“No you won’t. You’re patronizing me. I remember how you work, Beck. I’m not a stranger, even though you wish I was. I know things about you she can’t possibly know. I helped you better yourself. It was because of me you got through the academy and it was because of me you turned your useless life around. Otherwise, you’d still be sitting home, waiting for the next bartending gig, spending your nights drinking and whoring with that winner of a friend of yours. And now that I’ve done all that for you, she gets to reap the rewards? The Graysons are nothing but garbage. Lucky you, you’ll be bringing another one into this world.”
Her grip on the wheel had slackened and her arms returned to her sides but the tension in her features made up for it. I’d never heard her speak this way. She was pretentious at times because of her upbringing and it was no surprise that she hated Marcus.
Before Tessa, he was that friend. The one your girlfriend forbid you to hang out with because trouble followed him. Or rather, he caused the trouble. But he wasn’t that guy anymore.
Regardless of how Marissa thought she molded me into who I was today—she was fucking wrong. She helped me see things in a better light, but I’d made the changes for myself and no one else. I wouldn’t take one more minute of her delusions. And I wouldn’t stand for her badmouthing my unborn child.
It only made me angrier that I’d tried to reason with her, but I was done with that and done with arguing. Without even looking in her direction, I flipped my right signal to make the turn. “This conversation is over. I’m taking you home.”
As I rounded the corner and accelerated, Marissa’s arm shielded my vision and her hand held tight to the wheel again. This time, she succeeded in swerving the car. An oncoming vehicle blasted its horn and all I could see were glaring headlights.
“Get the fuck off!” I yelled, blinded. Thankfully, the other driver veered into the other lane and we avoided a head-on collision. “Are you fucking crazy? Let go of the wheel!”
“I’m not going home! I’m not letting go!” Even in my panic her double meaning bled through.
“Are you trying to get us killed?” The Marissa I’d once known wasn’t the one struggling with me now.
“Maybe I am,” she admitted through gritted teeth. “Maybe I’m tired of pretending to be perfect. Maybe I don’t want to be a lawyer and pass the bar and be some doctor’s wife. Maybe I want you to knock me up, and give everything up for me, and love me the way you say you love her.”
There was a lot of desperation in her confession, but the only thing that stood out to me was her answer to my question. She was aiming to hurt us both. I wasn’t too scared to admit that in that moment I did fear for my life. I worried I’d lose total control by showing my rage and going back at her. I worried that if I dropped her off she’d do something stupid. Either way, I’d feel responsible. How the hell would I be able to live with that? There was no way to live with that.
With one hand on the wheel, fighting against Marissa’s strong hold, I shouted out to the Bluetooth, “Call Marissa’s mom.”
Her eyes darted to mine as the phone started ringing, echoing throughout the car. “Hang it up now.” She warned with tears in her eyes. “Hang it the fuck up, Beck or I will—”
“You’ll what? You’re acting crazy. I can’t trust you.” I held my hand over hers, stopping at another red light and putting the car in park.
She jerked the wheel, but it was no use. For good measure, I turned off the ignition. The phone continued to ring, and finally Marissa’s mom’s voice came through the device. “Hello? Beck? Is everything okay?”
“Hi, Mrs. Denni—”
“Mom, don’t listen to him. He’s lying! Don’t listen to anything he says.”
“Marissa? Honey? What’s going on? Where are you?”
“He made me believe he was taking me out to get back together. He got me in his car and started going crazy, driving recklessly. He might even be drunk, Mom. I’m scared. I don’t know what he’ll do next.”
“Oh my god!” Her mother screamed through the phone. “Where are you?”
I stared at her in disbelief. “You’ve lost your fucking mind.” It came out in a whisper. I had no reaction, no defense. Her mother would believe her over me. I was the man who broke her daughter’s heart. That’s all she needed to form her opinion. “Mrs. Dennison, I would never do anything to hurt her. I haven’t been drinking; she’s the one acting irrational, but I’ll let you see for yourself. We’re at the corner of Eightieth and Elm. I pulled the car over and I’ll stay here until someone comes to get her.”
