My Beautiful Lies (Beautiful Nothing #2) (6 page)

A place out behind the barn of my deceased parents’ house. 

He would talk the girl into sex, then another guy would join. They would bring in another and another until finally the girl would find her morals and say no. That’s when things would get out of hand. They began just taking what they wanted, raping the poor teenage girls in the most sickening ways. They would threaten the girls— stalk them to make sure they stayed quiet. Where do I come in? I knew all these things were happening, but there was nothing I could do. Five football players against one isn’t an easy fight. Plus, they were my best friends. I would stay quiet, let them do their worst, and then save them. I would help them cope, let them talk to me. A few of the high school girls couldn’t handle it; they committed suicide leaving behind no explanation why. Why they do the things they do, I could never tell you. I guess we were all in foster care for a reason. We are fucked up. Even though we have known each other since high school, we know nothing about each other’s past. 

However, one thing I do know is we all have a monster inside just trying to claw its way out. I became addicted to them hurting girls so I could be a hero and save them. They all eventually caught on, saying we’re a team, we won’t ever get caught. 

When we got to college, it continued for a while. Even after Jake met Laney. I became obsessed with their relationship—obsessed with her. I waited and waited for him to mess up and get caught, but he never did. It took five years for him to get sick of her. He wanted something new, he said he wanted to do one last game before he put that life behind him. Laney. 

When he told me he was done with her, I wanted to be there to pick up the pieces. I agreed to be there when they were done. I wore a mask in case she was coherent. She was out of it, high on whatever they drugged her with. But I talked to her—she mumbled and nodded her head. That was all I could get out of her. So I figured if I waited long enough Lindsay would recommend my office and I would be taking her case being the only therapist in the small building. Then it all began. Jake found out about me meeting with Laney beyond that night. He was pissed and got his revenge by running Lindsay off the bridge. I came home from work one night to Jake in the basement with Lindsay. What could I do? He said if I didn’t stop seeing Laney, Lindsay would be killed.  He has been toying with Lindsay ever since. He didn’t know I was still seeing her behind his back. He thought I was still playing along. 

I
was
playing along, but the voices eat at me. I cracked trying to save Lindsay, but she wasn’t ready. I could let her free, but she has to be gone. So far gone that she won’t remember what happened and can either go on with her life or end it. During all this, my heart has been ripped from my chest. It was stolen. By Laney. 

Lying here with all these thoughts is just a constant reminder that my secrets may be exposed. That each day that passes, Jake will do everything in his power to tear us apart. Lindsay was just the start of it. I will face him after our vacation. It could be our last time together alone before she finds out. My eyes start to get heavy. Giving in, I let them close. Drifting off into a dreamless sleep. 

***

BANG! BANG! BANG!

We both fly awake from the booming outside. Laney looks to me in complete fear; I tell her to stay put. I will find out what it is. I just want her to be safe. I throw on some sweats and take off toward the stairs. Once I make it out the front door, no one is there. All the tires on her car have been slashed, windows busted, and it is pretty banged up. Stepping closer, I see a note shoved under the windshield wiper. 

SOMETIMES THERE’S A PLAN, A GAME, AND SIX PLAYERS. FAILURE TO ABIDE BY THE RULES ENDS IN DISQUALIFICATION. X

Great, here’s his first warning. Looks like I need to get her out of town sooner than I thought.
I crumple the letter, stuffing it into the pocket of my sweat pants. I don’t need her to see it and get more scared than she already is. I turn to walk back into the house to see Laney at the door, her hand covering her mouth. Eyes wide and worried, filling with tears. I am almost to the door before she spins on her heels to head back inside, slamming the door in my face when I reach it. Now she’s mad at me and she didn’t even see the letter. 

I open the door and follow her up the stairs.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her as she turns her back to me. 

“What’s wrong? What don’t you understand, James? I told you, and now he knows! He knows I told you, and now he’s after us,” she says, picking up random things off her dresser and throwing them to the floor.
Well, that’s kind of true, except for that it’s my fault, not hers.
 

