I can hardly hear through the pounding in my ears. I push the door open, get out and slam the door. The window’s down so I bend over. “Everything’s not always black and white, Princess. Sometimes we have to do shit because there’s not another choice. Maybe you should think about that before you snub your nose at me.”
Without another word, I’m gone.
~CHAPTER TWELVE~
Cheyenne
It’s been two days since I talked to Colt and I’m still thinking about him. I shouldn’t be. It’s not like I know him very well. It’s not as though this stupid charade we had going on was really making me feel any better. But I’m thinking about that last day in the car.
And thinking about how big a bitch I was.
It’s obvious he needs the money. That’s why he agreed with my stupid boyfriend idea. And I know his mom is dying. Dying. I could tell by the sound of his voice when he told me how much it affects him. It was the same way he spoke to me when he said he had no other choice. I’m assuming that means whatever money he’s getting is somehow going to help his mom.
He’s fighting for her—caring for her the way I wish my mom had cared about me.
The door opens and Andy walks inside. “Are you still moping? You’re taking longer to get over this break-up than you did the first one!” She flops on my bed beside me. She’s like that. Doesn’t mind getting in someone’s personal space and she acts like we’re best friends or something.
“Want to talk about him?” she asks.
If only she knew. “No.”
“You sure?” Her pink ponytail flies around as she turns.
“Yeah… I’m sure you want to hang out with your…girlfriend or something.”
Andy looks like I’ve disappointed her. Welcome to the club, I want to tell her.
“One of these days, you’re going to have to find someone to be real with, Cheyenne.”
I don’t have time to reply to her. As she’s walking out, my cell rings. I fumble with it, not sure who I’m expecting it to be, when I see it’s my aunt. “Hello.”
“Hi, Cheyenne. How are you?” There’s a slight edge to her voice.
“I’m okay. What’s wrong?”
“It’s the weekend. I wanted to see if you’d come home. I thought we could spend some time together.”
My heart speeds up. Her voice is off.
“Or I could come to you. We can get a room…hang out. How does that sound?”
It sounds like something is seriously wrong. I fight to swallow the ball in my throat. “No…no. I’ll come home. I need to get away anyway.”
“Okay, sweetie… I love you.”
“You, too.” I don’t take the time to grab any clothes. I have some at home. Purse and cell in hand, I’m out the door.
Something’s wrong. I know it to the marrow of my bones. My mind flips through everything bad: my aunt and uncle divorcing, someone’s sick. I don’t like any of the options that squeeze their way into my subconscious. Lily and Mark are steady. The only steady I’ve ever known.
It only takes me forty-five minutes to make the hour drive. I see the blinds move when I pull into the driveway. It makes my gut sink even farther. I don’t know how I’m as calm as I am right now.
“That was fast,” Aunt Lily plasters a fake smile on her face.
“What’s wrong?”
My uncle steps out of the kitchen. He’s the typical wealthy workaholic—always busy, yet he’s here. Why is he here?
My cell slips out of my sweaty hand and hits the floor.
Aunt Lily tries to smile at me again, but she can’t quite do it. Bending over she picks up my phone.
“Just tell me.” I fall onto the couch. Lily’s eyes glisten before one tear slips out. They each sit on one side of me. I’m afraid my heart is going to burst out of my chest.
My aunt grabs my hand. It’s shaking. Or maybe that’s hers. Or both of ours. I look almost exactly like her—her and mom both, but there’s a sadness to her I’ve never seen before.
“We got a visit from the police today.”
Oh my God. They had to have found my mom. She must be in jail. Has she been locked up all these years? No, that’s impossible. If she was, I would know. Papers were filed when she left. Everything is official and on record.
“Okay…where is she?” I don’t know what emotion to focus on: Anger or pain.
Lily starts crying harder and my uncle takes over. He shifts his weight, looking nervous. “Cheyenne…sweetheart. There were bones found.”
My breath cuts off. My vision gets blurry. My heart stops. Bones!
“They’d been there a long time, sweetie…but there were teeth. They ran tests and—” He takes a step toward me, but stops as if he’s unsure.
“How long?” How long, how long, how long?
“Ten years,” he replies. Lily lets out a sob, but I can’t manage to do anything. Ten years. Ever since she left. My mom has been dead since she left me and I didn’t know. And I hated her for leaving me. Hated her for something she might not have done. Or she might have. Now I’ll never know. Never know if she planned on never coming back or if something else took her away from me.
