Found in You(117)

All eyes in the room turned toward me.

I addressed my question to Hudson alone. “What’s going on?”

“Alayna—” His voice was as tense as his body, but a flicker of light passed through his eyes at seeing me.

Celia stepped in my sight line, her expression hard. “I’ve told them. They know.”

“Celia, stop it,” Jack said.

“Know what?” The hairs on my arms stood on end, the electricity in the air prickling all around us.

No one answered.

Jack looked around incredulously. “Are you going to tell her, Celia? It’s only fair for her to hear it from the horse’s mouth.”

Sophia’s jaw dropped. “Are you calling Celia a horse?”

“Dammit, Laynie. I knew this was going to happen. I knew it.” Brian stood and began pacing.

“Shut up, Brian.” I took a step into the room. “What is going on?”

Celia exchanged glances with Sophia. “You need help, Laynie.” Celia took Sophia’s outstretched hand for support. “I want you to know, I’m not mad at you and I don’t blame you for anything—”

“What the f*ck are you talking about?” While I still did not understand the situation, there was one thing that was suddenly clear—this was an intervention. An intervention for me.

“Fine.” Jack crossed the room to me. “Since you aren’t going to explain, then I’ll do it. Laynie, you know I love seeing you. I’m sorry it’s under these ludicrous circumstances.” He put his hands on my upper arms and even across the room, I felt Hudson bristle.

“Celia showed up at our house this morning throwing a hissy fit with these outrageous claims about you. Then she called Hudson and your brother here,” Jack paused to glance toward Brian, “and arranged for this whole extravaganza. Good thing I was around so I could come along and try to pound some sense into these people who are listening to her.” At the end of his speech he turned to the others, his voice and body animated.

“What is she saying about me?” In my bones I knew the answer without hearing it, but I held my breath, hoping to hell that I was wrong.

“That you’ve been harassing her.”

My knees buckled and Jack helped me into the armchair. “Oh my god.” My mouth tasted sour as I swallowed down bile. “Oh my god.”

Celia held up her cell phone. “I have the proof. She’s called several times and hung up. It’s on my call log.”

Click. Now it made sense—the reason she’d told me to call repeatedly, why she’d played with my phone at A Voce. She’d wanted the phone record. She’d played me. My head throbbed with the realization.

“Laynie?”

I looked to Brian, who had his arms crossed, waiting for an explanation.

Oh, how many times had I seen that look on my brother’s face? How many times did I promise that I would never hurt him like that again? Though I’d kept my vow, here he was with that same expression. It was unbearable.

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I did. But only because she told me to call her over and over.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Celia scoffed. “Why would I ask her to do that?”

“She said her phone wasn’t working.” It sounded ridiculous even to my own ears. “She said that if I wanted to get a hold of her I should keep calling until she answered.”

Celia didn’t let anyone have a chance to acknowledge my excuse. “She also followed me around town, to jobs I’ve been working. I’ve been working at Fit Nation and my bodyguard saw her at the coffee shop there today, alone, for nearly an hour. And when I called to check in, she’d left a message for me.”