Shadows of the Past (22 page)

He shoves me away and the back of my head slams into the wall.
 

"You bitch," he growls threateningly.

Before he can come toward me again, Sophia's in the doorway.
 

"What the hell is going on here?" Thank God.

"Your employee," James says, turning around to face her with his hand over his nose, "came onto me when I walked in looking for you. I told her I wasn't interested because I love you, baby, and the fucking bitch punched me."

My jaw drops. That's not at all what happened! I'm so shocked I can't find words to defend myself. Sophia glares at me, arms crossed over her chest.
 

"Kayla, you're fired. I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not. I can't believe you would try to take another man away from me."
 

Her voice is frosty, but I can see the satisfaction in her eyes. She's enjoying the fact that she gets to fire me after getting shot down by Oliver.
 

"That's not what happened!" I yell. She has to know how he is. Sophia already told me she figured he would cheat, but she was with him because he has money and can take care of her.
 

"Sophia, you have to believe me. I would never touch him willingly."

Sophia looks at us, contemplating what I've said. James is giving her slimy puppy dog eyes, playing the wounded and innocent victim, while I stand tall. I did nothing wrong, and I refuse to let them treat me like I did.
 

"You know what he's like, I know you do." My voice is pleading with her to recognize I'm the one telling the truth. But I see her eyes harden and know she's chosen him before she even opens her mouth.

"Get out.”
 

She takes a step closer to me. Her height makes her seem menacing when combined with the look on her face. Sophia's eyes are cold as ice, her mouth puckers like she tasted something nasty, and she's looking down at me like I'm dog shit she just realized she stepped in.
 

I open my mouth to protest again, desperate not to lose this job. I need the income and I have no idea what I'll do without it. Everything is going to shit lately, and it feels like the universe and everyone in it are pushing me to flee. It's like the universe thinks if it takes away everything, if it leaves me in ruins, I'll finally run home to my mom. If only it were that easy.

The words I want to say stick in my throat when Sophia turns away from me.
 

"Just leave, Kayla. As much as I would love to have you thrown out, I'll let you walk away with your dignity intact if you go now. I don’t work with tramps."
 

A tramp? I'm the furthest thing from it. She doesn't look back at me again. Realizing any protests or defense I have against all of this will fall on deaf ears, I have no choice but to walk away. Staying isn't going to prove anything.

“Fine,” I throw down the hanger and glare at her. “Since you’re so interested in his money, or Oliver’s money—yeah, James, that’s right. Sophia tried to get good old Oliver to take her back. When he said no, she decided not to dump you. You both deserve each other.”

James growls and looks over at her. Sophia shrinks back a little and then glares at me. She laughs in a high pitch tone.
 

“She’s lying. You can’t believe that!”

“Believe what you want, but someday someone is going to sue his ass off, take all his money, and you’re going to wish you stayed with Oliver. Have a nice life.” I storm out before they can answer. I hear James scolding her as I shove out the doors.

Tears of rage streak my face by the time I’m on the sidewalk. Can this day get any worse? It feels like I'm holding myself together with a thread.

CHAPTER 39

The walk home takes longer than normal due to my tears and leisurely pace. It's dark when I finally arrive, and the chill in the air makes me shiver.
 

I stare up at the building, waiting to feel some form of comfort, but there's nothing. I'm still just as alone as I've ever been, and it's nobody's fault but my own. With a deep sigh, I trudge into the building, riding the elevator silently until I reach my floor.

As soon as I open the door I know something is wrong. Emily is in the kitchen on the phone, her posture stiff. Her back is straight, and her hand is clutching the cordless phone so tight her knuckles have turned white.
 

"I have to go," she murmurs into the phone as she turns to face me. "Yeah, I'll call when I know more. Okay, bye." Emily doesn't take her eyes off me while she speaks, and her eyes narrow when she places the phone on the counter and crosses her arms over her chest.

