Crow squints as he follows the direction I'm pointing in. "Isn't that—?"
"Yeah," I huff.
"Dude, have you talked to her since you've been out?" He grips at the steering wheel while blazing his glare against the side of my face.
"It wasn't on purpose. We keep crossing paths," I tell Crow.
"Crossing paths, or is she looking for you?" he corrects me.
"I'm not too sure, honestly."She wasn’t looking for me earlier today when she almost drowned, and I didn’t mention I’d be working here tonight.
"Well, she's clearly got trouble tattooed on her forehead. I would stay away. I mean, why would Mayor Leigh's daughter, of all people, be sitting on the steps ofthisshit-hole motel in Sutter? If she needed a place to stay, wouldn't she be at the upscale B&B in her own town?
"I don't know," I tell him. All the questions Crow just asked have been running through my head too. "I should go check on her."
"Dude…” he stalls for a second. “I feel like you're asking for it.”
“Yeah, I probably am, but I can’t just leave her there.” I sound like a moron. He knows what she put me through.
“You can’t just leave her there? She put you in prison for seven years, bro.”
“Just...give me a quick minute,” I tell him.
“Whatever, man.”
I hop out of the truck and make my way over to Haven before sitting down on the step beside her. "Care to explain?" I ask.
Haven sniffles and turns her head to me. "I don't know what I've done," she says. Her eyes are filled with tears, and I don't think I've ever seen her cry before. She may not have always made smart decisions, but this girl is as tough as nails.
"What did you do?" I ask.
"I ran away from my life, Raine. You already know that."
"So what?" At least you had a life.
"I like to make decisions without thinking them through first," she begins.
"Are you informing or reminding me of this?" I know I'm a dick, but I can't help blaming her for the tears she's shedding. These were all her decisions. She's twenty-three now, capable of making her own way. Instead, she was in the process of becoming someone else's property.
"I went from one controlling life to another because Bennett felt familiar I guess." She lets her head hang forward and wraps her hands behind her neck. “I really screwed up.”
"Well, money will offer a false sense of comfort," I tell her, not knowing what else to say. She did screw up. She’s messed up a lot.
"Money doesn't give me comfort or happiness, but it has put a roof over my head all of these years," she continues. "I tried to get all my stuff out of the house before Bennett came home today, but he showed up a lot earlier than he normally does. I think part of him was hoping I just needed a break to think things through and that I wasn't leaving for good. It was just one battle after another, and during the whole time we were fighting, I could only see the arguments my parents had in the hallways of our house when they didn't think I was watching or listening." She pauses, sounding as if she needs to catch her breath, and I hold my tongue, knowing she's got more to say. "God, money doesn't bring happiness, because it causes people to become ugly and selfish. I was so scared of turning out like that, and today, I was my mother and Bennett was my father. It was so disgusting, Raine. I couldn't take it."
I'd love to say I knew all of this would happen, but that won't help her right now. "So, what did you do?" I assume she ran like a bat out of hell, considering he isn't here with her right now.
"I tried to get into my packed car, but he took the keys, reminding me that he owned the car. So, I took a small bag," she nods her head to the step behind her where a leather duffle bag is sitting in a pile of smoked butts, "and walked here. I went to reserve a room, and the woman told me all my credit cards and my debit card were declined. Bennett owned all of that too. He didn't want me to work. I was to be his stay-at-home wife who would kiss him goodbye on the steps of our front porch in the mornings and be waiting right there like a goddamn dog when he came home at night."
She's telling me she's poor. She has nothing. Everything has been taken from her. This was the life she once wanted, and it's taking everything inside of me not to remind her of that. "Well, what about your parents?" I offer as a solution.
"I'd rather sleep on this step," she tells me while looking up with her tear-ridden eyes.
"This step isn't comfortable enough to sleep on. Trust me, I've tried it. What about your friend, Mary something?"
"Maryanne?" she corrects me, along with a sarcastic laugh. "No. Besides the dozen reasons I could give you, her husband is best friends with Bennett. I can't go there. Bennett will know he won. He'll know I desperately went and asked someone to let me sleep there for a night because I had no other options."
I fold my hands between my knees and drop my head. "Why do you care so damn much about what other people think? You never did before."
