When I'm With You (Little Hollow Series, #2)(8)

“You have a nerve still being here,” I grind out.

He looks over at Lewis as if to say ‘do you know what she’s talking about?’

“Don’t look at me like I’m a crazy person, you know damn well what I mean! You doing this to her is cruel and I want you gone. She wants you gone too if you didn’t already know that.”

He frowns at that and stands up to his full height, I don’t find him intimidating whatsoever, but the way Lewis is looking at me with those stormy eyes again makes me forget what I was doing for a moment and I hesitate.

“And by she, I’m assuming you mean Sammy? And what would I be doing?” I turn back to see Connor leaning toward me, looking so damn sure of himself.

“Stop acting like an asshole and just admit that you’re in the wrong, you never should have come back here.” I’m holding back on showing him crazy Keeley, barely able to keep my voice to a normal volume.

“I think we’ve got off on the wrong foot, Lew would you mind if I talked to Keeley alone please?”

I cross my arms and nod when Lewis looks at me to see if I’m okay with that.

“Sure, you guys can go on into my office, it’s more private there,” Lewis says as Connor throws his arm out, gesturing for me to go first.

I storm off toward it trying to calm my breathing, I need to come up with a rational argument, I wasn’t prepared to see him here.

I lean up against Lewis’s desk and wait for Connor to shut the door behind him. This is the man that’s made my best friend hurt so much, this is the man who left her when she had no one else to turn to.

“I don’t know what Sammy has told you but-”

“Don’t give me that bullshit, you know damn well what she’s told me,” I practically snarl at him, and take another deep breath to calm my rising blood pressure.

“Look, regardless of what she thinks went on, I didn’t just leave her. I had a good reason.”

I roll my eyes, as if. “You think she’s overreacting then do you?”

“I never said that. I know you both think I’m a horrible person, I left my best friend at the worst time of her life, right? But I was just a kid myself back then and it wasn’t easy for me either, she could’ve lost us both that night.”

“But she did lose you both,” I quip.

He tells me his step dad was after him with a gun that night and if he didn’t leave, then Sam would’ve lost him for good. He also explains about the regular beatings he used to give him and his mom. I’m no virgin to violence, I’ve seen and had my fair share of it myself, so nothing he tell me shocks me.

I stare up at the ceiling wondering what I should say now. What he’s been through is shitty, but if he feels so bad then why does he keep coming back here?

“Why would you choose to keep coming back here? Surely that’s a little insane, to risk what happened yesterday? Do you have any idea what you’ve dug back up?” His eyes flash with pain.

“I didn’t mean for her to ever find out, I’ve always been so careful. It’s something I’ve needed to do for me and I realize how much she’s hurting; believe me I do. Sammy was my everything and seeing her again… look, I’m just going to come right out with it. I need you to try get her to listen to me.”

Say what now? “Oh do you? You may have spun me a heart wrenching story but it doesn’t take away the fact that you’ve had eight years to drop by and explain this to her yourself. That girl is like a sister to me and I won’t have you coming here ruining everything she’s pieced back together. Tiny piece by tiny piece. We’ve all had hard lives, believe me, but Sam deserves to put the past behind her, for good.” My chest heaves as I think over what I’m about to do. What is the right thing to do? He tries to speak but I put up a finger, silencing him. “But, I can’t shake this feeling that she needs a little closure on the past instead of just burying it away. She has a habit of doing that. I can’t guarantee I can get her to listen to you but there’s a fundraiser Saturday night that we’ll be at, be there and I’ll have her on her own so that you can talk to her.”

I don’t wait for an answer from him in the fear that I’ll change my mind and tell him not to bother. Is it really such a good idea to go behind Sam’s back like this? Well tough shit it’s a little late for that now.

Worst idea ever! What the hell was I thinking?

I didn’t get to speak to Lewis after all, so now on top of all that and the drama from this morning, my mind is so preoccupied that I forget to pick up lunch. So I’m sat here feeling guilty while Sam gets it instead. I slap my forehead. Hell, I’m the worst best friend on the whole planet! I look up at the clock, I have a kids cut due in five minutes and I’m really not in the mood to be around people, but I have no choice.

I force out a smile as a timid looking woman walks into the salon with a wired looking toddler trailing behind her. She’s around my shoulder height, probably putting her at just over five foot. She’s an itty bitty little thing. “Hey, Faith is it?”

She nods sheepishly at me and clears her throat. “Yeah, that’s me, but the appointment is for my daughter.”

She strokes her daughter’s hair lovingly and it makes me smile. The little girl, probably around three or four, bounces up to me. “You have pretty hair.”