Hendrix - Kelsey Clayton Page 0,44
not all to blame. I should've known better than to make him mad. He’s dealing with some serious problems.”
“What the fuck?” she says in disbelief. “Are you even hearing yourself right now? There is nothing, and I mean nothing, you can do that would make it justifiable for him to put hands on you. Not a damn thing!”
Cowering at her tone, I swallow down a lump in my throat. “Please don't yell.”
She takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. “I'm sorry, S. I just hate seeing you like this. You're smarter than that.”
I shake my head. “But I'm not. I'm not smart, or pretty, or anything.”
“And who told you that? Topher?”
Colby comes storming out of his bedroom, where he disappeared to when Maddie arrived. Honestly, I think she scares him. He comes over and grabs me by the wrist and pulls me with him.
“What the hell are you doing?” I shout. “Let go of me.”
Maddie follows behind as he brings me into his bathroom. He turns me so I'm facing the mirror, and I already know what he's about to do. I shake my head and squeeze my eyes shut as he pulls up my shirt.
“Don't,” I plead, trying to get away. “I don't want to see it.”
“Open your eyes, Saige,” he demands.
“No.”
“Saige,” Maddie says, and I can hear in her tone, she's crying. “You need to look.”
Reluctantly, I force my eyes open and stare at my reflection. There are bruises all over my body—some healing and others still livid and swollen. My skin looks more black and purple than it does my normal pale complexion. As I look over all the damage Topher caused, I feel my chest tighten.
“He loves me,” I croak, not even sure if I believe my own words anymore.
Colby shakes his head. “Someone who loves you wouldn't do this. Take it from someone who knows what it's like to love you.”
My gaze meets his in the mirror and searches for any sign of him lying. He and I had never exchanged those three little words in all the time we dated, so hearing it from him now is a shock to my nervous system.
“You did?”
He nods once. “He doesn't know the girl he lost. It'll be the biggest regret of his life.”
As he lets me go, I'm finally allowed to pull my shirt back down, but I don't. I take a step closer to the mirror and commit each one to memory. To remind myself that love shouldn’t hurt. I run my fingers over one particularly dark one and wince at the deep ache.
The front door slams shut, and it's then I notice Maddie is gone.
My eyes widen to the size of golf balls. “Maddie!”
Colby and I both rush outside just as she's starting her car. I try to open her driver's side door, but it's locked.
“Mads, stop!”
She shakes her head and throws the car in reverse, only to slam on her brakes when she almost backs right into Colby. He's standing behind her car with his arms crossed, caging her in. She rolls down the window and sticks her head out.
“Move it or lose it, Hendrix!”
He raises his brows. “And have to explain to my daughter why her favorite person is spending life in prison? I think I'll pass.”
Maddie throws the car in park and gets out, going over and trying to move him herself, but he won't budge. She's a tiny girl, and he's two hundred pounds of NFL muscle. When she realizes that she doesn't have a chance, she groans.
“Ugh! You're so...ugh!”
A sarcastic smirk spreads across his face. “I see nothing's changed in six years.”
She rolls her eyes and punches him right in the chest, only to shake the pain out of her hand. Meanwhile, Colby didn't even wince. He looks down at her and grins smugly.
“Do you feel better now?”
Maddie sighs. “You're the worst.” She turns to me. “What did you ever see in him?”
I shrug. “Don't ask me. Clearly I have bad taste in men.”
My words are cruel, but Colby must be able to sense the humor undertones to them because he chuckles. Walking over to Maddie's driver's side, he reaches in and grabs the keys.
“You can have these back when you feel a little less murderous,” he tells her.
I can't help but laugh. “Look, now you're a hostage, too.”
The two of us start to follow him back inside like children in trouble.
“This is just his way of getting that threesome he always wanted,” she replies pointedly enough to sound