Three Years Later by Casey McMillin

Author:Casey McMillin [McMillin, Casey]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2013-04-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Collin

Take care of Beth and find Rachel. Take care of Beth and find Rachel. Find Rachel. This was my new mantra. Everything seemed so overwhelming, but somehow, repeating this phrase it made me feel better.

"What'd you say?" Josh was looking at me from over his shoulder while he walked. I hadn't realized I was speaking the words out loud.

"Nothing. Just talking to myself."

Josh and I were headed upstairs to meet Beth in the room. We assumed she was still up there, but she wasn't answering her cell phone so there was no way for us to be sure.

Ethan stayed behind to make excuses for us. I asked him to get Joel Perrin's phone number if he could, or at least let him know I wanted to talk to him and wasn't trying to be a flake. I didn't have much hope that Ethan would rub any elbows on my account, but honestly I didn't care at this point. There was only one thing on my mind. Rachel.

But first I had to think about Beth. I had no idea how long it was going to take to get the Beth situation squared away… no idea what to expect from her. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl; I hated to think about how she must be hurting right now. I should probably be ashamed to admit it, but those feelings paled in comparison to the utter excitement I felt at the thought of Rachel. My hands ached to touch her again. I couldn't wait to see her. Knowing she was in this town, probably even the same hotel was causing my chest to tighten. The waiting was almost painful.

I held my breath as I slid the room key into the door. I was somehow both relieved and disappointed when I saw Beth sitting on the edge of the bed, still wearing her red dress. Was it cowardly of me to be glad that Josh was here, being my wingman for all of this?

I crossed the room to stand in front of her. None of this was going to go away if we just ignored it.

"Don't touch me," she said, as if I were the most disgusting thing she'd ever laid eyes on. I wasn't touching her, hadn't even come close. I was still standing a good four feet away. "I don't know how you can do this to me Collin. It's humiliating. It's life changing. You're making a life changing decision based on five minutes in a room with some girl you barely know. How could you?"

She looked at me with such pain and despair that, had Rachel not been on the other end of this, I would have stayed with Beth out of sheer guilt.

"Beth, I know it's hard to understand. I barely understand it myself." I began.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. She's the one, right? Don't you understand what an asshole that makes you?"

"Yes, I know. I'm the asshole right now."

Josh cut in.

"Okay, I think we've established who the asshole is around here.

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