"I just got an interesting phone," she says, studying me. Not sure what I'm supposed to say to that, I just stand, frozen, in the foyer. "A woman called. She was very nice, pleasant, you know?" I nod, and she continues. "The woman was calling from America." My eyes widen. Emily's voice turns hard, much like Sophia's was earlier, and my heart falls into my shoes. Oh shit. "Said she was your mum. Funny, that, seeing as how you told me you had no family."
 

Fuck, fuckity, fuck. My horror must show on my face because Emily's face falls.
 

"Is it true?" she asks sadly. "Is she your mum?" I can't say anything in my own defense, and my lack of denial confirms it.
 

"Why?"
 

I still don't answer.

She asks again, voice much louder. "Why Kayla? Why did you lie to me?" Anger alone I can deal with, but the emotion in her voice is hurt. I can see the hurt in her eyes too.

"Emily, I never meant for—"

She puts up a hand, cutting me off before I can even begin to try to explain.
 

"I felt awful for you, for your losing your family. I took pity on you because you had no money and told me you were broke when you moved in. I let you into my life, into my home, and you've been lying to me! And it didn’t stop. You’ve been telling me the same shit for months." She stops abruptly, turning her face away from me, but not fast enough for me to miss the tears gathering on her lashes.

"Please, Emily. Let me explain." I take a step closer, and she turns back to face me, tears gone, her face shuttered.
 

She steps back, and for just a second I can see the fear on her face. The fear stops me in my tracks, and I can feel tears growing in the backs of my eyes.
 

Everything...my life...is crumbling around me, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. I've lost Oliver, my job, now Emily too? I don't think I can take it.

"No," she snaps. "I don't want to listen to any more of your lies. You’re such a goddamn hypocrite!"
 

Emily has been a happy, bubbly, friendly person the entire time I've known her, but the person yelling at me is someone new.
 

"All the phone calls make sense now. The guy calling looking for you, the one I told you about before, he was trying to find you for a reason wasn't he? Oh, God, did you do something?" Her eyes widen, and I'm not sure if it's in fright or horror.
 

When I don’t answer, she rushes on, "That's it, isn't it? You did something, and then you ran away from home, so you wouldn't get in trouble for it. You're a criminal or something aren't you?"
 

She begins to pace, the words spilling out of her faster than I can comprehend. "That's it—you broke the law, left the country, and gave me a sob story so I wouldn't turn you in. How much trouble am I in? I'm going to end up in jail? I can see it now, Mum will wring her hands in distress while Daddy says, 'Emily Katherine White, what did I tell you about offering a stranger a room?'" She mumbles, "He'll be so disappointed in me."

I told her the same thing I've told everyone else since I ran, but this is the longest I've stayed in one place; no one has ever found out the truth before. I wanted to tell her, I almost did, but I could never bring myself to do it.
 

Seeing Emily hurting because of my lies makes me feel like a shitty, awful person. I can't blame her for thinking the worst of me. Knowing I need to calm her down, I try to placate her.
 

"Emily, I promise, I'm not a criminal. It's not what you think. Just, please give me a chance to explain." She stops in the middle of one of her paces through the room, but she doesn't look over at me. Her stillness is the only acknowledgment she gives that she even heard me. "Please?"

Emily finally nods, sitting on her pretty white couch and staring down at her hands while she waits for my explanation.

"You're right.” I begin. “I did lie to you about my family. My mom and sister are both alive though I don't know anything about my dad. I didn't lie when I told you I don't know where he is—I haven't seen him for a long time." Thoughts are scrambling in my head as I try to come with something, anything, to tell her that will seem logical, but I'm coming up blank.

“I ran away from home, not because I did something wrong, or because I'm a criminal. Some things happened, things I'm not ready to talk about yet, but I couldn't handle them and I left. I knew my mom would try to reason with me, to say anything she could in hopes of getting me back home, and I couldn't handle dealing with her on top of everything else."
 

Emily still isn't looking at me, and I'm sure I'm about two seconds away from being thrown out into the street.
 

