She reached across the table and took my hand into hers. “I should have let you go a long time ago.” She squeezed my fingers. “But I just couldn’t. I wanted to keep you for as long as I could.” She chewed the side of her lip. “I thought I could change things, that I could keep you. I thought I could cover Faye up in cheap clothes. That I could get her sent away. But I just didn’t want to accept that it was real. That she was the one to make you take that leap and see all the things you’ve been missing all along.”
“Sarah…”
“Do you remember our first date?” she asked.
I frowned. “Yes.”
“You took me to dinner and then to a wine bar.” She smiled. “Do you remember what you told me while we were at the bar?”
I frowned. I didn’t.
“You told me that you didn’t believe in love. You’d never seen real love, so you didn’t think it existed.”
“I said that?” I shook my head. “I sure was a charmer. Why did you ever go out with me again?”
“Because I wanted to give you that love. The love that you could feel, you could see in everything. I wanted to show you that love, true love was real.” Her lip trembled. “I hope you felt that over these last few years.”
“I—I—” I didn’t know what to say. My heart brimmed over with something. Pain. Looking into Sarah’s blue eyes. Innocent eyes. “I did. I wish I could have given you that love back.”
She gave me a weak smile. “I wish that too.” She pulled her hands away. “I’m going to stay in the hotel for the two nights we planned.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, my head not fully grasping everything that had just took place.
“You’re going to go to Faye, aren’t you?”
I blinked. “I—”
“She needs you Rhett. As hard as it is for me to say,” Tears dripped down her cheeks, but these gutted me. These tears ripped at me in a way her tears never had before. Because they’re the last one’s you’ll see. It’s over. “If there’s anyone that can save you…it’s her.”
“Save me?”
Her lips quirked sadly in the corners. “Don’t you see it? You’ve been trying to save her all this time, but it’s you that needed saving. It’s what I’ve been trying to do all these years.” She touched my hand. “If she can save you, then she can save herself too.” Her tears started coming harder. “Now go.” She pulled her hand away.
I didn’t move. I sat there for several moments staring at the woman I had shared my life with for years. The first person I ever claimed to love. I hadn’t really, not like she deserved. I had been lying to us both. Sarah was safe, but not from me. I wasn’t safe.
“I wish I loved you, believe me I do.”
She smiled sadly. “I believe you.”
I pulled out cash from my wallet and laid it on the table. I didn’t say anything else when I stood. And I didn’t look back when I left.
FIFTEEN
Rhett.
I drove like a bat out of hell to get to the apartment. My heart thundered in my chest as I ran from the car into the apartment. Her car was there in the lot.
She’s here. Relief flooded my body. I fumbled with my key for what seemed like forever before I got it into the lock. Once the door was open I rushed inside like a mad man. She wasn’t in the living room and I burst into her room without knocking. The time for knocking was over. I had to tell her. I had to tell the truth.
I lied when I said I didn’t love her. I didn’t want to take my father’s place in her life. I wanted to be more and I could never be that if she didn’t know. If she didn’t see that my love was pure. It was different than his.
But her room was empty. Her bed unmade, her bathroom was empty as well.
What the fuck?
I spun around and saw it. The simple white piece of paper lying on top of her rumpled sheets. My heart tripled in time as I touched the smooth pale surface. Sweeping black lines filled the space.
Rhett & Sarah,
Thank you both for everything you’ve given me. The car, the phone, the clothes. But more than that, your time and your love. I will never forget those things. I would have never survived without the two of you. But now that it’s all over, it’s time for me to go. To move on with my life. I’ve left the keys to my car and the phone on the dresser. Don’t worry, I’m not going back to my old life or anything. I’m going to start over.
I hope you’ll remember the good things about me and not the broken pieces of me that you both helped piece back together. I hope those are the things you think of.
-Faye
I stood there for several moments, reading and re-reading the words. Words Faye wrote. I looked at the dresser to find her phone and keys both there just as she promised.
“No.” Saying the word out loud would make it untrue. She hadn’t left. She couldn’t have left. She wouldn’t just leave.
But there was no denying the truth.
She was gone.
I’m too late.
Thank you for reading Filthy 5! I hope you enjoyed it. I would greatly appreciate it if you would leave a review on Amazon, goodreads, or any other retailer. <3
Be looking for Filthy 6, the final installment of the FILTHY serial, in February 2015.
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www.MeganDMartin.blogspot.com
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Filthy 5: A Dark Erotic Serial Page 11