I thought sharing a few days with my closest friends would be a distraction from my own head, and I thought I would have a great time, but after
one day, I realized I was the odd man out. Donya had Jerry when he wasn't in a gamepr, Mayson had Fred, and Tabitha had Leo. I had Lucas, but
that wasn't quite the same.
In addition, since my exit from the state nearly two years before, Donya and Mayson had grown close, and it seemed that more recently,
Tabitha made the duo into a trio. They talked about things I didn't know about and had inside jokes. I felt so left out.
I cal ed Luke five days before Labor Day to ask him if he was coming. Without an explanation, he simply said no. When there was only the
sound of his fingers clicking on his keyboard, I lost my head for a moment.
"If you're going to be like this again, I may as wel not come back. Lucas and I can settle down somewhere else."
"I can't come out there, Emmy! I'm busy! Don't you understand that?"
"The only thing I am understanding is your bad attitude."
I ended the cal , shut my phone off and left it on my bed. The other girls were waiting for me on the deck for a girls-only dinner. The kids were in
bed and the guys went out to do whatever it is guys do when they get out away from their women for a night.
For the first part of dinner, I didn't say much. I listened to everyone else talk about their sex life and their men. I just kept pouring myself wine until
I got bored with that and started making drinks out of liquor I found at the bar inside. I didn't have much to contribute to the conversation since my
sex life only picked up recently, and I didn't real y have a man, per se. By the time conversation got over to me, I was pretty wel lit.
"So," Donya said, looking at me over a fork ful of chocolate cake. "I was looking in your purse for some gum today and I found that gorgeous
bracelet Kyle gave you."
I couldn't even be mad at her. I go through D's personal things like they're my own, especial y her closet.
"Who gave you a bracelet?" Tabitha asked, knowing the least about my life before Lucas.
"Kyle Sterling gave her a bracelet, about two years ago. Em said it was for her job performance."
Tabitha shrugged. "So? Lots of employers give their employees gifts. I knew a guy who even got a new car as a bonus."
"Emmy is middle management, Tabitha," Donya pointed out. "If the bracelet was worth a few hundred bucks - hel , even a couple grand, that
would be one thing. That would be believable. Emmy, tel your cousin how much your bracelet is worth."
"At the time it was bought or its current value?" I asked before taking another long sip of one of my concoctions.
"If I bought that bracelet from Tiffany's two years ago, how much would I have paid for it?"
"About seventy grand."
Tabitha's jaw dropped. "Shut up!"
"Exactly," Donya said to her.
"So what's your point?" I asked, feeling a little annoyed.
"What is the real reason the bracelet was bestowed upon you? May and I have some theories, but only you can tel us for sure."
"Why are you asking me now?" I asked. "Why didn't you ask me before?"
"You seemed a little...unstable," Mayson said. "Now you seem to be more like yourself…which is stil …rather unstable."
"Just answer the question," Donya said. "It's us, not your wacky mother or your stuck up sisters."
"I'm so lost," Tabitha said, looking at me with big eyes. Al three of them were looking at me with big eyes.
I guzzled the rest of my drink and with a drunken smile said "Kyle bought me the bracelet as an apology for breaking my wrist."
"I knew it!" Mayson slammed a hand against the table, making dishes and glasses rattle.
"That mother fucker broke your wrist?" Donya asked, incredulously.
"Yessss," I rol ed my eyes. "That's what I said."
"On purpose?" Tabitha asked and before I could answer, shook her head and waved her arms. "Wait! You were screwing Kyle Sterling? The
dick?"
"Yes, I was, Tabs and no he didn't do it on purpose."
"Were you screwing him while you were with Luke?"
"Yes, Tabitha!" Donya said, irritated that my poor cousin wasn't catching on fast enough. "How did it happen, Emmy? I can't see you taking that
shit."
"We had dinner with Leo while we were in Miami, and during dinner Leo and I eluded to the fact that we fucked around when we were kids and
-"
"Whoa!" Tabitha slapped the table now. "You had sex with Leo? When?"