“Don’t you go anywhere! Don’t you dare move! We’ll be there as soon as we can!” Her mother’s voice was shaky, but determined. I had no doubt she’d be coming to rescue her daughter, and in turn rescuing us both.
As soon as I ended the call with Marissa’s mom, I stepped out of the car—with the keys. I couldn’t be in that tight space with her anymore. I had nothing left to say. There was no redeeming herself from this. She’d somehow lost all integrity and become a habitual liar all in the matter of a few months.
After twenty minutes of waiting and pacing, not so much as peering through the window to check on Marissa, I saw the lights. Bright, white headlights speeding toward me followed by blue and red spiraling lights and a deafening siren.
Fuck! They called the cops. Like everyone else—like me—they believed her lies. Now I would have to find a way to work myself out of them. Again.
“I made him leave and now I can’t get in touch with him. Where could he be, Tess? Has Marcus spoken to him?” Monstrous mistake. Big. Huge. What was I thinking? As soon as I realized what I’d done, I called Tessa in a tizzy. I didn’t want to be without him for one second—let alone a lifetime—and now I couldn’t find him!
“No. Marcus hasn’t spoken to him, but calm down. I’m sure he’s just blowing off steam. Send him a text and tell him to come home. When he’s done sulking he’ll come back, Ry. I know he will.”
Maybe she was right. She was more rational than I was right now—pregnancy hormones were the fucking pits. It was as if someone else had invaded my body between the mood swings, the hot flashes, the cravings—and I still had a ways to go. Maybe one kid was enough. “Okay. Good idea. But if either of you hear from him, will you please let me know?”
“Of course. Now, get off your feet and stay calm. That baby is going to be high strung because of you.”
I rubbed my tiny bump, worrying even more. “Shit! Do you really think I’m fucking her up? God, I’m a terrible parent already and she isn’t even here yet!” I wasn’t doing the best job when it came to prenatal care. I mean, I hadn’t exactly known I was pregnant for a good portion of my first trimester and now I was stressing myself out every second of the day.
“Would you just relax already? You’re worrying for no—” she paused mid-sentence as Marcus mumbled something in the background. When she came back her tone was anything but soothing. “Uh, Ry?”
“Uh, yeah? What?”
“Be ready in ten minutes. We’re going down to the precinct. Beck’s been arrested. Marissa’s pressing charges.”
“What?! Are you freaking kidding me?” Could this night get any worse?
“Calm down, Ry. Please. Think of the baby.”
How could I calm down at a time like this? What the hell was going on? Why was he with her? Why was she pressing charges against him? If he’d gotten physical with her—why? “Oh my god. Fuck my life, Tessa. When did it become a bad daytime talk show?”
“Just stay put and take deep breaths. Marcus and I will be there soon.”
“What about Luca?” I couldn’t expect her to drop everything for my drama.
“Your dad will come and stay with him. Marcus is already on the phone with him. We’ve got it covered, babe. Just sit tight.” She tried her best to sound reassuring but I was anything but comforted.
My life was one sick, crazy joke right now. I was pregnant with a baby that my boyfriend didn’t believe w
as his and he was about to be carted off to jail because of his psychopath ex. Wonder-fucking-ful!
By the time we arrived at the station, a commotion was in full gear. Beck was in cuffs arguing with a police officer as he gave Marissa the evil eye. Marissa was crying with melodramatic flair—for effect, I was sure. And an older couple—who I assumed were Marissa’s parents—were speaking animatedly with two other police officers. Taking it all in, I shook off the shivers that swept over my body. Ever since Zack, I was weirded out by cops. Not because they weren’t helpful, but because being around them brought back painful memories.
Marcus ran over to Beck and I followed with Tessa close to my side. “What the hell, man? You okay?”
He looked up to acknowledge his friend and then his eyes focused on me. “Riles, what are you—Marcus, why did you bring her here?”
