Chapter 27 Don't Call
“Cassie?” My own voice sounds foreign.
Beth has gone still next to me. I’m sure her brain is like mine, running a million miles a minute to figure this out.
She pales seeing us standing there. I hear movement inside the house, and a freaked-out Alec comes running to the door.
His hair is disheveled, and he honestly looks like a mess. He pushes her to the side, taking a step closer to me.
“Babe, what are you doing here? I’ve been calling.” His voice seems to snap me out of my shock.
“What am I doing here? What is she doing here? What the fuck is going on?” My voice betrays me as even I can hear the hurt behind my words.
“It’s not what it looks like, I swear.” He pleads.
“What do you think it looks like, Alec, because I don’t even know what to think right now.”
I truly don’t. My head can’t wrap around what has transpired. What has happened? Why is Cassie at Alec’s house? Why didn’t he tell me he knew her? Tell me that she was okay? Is this why he was acting like that on the phone?
He opens his mouth to speak, but Beth cuts him off.
“I don’t get this either, but fuck you, Alec. Are you fucking around with her? Why would you keep this from Anna?”
Cheating didn’t even cross my mind until she said it. His face falls, and if possible, he looks even more scared.
“No, I promise it’s nothing like that, if you will please just come inside so we can talk.” He only looks at me, grabbing my hand in his, trying to plead with me.
His hand feels so warm in mine, and I can’t deny the sparks I feel again, but the hurt and confusion overpower any positive feelings.
“I don’t know what to think of this. How do you know her, and why wouldn’t you tell me the truth? Why did you keep it from me when I asked? Can you explain that?” I feel like a broken record, yelling the same questions over and over again.
“I didn’t know how to tell you, and I didn’t want to worry you. I just- I know I didn’t handle this the right way, just let me fix it.” He still can’t even give me a straightforward answer.
I pull my hand from his, looking to Cassie, who’s been standing still on the sidelines.
“Are you guys fucking?”
She shakes her head immediately, “No, Anna, I would never. No.”
I look back at Alec, who looks like he’s about to cry.
“Don’t call me.” I turn around to walk away, Beth following suit.
“No, Anneliese, please just listen to me.” He steps out after me.
The hurt in his voice makes my heart ache in a way I never knew possible. It hurts so bad to keep walking and leave him standing there that I almost question whether to turn back. But I can’t for the sake of my dignity. For the fact that I need to be strong. I need to make a point that he can’t screw me over like this ever again.
Our walk is quiet until halfway to the camp.
“Are you okay?” Beth asks.
“I don’t know, honestly. I don’t even know what to think.” I keep my gaze on the bushes and trees around us.
“Do you believe her?”
“About them having sex?”
“Yeah.”
My emotions surge as the conversation continues. I really wish he had just told me everything immediately.
“Yeah, I believe her. I just wish he had come clean about everything right then and there. Instead, he still refused to tell me. What could they possibly be hiding that he couldn’t tell me about?” I hear the words as they come out of my mouth, causing me to second-guess everything again. “Maybe they are sleeping together. Maybe that’s why he wouldn’t just flat out tell me cause he knew I’d walk away and never come back.”
Beth puts her hand on my back soothingly.
“What should I do?” I ask for her advice.
“Do you really have a choice? You love him, right?”
I swallow back tears at the reminder. “Yeah, I really do.”
“Then you have to hear him out. After that, you can make your best judgment of the situation, but you have to hear him out first.”
“I’m not ready for that, though.”
She scoffs, “Of course not, right now. You have to let him deal with the consequences of his actions for a long time before you give in. Let him think he might lose you forever because he truly might. Maybe then he’ll be honest with you.”
I know she’s right, and although it hurts so much to feel like I’ve been betrayed by him, to realize I’ve been lied to by someone I trusted so deeply, I can’t just walk away like that. But I won’t come running back right away. Even though I desperately miss him already.
“I guess the plus side is we found Cassie. And she looked perfectly fine.”
Beth laughs sarcastically, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. She’s alive and well. Better than being dead in the woods.”
That night, going to bed, my phone is silent instead of the usual goodnight text or phone call; there is nothing. I appreciate him respecting my wishes, but I truly miss him. I can’t sleep in this quiet cabin, my head so fogged I still just can’t make sense of any of it. What could she have been doing there? Does he really know her? Maybe she hooked up with Noah?
I think back to how we met. Cassie introduced us, and he even said he knew her. How could I forget?
But that still doesn’t excuse the fact that she was there at his house. I wonder if she was even there when I called him. Did he try to make me stop looking for her because she didn’t want to be found? I have so many questions, so many theories that even my dreams are filled with them.
I need to talk to him.