I waved a hand. "A long time ago, when he and Leslie were broken up."
"Which time?" Tabitha spat out, sarcastical y. She didn't real y expect an answer, but I was drunk.
"I don't know." I shrugged. "Two, maybe three times. Maybe four. I don't remember…"
Her jaw again hung open, but now she looked pissed off instead of surprised and quizzical.
"Interesting how he's never mentioned that to me."
"It was a long time ago, Tabitha! Damn." Donya snapped before turning back to me. "So, Kyle got pissed off and broke your damn arm?"
"No. Back at the hotel, we started arguing about it and I got pissed off and left. I went back to Leo's, drank a lot of alcohol, and things got a little
heavy."
"You fucked him
again
?" Tabitha yel ed.
"No," I said bitterly. "He didn't want to take advantage of me apparently, because I was drunk."
"What the fuck," Tabitha grumbled.
"Then what happened?" Mayson pressed, and then "Wait! Did you sleep with any of my boyfriends?"
"No, I promise."
"Okay, good," she said, relieved.
"I just made out with one."
"You see?" Tabitha said. "She's a whorebag."
"Cum bucket," Mayson nodded in agreement.
"You guys," Donya made a disgusted sound. "Can we save the name cal ing for later? I want to hear the hoe's story."
I told them the rest of the story, al the way up to the night the bracelet was presented to me.
"Okay, Mayson wins that bet," Donya said, digging into her purse. She handed Mayson a few bil s. "I thought it was like a promise gift, you
know?"
"Now you have to spil the beans about New Years, Emmy," Mayson said seriously.
"What happened on New Year's?" Tabitha asked. "Did you try to hump Leo again?"
"Okay, you need to deal with that another time," Donya said. "Leo didn't do anything to you. Nobody knew you would end up with him."
Tabitha slumped in her chair and mumbled "
He
knew."
"New Years," Mayson pressed.
"I've never spoken about the New Year's incident," I said quietly.
"Speak about it now," Donya insisted. Even Tabitha looked interested underneath her anger.
I had to pour myself another drink before I started.
It's funny how I can omit certain, crucial details and have you believe one thing, when in fact circumstances were completely different. I'l bet the
average onlooker thought Kyle was squeaky clean and was only a dick by nature. Maybe he was a dick by nature, but crystal meth had a way of
making a dick into a monster. My broken wrist in Miami was the result of jealousy and a little bit of meth up a nostril. Up until New Years, there was
nothing worse than some shoving and aggressive yel ing and empty promises of getting off of the drug, along with promises of ending his
relationship with Jessyca.
I was smarter than my actions proved. I knew that I should have broken up with Kyle months before Luke left, and especial y afterward. I knew
that when he started taking hits of meth for "therapeutic reasons" that I should have bowed out, but I guess my addiction to Kyle was just as bad as
being addicted to any drug. The results were the same: on the surface it felt real y good, but the damage to one's body and mind was irreversible,
deadly.
In the early hours of the new year, our addictions consumed us. Kyle had struck me, and even as I sat there on the floor in confusion, thinking it
had to have been a mistake, he was already lost to me. When he took a handful of hair and tried to force me to my feet, I clawed at his hand. The
blood seeping from the gouges I created did nothing to deter him before he slammed my head into the mirror over my vanity. As the glass shattered
to the floor, al I could think about in that moment was about the destruction of the last gift my grandmother had given to me before passing away
when I was only nine years old.
While Kyle roared like a beast and destroyed other mementos in my room, I crawled through the glass to the side of my bed and pul ed myself
to my feet. I watched with an open mouth as he overturned a tal dresser, stil ful of clothes and other miscel aneous items. When his eyes turned on
me, I didn't see Kyle. I saw madness, and it took my breath away. As he yel ed at me, cursed at me, and threatened my life, I understood that there
would be no reasoning with him, and there would be no escape.
