“Look. We both know what’ll happen if you go to her. You’ll make things worse for youandher.Your dad just got you out, and you want to go back in there?” Folding his arms over his chest he pins with an intense stare. “Think before you act.”
Before I can reply to him, the gates open and a white Mercedes Benz drives down the driveway. The car stops at the stairs of the porch.
Marie gets out in a hurry. The first thing I notice is, she looks nothing like she usually does. She’s dressed in jeans and a white top. Her everyday jewelry is missing and she’s wearing slippers when she usually has some funky shoes on. When she looks up at us, my chest shrinks. Her eyes are rimmed red and her cheeks are rosy. Her blond hair is untamed and wild as if she didn’t even brush it.
She is a complete mess.
She doesn’t spare a look at Sebastian, as she climbs the stairs in determination. Midway, her eyes get teary and I fear that she’ll trip over because of her blurry vision, but she stays composed. Her cheeks are wet by the time she stops in front of me.
Straightening, I step closer to comfort her. “Marie?—”
A hard punch knocks my breath out. A second later another one follows and soon she’s raining down punches on me.
I brace my arms by my side and take every single blow because I know I deserve it. Also, she needs to let out the frustration she’s feeling—something I caused when I decided to keep her out of this matter.
Marie keeps her jabs coming at me while sobbing. Her cries bring me physical pain. I bet Sebastian is in even more agony listening to them.
But she needs to let it out.
Marie is someone who feels happiness and joy to the fullest, but she also feels sadness and pain to its full capacity. She is a myriad of emotions and she lives through them vicariously.
“Why didn’t you tell me!”
Punch.
“Am I not important to you?”
Punch.
“Do you know how I feel?”
Punch.
“You hid something so big from me!”
Punch.
One after another she throws those questions at me and I stay silent, not having an answer to a single one of them.
After a few minutes, her fists stop hitting my chest, and she slumps her head against it and sobs heavily.
“Just why… why didn’t you tell me?” Her voice is low and quiet. Then, in an even quieter tone she says, “I hate you.”
My heart breaks inside my chest. I inhale a deep breath to let the air fill in the cracks that those words have brought me.
Marie is incapable of hating anyone. Fuck. She didn’t hate the girls who bullied her. But that has changed. Because of me.
I look over at Sebastian whose face has contorted into sympathy. His green eyes meet mine and he tries to tell me that she doesn’t mean that, but we both know at this moment she does.
Hesitantly, I place my hand on her back and say, “I’m so sorry that I didn’t tell you.”
Turning her head, she looks up at me, and the sight hurts. “Why? Whydidn’t you tell me?”
“Because I wanted to protect you.”
She watches me for a while but doesn’t say a word. Which is unusual in itself. Chatterbox is her middle name—given by me.
“But I had the right to know.” A single tear drops from her eye and slides down her cheek. “You both knew and I didn’t. I could have helped, Hope.”
