Chapter 73: Scared chicken
Chapter 73: Scared chicken
Thomas bolted the second the door opened wider, his instincts screaming louder than his thoughts. He slipped out of Audrey’s bedroom and disappeared down the corridor like he’d never been there at all. The air he left behind felt colder. Audrey stared at the curtain he had hidden behind, her heart still racing, then let out a slow breath.
“Chicken,” she muttered under her breath, her voice weak but sharp with irritation. She turned her face toward the ceiling and sighed, exhaustion sinking into her bones. The room went quiet again, the kind of quiet that made her too aware of her own breathing and the dull, constant ache in her body.
Minutes passed. Maybe more. Time had started to blur for her since the fall, since the pain, since the doctors’ words had cut her world into a before and an after. She was still staring blankly when the door opened again, this time without stealth.
Tennessee walked in.
Audrey felt him before she looked at him. His presence filled the room in a way that made her chest tighten. She turned her head slowly, their eyes meeting for a brief second before she looked away, fixing her gaze on the far wall as if it could protect her.
“So it’s true,” Tennessee said, his voice low but tight. “You had visitors in the middle of the night.”
Audrey didn’t answer.
“I saw him,” he went on, taking a few steps into the room. “I saw Thomas leaving this hallway. Don’t insult my intelligence by pretending nothing happened. I was here, only that you didn’t see me, but I saw him.”
She swallowed. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“What right did he have to sneak into your bedroom?” Tennessee demanded. “What right?”
Audrey turned her head back to him, her eyes tired, rimmed with red. “I honestly don’t know,” she said. “He came in, asked questions, then ran off. That’s it.”
Tennessee laughed once, humorless. “You expect me to believe that? After everything that’s been going on?”
“Believe whatever you want,” she snapped, her voice rising despite herself. “I’m too tired for this.”
He paced the room, running a hand through his hair. “Do you have any idea how this looks? My father’s wife, alone in her bedroom, with a man sneaking in at night?”
“That man works on the farm,” Audrey shot back. “Maybe you should be asking why he felt comfortable enough to come here instead of yelling at me.”
Tennessee stopped pacing and faced her fully. “Don’t twist this. You know exactly why I’m angry.”
“No, Tennessee,” she said quietly. “I know you’re confused. Angry. And scared. But don’t put that on me.”
He stared at her, jaw clenched. “You always do this. You shut down, act like nothing touches you.”
She laughed bitterly. “Look at me,” she said, gesturing weakly to her body. “Everything touches me now.”
The words hung between them, heavy and raw. Tennessee’s expression shifted, frustration bleeding into something darker and more dangerous.
“I’m trying to protect you,” he said. “And you keep letting trouble walk into your room.”
“Protect me from what?” Audrey asked. “From Monkey? Or from yourself?”
The question hit harder than she intended. Tennessee’s eyes darkened. “Don’t do that.”
“Then don’t accuse me,” she replied. “I didn’t invite him. I didn’t ask for anything happening right now.”
Silence stretched again, thick and suffocating. Tennessee took a step closer to the bed, then another, until he was standing right beside her. Audrey’s breath hitched despite her attempt to stay calm.
“You think I don’t know what’s happening in this house?” he said quietly. “You think I don’t see the way everyone looks at you? The way everything keeps circling back to you?”
She looked away again. “Please stop.”
“I can’t,” he said. His voice cracked, just slightly. “I’ve been trying to stop since the day I met you.”
Her head snapped back toward him. “Don’t.”
But it was too late. The dam had already broken.
“I love you,” Tennessee shouted suddenly, the words ripping out of him like they’d been clawing at his throat for years. “I love you, and I don’t care that you’re my father’s wife. I don’t care how wrong it is. I don’t care who it destroys. I love you, Audrey.”
Audrey froze. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she stared at him, shock stealing the air from her lungs. Her hands trembled on the sheets, her mind scrambling to catch up with what she’d just heard.
“You can’t say that,” she whispered. “You can’t.”
“I just did,” he said, his voice rough, eyes blazing. “I’ve watched you get hurt, watched you break, watched everyone fail you, and I’m supposed to stand there and pretend I don’t feel anything?”
Tears burned in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “This is wrong,” she said, breathing hard. “You know it’s wrong.”
“I know,” he snapped. “But it doesn’t make it go away.”
She shook her head, panic creeping in. “Please stop talking.”
“I won’t,” he said. “Not anymore. I’m done pretending. I love you, Audrey. I’ve loved you for a long time.”
Her breathing turned shallow, her heart pounding so hard she thought it might burst. “Get out,” she said weakly.
Tennessee stared at her, pain flashing across his face. “Say you didn’t hear me.”
“I heard you,” she said, her voice breaking. “That’s why you need to leave.”
For a moment, he looked like he might say more, like he might fight her on it. Then his shoulders sagged, the fire draining out of him all at once.
“This changes nothing,” he said quietly, more to himself than to her. “I know that.”
He turned and walked toward the door. Audrey watched him go, her vision blurring, her chest still tight as if the room had lost all its air.
At the door, Tennessee paused. He didn’t turn around.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Then he left, closing the door behind him.
Audrey lay there staring at the ceiling, her heart still racing, her breaths uneven, the echo of his confession ringing in her ears long after the room fell silent again.