I would like to tel you that I defended myself, that I fought back, and I kicked his ass, but then I would be lying. The meth made Kyle's level of
strength inhuman. I was a mere mortal, with no stupid drug in my blood. Nothing short of a miracle was going to turn me into Wonder Woman or
some other awesome female super hero. This wasn't one of those happy ending hour long prime time shows where the heroin stands up to her
attacker and overcomes him with wits and luck. If I further provoked Kyle by fighting back, he was going to kil me.
I avoided his blows as much as possible, but my primary goal was to protect my unborn child. Instead of holding up a defensive arm, I covered
my bel y and took whatever he was delivering. When I was shoved to the floor, I had enough sense to put my hands out so that I wouldn't fal , literal y
right on top of my child. As soon as I was able, I ran into my bathroom and locked the door just as he reached it. Kyle screamed from the other side
of the door, kicking and punching at the door, demanding that I open it. I was afraid that he would eventual y kick it down, but when it seemed that
the door would hold, I slid to the floor with my back against the tub. I stared at the door in horror, bleeding al over my white rug, every part of my
body throbbing in pain.
I didn't cry. Crying wasn't going to help my situation. There was nothing to help my situation - my phone was lost in the chaos that was my
bedroom and my neighbors were a little too far away to have heard my screams and Kyle's yel ing. I had to wait for him to either leave or pass out,
and eventual y he did pass out, but so did I.
When I woke up, sunlight was pouring through the bathroom window onto my face. I was stiff and sore and it took me a few minutes to get to my
feet. I looked at myself in the mirror and shrunk back at what I saw. My head was covered in dry blood, cuts and bruises. My lip was busted, my eyes
blackened, and there were bruises forming on my arms. I lifted up my shirt and forced myself not to cry when I saw the light bruises on my chest and
bel y. I felt Lucas moving around as he always did first thing in the morning, and I took some comfort from that.
I looked away from the mirror and plucked glass from my hands before putting my ear to the door. I listened hard until I heard the unmistakable
sound of Kyle's light snoring. Careful y, I opened the door a crack and peeked out. Kyle was asleep on the floor right outside the door, his head
leaning up against the door frame and his legs across the length of the door. As quietly as possible, I stepped over him and tip toed through the
carnage and out of my room. I went into the kitchen, picked up the phone and slumped into a chair.
I didn't know who to cal . It would have been wise to cal the police, but I had relatives on the police force and no matter what secrecy they were
sworn to, this would get back to my parents, and then my dad would shoot Kyle, only after my mother cut off his nut sack with a rusty knife. I didn't
want to see my parents go to prison for my mistakes, so I didn't cal the police, and I didn't cal my mom and dad. I could cal Donya, but the result
would be the same - prison for dismemberment and murder. I wish I could tel you that I was exaggerating.
After a few more minutes of thought, I decided who to cal and punched in the number. Walter Sterling answered on the second ring. He
sounded tired and hung over. He probably had a hel of a night at the party, and the after party he no doubt went to at the gentleman's club.
"Your son is unconscious in my bedroom," I said into the phone. My voice sounded terrible, like I had screamed al night. Oh wait. I had.
"Sounds like a personal problem," Walter said.
"It's going to become
your
personal problem if you don't come get him right now."
"I don't think you're in a position to make demands, Miss Grayne."
"Oh, but I jest,
Walter
. Kyle had a cocktail of meth, alcohol, and god knows what else last night. He destroyed my bedroom and beat the shit out
of me. So, you have a choice. You can come get him and you and I can have a little talk, or I can cal the police to come and get him and you can
have a talk with them. Please choose quickly, because my patience is non-existent right now."
There was a moment of stunned silence, and then "Fuck."
Twenty-five minutes later, Walter Sterling and three big goons were standing in my foyer. The goons showed no emotion, but Walter looked at
me with regret - not regret that I was hurt, or that his son was a derelict, but regret that his pockets ran deep and that I was about to dip into them.
"Take Kyle to the guest house on the estate," Walter told the goons. "Keep him there, don't let him leave. I'l be in touch."
They nodded and went upstairs. Walter fol owed me into the kitchen. I took a long sip from my third bottle of water since escaping the bedroom