Kayne. What did she see in him after all his infractions? I know the answer now. Sincerity. Allegiance. A desire for redemption.
Deceit is a jagged little pill to swallow. I can still feel it scratching the back of my throat. But I have always believed in second chances. Why? Regret is worse. If I walk away now, I know I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. Tara has always been different. Tenacious, challenging, one of a kind. From the moment I met her, she was mine, even if I didn’t realize it at first. And I won’t let anyone or anything get in the way of being with her. Even if that means spilling blood.
Tara said they owned her. I don’t know who ‘they’ are, but I’m going to find out. And when I do, I’m going to annihilatethem. Wipe them right off the face of the earth without even giving it a second thought.
They fucked with the wrong man’s girl, and now, it’s time to pay the price.
I lean against her front door waiting. I sort of split quick after she asked me to go, so I figured she’d end up here after her shift. I’ve been waiting a while, antsy to see her. We have a lot to talk about. I need to know everything, and I need to know tonight. I hear the creak of the stairs—there’s no elevator in her building—then I see her blonde head and a young man helping her onto the landing. If I didn’t know who he was, I’d freak. But I do know. He’s her best friend.
When she looks up into my eyes, I do freak. Her face is swollen, her lip is cut, and she’s holding her side as if she’d been punched.