His objection to me being there made me wonder if I had something to worry about. Was he innocent like I’d hoped? Had he done something to deserve the arrest? Did he have something to hide? What the ever-loving hell was going on?
“B, please tell me what’s going on.” My voice came out so shaky and frail it was barely recognizable to even my own ears.
“Riles, I wish you hadn’t come. The baby—” He instinctively brought his hand up to comb his fingers through his hair, but when the cuffs prevented him from raising one arm individually he dropped them both back to the officer’s desk with a frustrated huff. “You shouldn’t be here. We’ll clear this up. They didn’t need to worry you with this shit.”
“Of course I need to be here,” I cried. How could he say that? The man I loved was in trouble and I wanted to help him get through it. I needed to stand by his side and figure out how to make it go away. “Can you tell me what happened?”
Marcus, Tessa, and I huddled around Beck, who was still waiting to give his report as the officer scribbled some things on pad. Marissa stood with her parents, where I assumed she was giving her account of things. Whatever those things were.
As the metal wrapped around his wrists jangled against the wooden desk, Beck started to give us his side. The side I’d have to believe no matter what. I’d made the mistake of believing Marissa’s lies once before—it was time I stood by my man. So long as his story made sense.
“After you and I had that argument I decided I needed to go over there and talk some sense into her.”
“What would make you do that alone, bro?” Marcus interrupted. “You should have called me or Tessa. We could’ve come with you. We all know what she’s up to. This has bad news written all over it. Her father knows people, Beck. Even if you’re fucking right, they’re gonna make you look dead wrong.”
Marcus’s words didn’t put me at ease. They only made things worse. For Beck too. His complexion went from a heated tan to a pale white. “You don’t think I know that? It was a stupid move, but I thought if I tried to reason with her… I just thought I could make it go away. But when she got in the car she went all kinds of crazy…” His eyes searched mine for forgiveness, for understanding, for anything to make him see I believed him. “Baby, I had no idea she would go to such great lengths to fuck with us. Had I known—I would’ve stayed away. She tried to kill us. She took the wheel and tried to swerve the car into oncoming traffic when I told her we were over. I was so scared… so scared I’d never see you again. So I called her mother. It was the only thing I could think of doing in that moment and as soon as I got her on the phone—Marissa fucking started spewing more lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. That’s why I’m here. Because I believed her lies, you believed her lies—everyone believes her mother fucking lies.”
I wanted to cry. I wanted to break down and just lose it right there. I’d had it with Marissa’s games and now I was furious. She could have killed the love of my life, the father of my baby, all because she was a jealous bitch. “I’m gonna—let me talk to her!” I started to stalk in Marissa’s direction, but my brother grabbed my arm, stopping me.
“Where do you think you’re going, little girl? She’s insane. You mess with crazy—and crazy’s high and mighty daddy—and you’ll be sharing a cell with your boyfriend tonight. Let me handle this, okay?”
I searched Marcus’s eyes with desperation. I wanted to believe he could solve this whole ridiculous misunderstanding, but I feared irreparable damage had already been done. What lies had she told? If he was accused of hurting her physically or abusing a substance, he could be put on probation at work. Or moved to a shitty house in another borough. I couldn’t have her ruining our lives any more than she already had. “Marcus, please? I need to let them know that she’s been messing with us. Maybe they’ll listen to me.”
“Riley, there’s no use, babe. I’m telling you. They’ll believe whatever she says. It’s always been like that.” I didn’t know if Beck was only trying to calm me down to avoid a brawl or if he was talking from experience.
Suddenly, I remembered what Marissa had said to me about Griffin lying for her at any cost. “What the fuck is it with her? Why does she have everyone wrapped around her finger?” It didn’t make any sense. They couldn’t protect her forever. There were consequences for shit like this.
“Just leave it alone, Riles. Please, baby?” Not Beck too. Why was he defending her?
“Screw you all!” I couldn’t stand back and let this go down.
