CODY
Standing on Skylar’s front porch, I wiped my hands down the sides of my jeans and stared at the etched glass embedded in her front door. I’d left The Storm an hour ago to drive and think, but my arms still burned with exhaustion, the rest of my body not much better.
A year ago, I had everything figured out, had a plan and a goal. But I’d been living in denial. I believed that working hard enough could erase the damage done on that locker room floor. It couldn’t.
The door swung open, the light from inside bright against the dark sky.
“Hey,” she said. “Why didn’t you knock?”
“I was just about to.”
She gripped the edge of the door with her right hand and seemed to be using it for stability.
“Can I come in?”
The foyer that had seemed so grand and warm only a few months ago now felt lonely. Soft music played in the background, the source coming from upstairs. She was here alone. I’d left her alone, again.
I closed the door behind me and reached out to touch her sorrowful face. “You’re missing him, huh?”
She shrugged. “I always miss him.”
“I should’ve come sooner.” I let my hand glide down her arm until it captured her fingers. I led us into the living room where I’d first met her dad. “You shouldn’t be here by yourself, especially tonight.”
“I haven’t been. Not really. I just got home a little while ago. Are you feeling better?”
“I feel exhausted.” I fell into the leather sofa and spread my arms, hoping she’d curl into my lap and make me forget all the chaos in my brain. She did follow me, but her movements were stiff and awkward, and she kept at least a foot between us. On the coffee table sat a water bottle and her laptop. It was open, but the screen was black. A fluffy blanket was crumpled at our feet. Skylar picked it up and began folding it.
“Cody, I…” She glanced at the computer and then back at me, made another crease in the cotton material. She carefully laid the blanket over the armrest and turned the computer so I could see the screen better. “I need to show you something.”
“What?” I felt more than heard the edginess in my voice. Had Blake sent out more vile videos or pictures of Lindsay?
She slid a finger over the mouse pad, and all the growth I thought I’d achieved in the gym shattered to the ground. The six of us were paused. Me on the ground. Them holding down my arms and legs. I knew that scene like my own reflection.
Skylar resumed the video I had no idea even existed. What had been shadows in my mind were now faces I knew. Guys I’d even trained with my junior year.
Tom Baker kicked my old body, and a voice snickered next to the camera. A voice I’d heard a million times.
It was as if I swallowed razor blades. I fell back on the couch, dazed, and gripped my fingers above my head. Skylar shut the laptop.
“Has everyone seen this?” I whispered. Taking down Lindsay wasn’t enough. He’d come after me.
Hands cupped my cheeks, but I still couldn’t focus on her face. There’d been too many blows today. Too much devastation to even register this latest betrayal.
“Cody, look at me.”
I didn’t want to. Didn’t want to see her pity. Didn’t want to know she had just witnessed the worst day of my life.
Warm lips caressed my cheeks and then my forehead. She wrapped her arms around me in a hug so tight, I had to drop my hands and grip the couch cushion in an attempt to not break down in her arms.
“No one has seen this except me and my aunt. Henry hacked Blake’s computer, and Blake doesn’t even know we have it.” There was hope in her eyes I couldn’t share. “We can get him. We have a plan, but you have to be a part of it.”
My mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts and emotions. My humiliation was recorded on video. How many times had Blake watched it? Laughed at it?
A muscle in my jaw ticked, and I jumped to my feet, ready to do what I’d planned to before Matt squashed the idea—find Blake and hurt him. “I have to go. I’m sorry.”
She caught up to me in the hallway and yanked my arm in a fierce tug. “No. This is what you always do. You get hurt, then angry and then you shut everyone out or do something stupid. I know it’s a lot to deal with. But if you walk away and drown in your bitterness, then all this growth has been for nothing.”
“You don’t understand. All I’ve ever wanted is to erase that day from my memory. Now, it’s recorded and preserved just to torture me.” I was yelling, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. “Blake came to my house. He met my parents and pretended for over a year that he had my back. I almost gave you up out of loyalty to him!”
The way only Skylar could do, she stood straighter and pointed those piercing green eyes at me. “Fine. Go be the hero. Beat him up. Feel better. But what have you done for anyone but yourself? He’ll go back to school while you sit in jail. He’ll continue to win wrestling matches and party with his friends. He’ll win, and all that happened to you and to Lindsay will be just a sad memory. But, if you let me help you, let my aunt do what she does best, we can take all of it away from him. We can get justice.”
I let out a long sigh and gripped the back of my neck. I was a fighter, and she wanted surrender.
“Please, Cody. Let me share this burden with you.”
Her words slipped underneath my skin and my muscles tightened. I stared at her imploring eyes, the soft glow of her skin in the dim hallway light. She was asking me to let go. To put aside the rage and the desperation. To share my pain. The same thing Matt said I had to do if I wanted to move on.
I buried my head into the warmth of her neck, allowed myself to say my deepest fear out loud. “I’m afraid. I don’t want you to see me broken.”
Her hands swept up my back, her body pressing against mine. A feathery kiss touched my neck and moved up to my ear. “You’re not broken.”
“I am.”
“No, Cody. I know you. I know your heart and your courage. I know the man you’ve become. I love that you hurt for others. I love that part of you needs me. I love you, and there’s nothing in you that’s broken that God hasn’t already fixed.”
The breath slammed out of my body, the chaos in my mind finally coming to end. I gripped her waist, and all I could see and feel was Skylar. Her fingers slid to my jawline and the warmth of her touch radiated past my skin and into my bloodstream. I dared myself to believe her words. To believe that I could be whole once again.
There was a magnetic pull, bringing our mouths together, our hearts beating in unison. I trailed a line of kisses down her throat and along her collarbone, then paused, staring straight into the eyes of the woman who’d changed my life.
“I think I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you,” I whispered.
She smiled. The same one that met me at the park. The same one she gave after I’d kissed her for the first time. The same one I earned when I met her dad. The smile reserved for her best moments.
I had a new purpose and a new goal.
To make Skylar smile that way every day of her life.