But all this time, I hated her.
“Everything’s not always black and white, Princess.” Colt’s words slam into me.
“I’m so sorry, kiddo,” my uncle says.
My aunt, Mom’s sister, clings to me. Pulls me into a hug and cries on my shoulder.
“Mommy has some things to do, Cheyenne. I’m going to bring you to see Aunt Lily. You want to see Aunt Lily, don’t you?”
“No… I want to stay with you.” I grab onto her hand. Pleading. “I miss you when you go. I’ll be good. I won’t cry this time if we go out. I’ll even stay by myself at home just to show you I can.”
I’ll be a big girl. I won’t leave the room at parties. I won’t call 911 if I get scared. I won’t freak out like I always do.
“Oh, sweet girl. Don’t cry. You’ll have fun with Aunt Lily. You can’t go where Mommy’s going.”
I wrap my arms around her waist and cry into her belly. Cry because she’s leaving me and I want nothing more than to go with her.
She didn’t say she’d be back. At nine-years-old, I lost her. Not that she’d been there when I needed her two years before.
“Everything’s not always black and white, Princess.”
“You can’t go where Mommy’s going.”
It could mean she knew she wasn’t coming home…or it could have slipped her mind. Been something she thought she didn’t have to tell me because I should know she’d be back.
But I never thought of it that way. I hated her.
“Do you understand what we’re telling you?” my uncle asks. He looks small. It’s the first time I can remember him ever looking that way and it makes me want to lose it.
I manage to pry myself away from my aunt. Still no tears. I have to hold my hands together to try and keep them from shaking though.
“She’s dead. Been gone ever since she left.”
She’d left before for days at a time. Even for a couple weeks. Is that an excuse for assuming the worst? That she’d planned on throwing me away and never looking back?
“The police are looking into it. They cautioned us, we’d likely never know what happened to her.” Mark’s voice is steadier than mine could ever hope to be.
“Where?” I manage to creak out.
“Cheyenne—” my aunt starts.
“She’s old enough to know, Lily.” He looks at me, no nonsense like always. “Wilsonville. In the woods.”
One town over. Was she leaving? Was that on her way out of town and she got a flat tire? Someone pulled over to help? Did she go into those woods planning it on her own?
“I have to go.” My chest tightens, so tight I can hardly breathe. I yank my cell from her hand, which is hard because my fingers just want to curl.
“What! You can’t leave. Not after this. I want you to stay home, Cheyenne.”
“I can’t.” Blurry vision again. I’m somehow breathing too hard and can’t get enough air at the same time. Don’t panic. Not until you leave. “Someone’s expecting me. I have to—I can’t. I need to go.”
“Wait, honey. Don’t shut me out. You have to let someone in.” Lily’s words are close to what Andy said. They make my chest feel tighter.
I run out the door. Lily calls my name behind me. Both my aunt and uncle stand in the doorway as I rip out of the driveway. I only make it about a mile away before I hit the curb when I pull over. I hardly get the door open before I’m vomiting all over the road.
It’s dark out now, no sounds besides my retching. Bones. Woods. We’ll likely never know.
Was she alone like this? Did someone sneak up on her? Take her against her will?
I slam the door, fighting back the tears. Fighting back the panic. I put my car into drive, hit the gas and go.
~CHAPTER THIRTEEN~
Colt
“Colt. Man, that chick from the party is here for you,” Adrian yells through my bedroom door.
Shit. Just what I’m not in the mood for today—dealing with the Princess. I’m a little surprised though. I didn’t expect to see her again. I don’t know how I feel about her being here now.
I open the door.
“I didn’t want to let her in, in case you weren’t alone.”
“Though you didn’t mind risking whoever I might be in here with knowing someone else was here for me?”
Adrian winks. “Only because party girl seems different.”
“Her name is Cheyenne.” I don’t know why in the hell I just said that. Pushing around Adrian I head for the door. “You closed the door on her? You f**ker.”
A laugh is his only reply. I pull the door open. She looks different than usual—her hair is a tied back and she’s wearing faded shorts and a t-shirt. This doesn’t look like the kind of clothes she’d ever let someone see her in. I don’t know why, but it makes my skin feel tight.