I tell her to calm down, that I will protect her. I have been doing just that. She can’t do anything but cry, but at least she isn’t fighting me anymore. I take her down to the living room with me and tell her to wait in there while I go clean up the glass from the car. Her car is fixable, just have to replace the tires and windows. I mean, there’s some pretty bad dents, but it’s drivable. I drag the dumpster to the car and start placing the glass in it. It takes me an hour to get everything cleaned up. I suggest to Laney that we should order new tires and windows for her car. She agrees, and I sit down at the kitchen table while she looks up different places. 

She continues looking until she finds a cheap one. She still looks worried; I want to get her out of town, but it’s still too soon. “I think I want to lay down. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I’m so tired. I have been dragging ass for a week now,” she says to me, looking really pale. 

“Are you sure you’re not sick?” I ask, feeling her head for a temperature.  

“Do you think I’m pregnant?” she asks, tensing up. Shock spreads across my face, and I take a big gulp
.  A baby? What happens if I bring a monster like me into this world? Will I hurt it too?
All these things run through my head, and I start to get nervous. Instead of freaking her out any further, I tell her we will get a test and that she shouldn’t worry too much. I go take a shower, contemplating what I’m going to do if she is pregnant. Coming out of the shower, she is standing there in the doorway. 

“What’s the matter? Did something happen?” 

“No. Nothing happened, I just was thinking about how I missed my period. It’s a really good idea that we go get that test. Like now,” she says in a firm tone, sending chills down my spine. 

I get dressed and we run to the closest pharmacy. Which reminds me to make a call for my medicine while Laney stands in line. Eleanor answers on the second ring and I ask to speak with Dr. Hazel. When she picks up she hacks all over the phone, making me want to puke. I flirt my way into asking and she agrees to send the script over. Relieved, I get in line with Laney. I can’t pick it up with her here, but I can when I go to work tomorrow. 

She flies through the front door once we get home. Rushing to the bathroom to take the test. I can’t really tell if she is anxious or excited. I follow her until I am standing outside the bathroom door. Minutes pass by before I start getting antsy and knock on the door. She doesn’t answer, so I push my way in to find her sitting on the lid of the toilet staring at the test with shaky hands. 

“I-I-I’m pregnant,” she slurs out, not even looking at me.  The walls close in on me, and my chest gets tight. I drop to my knees beside her, tears springing to my eyes before I have a chance to hold them back. “I’m so sorry, James, I should have been more careful. I should have gotten on birth control the minute we ran out of condoms.” 

“It’s not your fault, it’s mine. You don’t have to have this baby if you don’t want to. I will completely understand. I don’t want this to make everything harder, or hurt you anymore.” 

“Hurt me anymore? You’ve never hurt me, and maybe a baby isn’t so bad. We can get through this together, right? You aren’t going to leave me, are you?” she asks, tears steadily streaming down her flushed cheeks. 

“No, I would never leave you. Baby or no baby, I will always be here by your side.” The tears won’t stop pouring as we both sit on the bathroom floor, talking about what we’re going to do. The plan is to keep the baby, raise it without losing the love we have for each other, and protecting ourselves from Jake. Everything hits me like a ton of bricks. It’s real. It could be the best or the worst mistake in our lives to have this baby; but I know for a fact that whatever happens, no matter how fast our relationship moves, she makes me better. 

The annoying buzz of the alarm clock stirs us awake. I flip over onto my side to pull Laney into a spooning position, but she’s not there. After all the shit Jake keeps pulling, I am on edge. I need to know she is safe or I panic. 

“Laney?” I holler, rolling out of bed to my feet. 

“I’m down here,” she yells, her voice carrying up the stairs. Relieved, I swallow my anxiety and join her.  I find her in the kitchen eating a bowl of granola. I get my own bowl and eat so we can take our jog before work. We get done eating, and I head upstairs to change when I notice she isn’t following. 

