Shattered Love by Stacey Marie Brown

Author:Stacey Marie Brown [Brown, Stacey Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

“I love it!” I looked down, my eyes wide. Only an hour later my forearm had an everlasting mark etched on it.

“Let me see?” Hunter tenderly cupped my arm, looking at it. “It fits you.”

It did. The solid black raven was inked in mid-flight. Intricate feathers shed off it, growing more and more detailed the farther they went up my arm and away from the bird. It symbolized letting go, casting off the past, the old me. Letting the real Jaymerson fly free.

Benji gave me instructions on taking care of it, wrapped it with cellophane, took my money, and sent me on my way.

“Good to see ya, man,” Benji said to Hunter. “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll finish the one on your shoulder.”

“Thanks.” Hunter ushered me out the door into the chilly night air. His hand pressed against my lower back.

“What one on your shoulder?”

Hunter’s hand dropped from me, stuffing them into his jacket pockets. We walked down the street, heading back toward the house.

“I eventually want to finish filling one in,” he said ambiguously.

“Why are you being evasive?”

“I’m not.” He kept his attention on the street, the cars driving by.

“Then tell me.”

“I got something…” I watched his profile, his head remaining forward. “To represent Colton.”

The name was like ice on the mood and conversation. The enormous elephant in the room came stomping back in, breaking all the good china.

I slipped my frozen hands into my pockets. We both continued down the street in silence. It grew more and more awkward. We neared the house where people sat on the deck. Spurts of laughter and murmured voices reached us.

I could sense the opportunity slipping by. If we didn’t talk now, we never would. “Okay, I can’t take this.” I suddenly stopped, almost tripping him. “Are we going to talk about it?”

He pressed his mouth together, looking at his feet.

In one gesture, my heart started to pound. I didn’t even know what I wanted him to say. I certainly wasn’t sure what I wanted, but I already sensed the goodbye on his lips. The rejection. Spikes of trepidation and sorrow stabbed at my heart. “Don’t worry about it.” My throat constricted. “It was a mistake. We can both forget it happened.”

“Jaymerson…we—”

“Seriously, Hunter.” I cut off any emotion from my voice. “It’s understandable. My therapist calls it transference or something like it. We’ve gone through a lot together. Emotions were high, and we got caught in the moment. It meant nothing.”

His eyes darted to mine, his nostrils flared, but he didn’t respond. His muteness hurt more than anything. He was silently agreeing, letting us—this—go without a fight.

“It certainly didn’t mean anything to me.” Anger stacked a barricade against him, shielding myself. “I used you because I was sad and missing Colton. I saw Colton in you that night. It was wrong, and I apologize.”

And it was a lie.

His face was emotionless. His dimple twitched, straining against his jaw. He watched the street, the sound of tires rolling over damp pavement echoed around us. Slushing and crunching.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.