Follow My Heart by Jennie Lyne Hiott

Author:Jennie Lyne Hiott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: It's Complicated Productions
Published: 2017-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Hillary

You moved out! Without telling me a thing? You don’t answer my calls, you avoid me at work. Really, Hill?” Tori cornered me in the staff dining room.

I had managed to avoid the conversation for nearly two weeks. I took early breaks and purposely kept busy. I had cashed in vacation time and called in sick, but now it was time for questions that had no acceptable answers.

“I did tell you.”

“You mean on Chatter? Yeah, that answered nothing. You dodged everything. Not one of your replies was a clear answer. What is going on with you?”

“It’s complicated.” How could I tell her that I was staying with Brad to protect her?

With one phone call, he could cause her serious harm or worse. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t be that selfish.

I wanted Brad out of my life. He manipulated and belittled me constantly. He had struck me in the past and even imprisoned me in that dump of a home on occasion, but my freedom wasn’t worth the pain of someone I loved.

For weeks after his threat, Brad had been pleasant. We went to nice restaurants. Rainbow Tavern to be exact. The most romantic restaurant in Coeur de’ Lile. Carved into the side of a mountain, the moonlight bounced in a prism of color off the ocean rock walls and illuminated the dining room. We ate, we danced, and we drank champagne until mid-morning.

And, he held my hand in public, something he had refused to do before. I felt hopeful. Brad had made me smile and he had apologized for the threat he made against Tori. Perhaps he had truly changed or maybe I was making excuses because I knew I was out of options.

“Hillary?” Tori took my arm, forcing me to face her. “Don’t walk away from me!”

“Tori, he’s different. I’m happy now. I am.”

“For how long this time?”

“Tori, please don’t be mad.”

Tori stomped off, throwing her arms up as if she had finally washed her hands of me.

I was devastated. How could I ever survive without my best friend? Avoiding her had been hard. I missed her. I missed living with her. I missed my life living on Beau Reve and … I still missed Ethan.

I stared at Ethan’s last attempt to contact me. I guess I hadn’t thought of everything. He had friended me with a fake account, pretending to be a woman.

Knowing he still thought about me, a month later, shattered the walls I had built. I chuckled at his deception when I should have been pissed and I removed his name from my block list. But I didn’t send him a friend’s request. I had to draw the line somewhere.

Considering my current situation, I needed the fantasy more than ever. Besides, Brad wouldn’t know. He didn’t have a Chatter account. None of his friends knew me as Velvet Rose. I was careful with my alias because I enjoyed browsing the site, reading the posts, and meeting interesting people and he would take it away if he found out about it.

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