“You changing?” 

She looks up from the daze she’s in and answers, “I’m not really feeling that great. I don’t wanna get halfway down the road and we both have to turn around because I’m puking my guts out.” 

Oh yeah, she’s pregnant. How can I forget about something like that? I’m a bad father already,
I think to myself. I kiss her on the forehead and tell her I will be back to drive her to work. I set off down the road, choosing to leave my headphones at home. The air is frigid, causing my muscles to feel sore. It’s been a while since I jogged, since the night the voices had me black out. I feel like I should ditch this jog and just sit for a bit. I just want to get to the pharmacy to get those pills. Not for me, but for Laney and the baby. I don’t ever want to chance them getting hurt by me. I make it to the two-mile mark and take a seat on the dew-covered grass. My phone vibrates with a call.

Harry: I don’t know what you did to Jake… man, but he’s pissed. He threw a fit last night, banged up the little bitch in the basement pretty bad she is still knocked out cold.  Where have you been, why aren’t you here dealing with this shit. I am not going down for her if she dies bro, that’s all on you.

Me: It’s none of anyone’s business where I’ve been. But that’s great, how bad is it? I asked you to look over my house and make sure Jake didn’t kill the girl. There’s fucking four of you why can’t you handle Jake? He brought on this plan, not me. 

Harry: It is my business where you are. I am involved in this bullshit just to get my dick wet, not to fucking kill anyone. I am a fucking cop, so watch your bullshit tone. You’re starting to piss me off. She is fucked up pretty bad. She has at least 3 broken ribs, who knows if they punctured a lung. I mean she’s still breathing, but that doesn’t mean shit. There’s a lot of blood on the basement floor, she has bruising everywhere. It’s not good, and you need to get someone over here to take a look or she is probably gonna die.

Me: Alright, I will stop over after work. Is Jake still there?

Harry: Nope he told me to tell you that you fucked up and now he has to finish the plan himself. Whatever the fuck that means.

Me: Okay. See you later

That motherfucker. He is not anyone’s friend. He drags us all around for fun, just for shits and giggles. Not this time. No. This time, he is going to have to be beat at his own game.

Running back to the house, I think up ways he could die. If I can make it look like an accident, everything would be over. Laney would never have to know, the other guys can move on and not have to deal with it. We could all go our separate ways, even if it means putting my childhood best friend in his fire-blazing grave. I’ll do anything to bury the last of my demons, to keep my new family safe. I reach the house and find Laney upstairs dressing for work. 

“How are you feeling? I tried to be quick,” I tell her, putting my arms around her small waist. It won’t be too long before it starts growing. 

“I’m good, I guess it’s just that stupid morning sickness.” I lay my hands on the back of her neck, lifting her hair to the side to kiss her tenderly on the neck. 

“We’ve come a long way from where we started. Sometimes the darkest of times bring out the light. You’re my light, and I am ready to be anything you want me to be,” I say, spinning her around, kissing her with a force I didn’t know I had. She deepens the kiss and puts her arms around my neck, pulling me in closer. I don’t want to break the kiss, but I have to, or we will both be late for work. Pulling away she huffs, and I give her a smirk. “I don’t want to stop, trust me. Every fiber of my being says keep going. But if I don’t get a shower so we can get going, we’re going to be late for work.” 

She nods her head, but not before rolling her eyes. “I will be downstairs waiting. I have a new song I wanna try out before I get to the school,” she says with a smile, shaking her hips out the door. She is adorable. You never really stop to think what makes you fall for another person, but little things like that make you realize why. I jump in the shower, wasting no time to wash my body, hair, and rinse to get out. I lay my suitcase on the bed to get out my outfit for the day. When I unzip the bag, the clothes are gone. I get confused for a second, then it dawns on me that she may have hung them up. I check the closet, and sure enough, they are, neatly hung with different colored ties, hanging around the hanger with each suit.