I try harder, "I guarantee no one is going to come search your house, and find stolen goods or drugs or something."
 

I smile at her, trying to make a joke out of it and get her to smile at me. If she does, I'll know I've been forgiven. She's not the type to keep a grudge or stay mad for long.

"You know," she starts, her voice low, "you're lucky I don't cut people out of my life the way you do." I squeeze my eyes shut and relief that she's going to let me stay courses through my veins. "Maybe you should think about paying it forward, giving other people a second chance, maybe Oliver, maybe your family?"

My head shakes before the rest of me catches up with her words.
 

"I can't," I whisper.
 

I should be alone. Scratch that, I deserve to be alone. I don't deserve happiness, love, or friendship. I deserve loneliness, pain, and despair.

Emily is so angry she almost growls.
 

"I can't believe you, you know? You've lied to me about everything since we met, but when Oliver fails to tell you one thing, you cut him out of your life like it doesn't bother you in the slightest. You skipped out on your mum and sis.” She shakes her head, disgusted. “I'm not that person, Kayla. I may not trust you anymore, but I'm not going to put you out."
 

She looks up at me, eyes full of hurt, but anger too.
 

"You may want to think about that. And while you're thinking, you should start looking for somewhere else to live, too." She gets up, her eyes sliding away, and walks slowly to her room. Her shoulders slump and I can tell she's giving up on me.
 

Once the door to her bedroom slams shut, I drop my head in my hands, resting my elbows on my thighs and close my eyes. I'm trying desperately not to cry. My head jerks up at the sound of a throat clearing, and Emily is standing at the end of the coffee table, as far from me as she can get and still be in the same room.
 

"Here." She holds out a slip of paper, "This is your mom's number. She asked that you ring her mobile as soon as you returned home." Her voice is chilly, her tone formal, and I only stare at the tiny slip of paper she's holding out for me. It's trembling, letting me know she's shaking as well, but I just can't take it. I'm afraid if I have a way to contact my mom, I'll take it, and then where will I be?

A few hours later I'm lying in bed feeling sorry for myself after drowning my sorrows in a bottle of cheap wine, and before I can talk myself out of it, I send him a text.

- I kind of miss you.

There. That wasn't so bad was it? I didn't say anything major, just that I miss him a little. I'll go back to being mad at him later.
 

My phone buzzes in my hand and I jump, forgetting that I even actually sent the thing.

- I miss you.
 

It still shows him typing, so I don't say anything in return, wondering what on earth he has to say. I wasn't expecting an answer this late at night.
 

The phone begins to ring, and Oliver's name shows on the screen. I absolutely wasn't expecting him to call, and if I hadn't decided to drink my weight in wine tonight, I wouldn't even think of answering the phone.

"Hello?"

His voice in my ear is deep, sounding like my text roused him from sleep. "Hi. I was just going to text you, but I miss all of you. Your voice, your face, the smile you give me when you think I'm not looking at you."
 

My heart is going to tear itself in half. Not only did he call me, sounding sexy and sleepy, but he's also saying all the right things. Forgive him, Kayla.

"Oliver." I try to say it as a warning, but it comes out more like a sigh. All these thoughts are racing through my head, but I have no idea what to say to him.
 

"Are you still there?"
 

I drop the phone and lose it in the bedding. “Shit!” It takes me a second, but I find it.
 

Smooth, Kayla, real smooth. Texting him felt ballsy, but now that I'm sitting here, holding my phone up to my ear and waiting for him to say something, anything, I feel like the twit Emily keeps calling me.

Blurting out the first thought in my head, I ask, "Are you and Sophie getting back together?"

"What? No, of course not." Shock fills his voice like he can't quite believe I'm asking the question. "Is that what she told you? I told her that my heart belongs to someone else. That ship has sailed, sweetheart."

I needed to hear it from him. I want to cry and beg him to forgive me. I shouldn’t have flipped out like that. But all I can manage is, "Okay."