Truth be Told

Chapter 2

She sighed with relief as the door clicked closed behind him, then, as quickly as she could, undressed and stepped under the hot spray. She sank down to the floor and began to sob as she remembered how they had parted. How her best friend she had thought gay, had betrayed her by lying to Connel, and how Connel had believed him. She hadn’t known that Casey liked her. He had always been her gay best friend. They talked boys and did their nails together. He had been another brother to her. She remembered how Connel had raged and insisted the lies were true. She had tried so hard to get him to see she would never cheat on him. He was her everything. He didn’t believe her. To him, it was too good to be true for a girl to love someone so dark and broken as him. She had her own darkness though, her own broken pieces and secretes. She couldn’t get him to understand and finally she just gave in and told him to believe what he wanted, then ran from him. She could still see his handsome, dark copper, sharp features twisted with hurt and doubt. His dark obsidian eyes with their gold rims lost in their frame of raven hair. His large hands gripping his head and chest as though he felt they would burst. The painful sobs wracked her body.

She sobbed uncontrollably until a hand reached in and pulled her out. Before she knew anything she was wrapped in a towel and being rocked.

“You’re safe now. It’s okay.”

He tucked her beneath his chin and rocked her. She yelped as thunder shook the house and the lights flickered off.

“My truck.”

Her voice came out tiny and weak. He would know who she was as soon as he saw it. She didn’t care. Right now, she felt safer than she had in over a year.

“I’ll get it once the storm is over and the ground is safe to drive on.” He swung her up into his arms and carried her to the bed.

“I’ll go get you a shirt.” He disappeared, but quickly reappeared with a shirt. Together they fumbled around until they had it on her. He tucked her into bed.

“I’ll be right back. You need something to eat.”

He quickly descended the stairs and grabbed a can of chicken noodles. It was fast and she needed the warmth. He pulled out the camp stove he kept in the kitchen and poured the soup into a pan to warm. He had noticed how undernourished Sara was and grabbed her cheese and crackers to go with the soup. He would need to make sure she ate properly while she was there. He thought about the scar on her face and the brokenness in her eyes and became angry. He knew Sara wasn’t her real name. He had felt the uptake in her heartbeat when she answered. Security and lies was his business. Whoever hurt her is still out there, and she is scared enough to use an alias and be driving in a storm she was obviously scared of. He fiddled with his ring. If she changed her name, what else has she changed? Could she be Aspen?

He carried the tray up to her, to find her sleeping.

“Darlin, you can’t sleep until you eat.”

She whimpered as he sat her up with one hand and put the tray in her lap with the other.

“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get some soup in you.”

He held her up and fed her spoon by spoon until the soup was gone then laid her back down. He brushed the hair off her forehead and started as he realized she had blond roots. He shook his head as he stumbled to his room. It can’t be her. Aspen would never come to me.