Shame was a weird beast. I hadn’t done anything to be ashamed of. But this cloud had hovered over me since I’d found out what Trent had been up to. When the police showed up, and I answered the door holding an icepack to my face. When I had to tell my parents I was canceling the wedding.
When I showed up here alone.
I sighed.
I really just wanted to hole up in my bed and mope, but the siren song of coffee called for me, and I didn’t know how to operate the fancy espresso machine in my room. And really, I was too damn exhausted to try.
Throwing my hair into a messy bun, I pulled on some shorts and a tee. Pausing in my doorway, I tried to shake off the gloom of my mom’s text and that fucking memory that continued to haunt me.
This was supposed to be a fun escape.
Leave that shit behind, Saylor.
I forced a skip to my step as I closed the door and headed for the stairs
“What the fuck happened to your face!” The words came from ten feet away, at the bottom of my treehouse stairs.
I froze, teetering about six steps from the bottom.
Shit. I forgot my concealer.
And that cloud of shame came roaring back.
Throwing a hand up to cover my cheek, I pivoted and tried to run back upstairs, but Mal’s hand on my arm stopped me.
Without a thought, I cowered away from him, clutching my face in my free hand. “Don’t!”
The hand on my arm disappeared, and a muffled curse came from behind me.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Saylor. I’m sorry I scared you.”
My shoulders hunched up to my ears as I realized what I’d done—what I’d revealed.
Shaking my head mutely, I ran back up the stairs and slammed the door behind me. I flipped the two locks and dropped down onto my butt, covering my face with my hands.
And I cried.
It hurt. I hated that this was what I’d turned into. That I let him and that shitty situation scar me.
But it did.
And it hurt so much.
I should be stronger. I should be smarter than this.
But I wasn’t.
And I was starting to think I might never be.
Once my tears slowed, I headed for the bathroom to do damage control.
It was probably twenty minutes later when I left my treehouse a second time, but it felt like an eon, judging by my grumbling stomach.
I didn’t expect to see him sitting on my bottom step, waiting for me.
I paused in my open door and seriously contemplated calling the front desk and begging them to send me food.
Or sending someone to eject Mal.