Fighting my way past Marcus and Tessa, and ignoring Beck’s protests, I marched right up to the stuck-up family of bullshit artists and said my peace. “You have some nerve accusing him of anything. You know damn well he would never hurt you.” I waved my finger in Marissa’s face, holding myself back from balling it into a fist and slugging her.
Before I could get another word in, Marcus and Tessa were at my side, with their hands on my shoulders, holding me back.
“Come on, Ry. Let’s sit with Beck. Let the cops handle this,” Tessa whispered in my ear.
“No! They can’t believe her! This is—this is fucking crazy!”
“Crazy?” Marissa finally said with an evil smirk. “I’ll give you crazy. When he showed up at my house he reeked of booze and dragged me into his car. Do you know how scared I was?” All of a sudden her smirk turned into full-on theatrical waterworks. Her father rushed to her side to coddle her.
“It’s okay, baby. He can’t hurt you anymore.” He cupped her head against his chest as she made herself look like the victim.
This had to be a fucking joke.
When she finally broke from her father’s protective—and probably manipulative—arms, she stared me down as if to scare me away.
But I wasn’t scared. I was enraged.
“You are despicable,” I spat at her. The lies never ended, but there had to be a way to prove Beck’s innocence without it just being his word against hers. Searching the room, I recognized a police officer who’d been sitting with Beck earlier. “Excuse me, officer?” I motioned to him and he strolled over. “Was my boyfriend given a Breathalyzer? If he’s being accused of drinking and driving I assume he had to take one.” We had to get to the bottom of this. There had to be an honest answer out there fucking somewhere.
“Ma’am, just relax. We’re compiling all the information and filing the complaints. These things take time.” His flippant response only irritated me more.
“Time, my ass. You’re wasting yours. He did nothing wrong. She’s a goddamn liar and you’re all blinded by her last name and her fucking social status.”
“Riley!” Beck yelled from across the room where he was now standing with his hands tethered together in front of him. “Enough. Just leave it alone.”
With Marcus and Tessa holding on to me as if I were a fragile porcelain doll, I took in a long breath to try and even the raggedness out. My poor baby. She would hate me for making her wound tight. “Why is this happening?” I finally broke down. “I feel like I’m in a nightmare. I don’t understand why no one will listen to me.”
I’d never felt so helpless in my life. How could I fix this? I neede
d some kind of miracle.
“Griffin?” Marissa’s eyes went wide. “What are you doing here?” She ran to him with open arms.
My head spun around like Linda Blair’s in The Exorcist. Griffin was here! Was this my miracle? Holy shit, thank you, Jesus.
All eyes turned to the two siblings sharing a hug and a silent conversation. I wanted to run to him myself before she fed him more of what everyone else believed, but I held back out of respect for Beck.
The two of them walked over to our crowd, Griffin’s eyes focused on me. “Riley,” he said with a shy smile and a nod.
This was no time for something so composed. Everyone needed to snap the fuck out of their Marissa-trance and figure this shit out. “Griffin. When did you get back?” I asked.
“Last night. I was catching up on some sleep, trying to even out the time difference thing—guess that’s why I missed my stepmother’s call.”
“Why are you explaining yourself to her? She’s no one. Come, Griff. You can help me fill out the forms for the restraining order.” Marissa dug her claws into her brother’s arm and I expected him to follow her like the other sheep.
But as she pulled, he didn’t budge. “Marissa, why don’t you go sit down and let me talk to Dad and your mother. We’ll figure this all out. Promise.”
“There’s nothing to figure out. He’s an animal and he needs to be punished. Are you going to let him get away with this?” The anguish that seeped through her voice almost made me feel sorry for her. She actually turned this whole thing around in her mind as if she was the one suffering and not causing the pain. She was good at what she did—no doubt about that.
Griffin patted her hair, tucking the red locks behind her ear. “Rissy,” he hummed, tilting his head. He loved her. Deeply. You could tell just by the way he looked at her. How he spoke to her. Marcus and I were close and we’d always been protective over each other, but this was different. It was almost as if she depended on him in some way and they fed off each other because of it.
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