Chapter 46

Faith

By the time I got to the police station, I was worried sick about Lacey. She was sitting on a bench, waiting to be discharged, and she looked completely dejected.

“What the hell, Lacey,” I said when I saw her.

She was looking at the ground and when she looked up at me, I saw she was crying. My heart filled with sympathy and I softened my tone.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

I put my arms around her and held her. She’d always been there for me. Now it was my turn to be there for her. She nestled her face into my neck and sobbed. I almost burst into tears myself.

“It’s all right, Lacey. Everything’s going to be all right.”

“I don’t know,” she said, between sobs. “I don’t know if it will ever be all right.”

“Lacey, what happened?”

“I was drunk,” she said.

“And you went over to his place?”

She nodded. “First, I tried calling him. I called his cell, like a million times. There was no answer. Every time I called, no answer. I got more and more worked up. I couldn’t let him end a two year relationship with a single voice mail. I needed closure. I’d given him everything.”

“I know, Lacey. That’s all right. That makes sense.”

“I wasn’t crazy?”

“I’d have wanted the same thing.”

“Well, eventually, he answered the phone. Only it wasn’t him.”

“Who was it?”

“His wife.”

I put my hand over my mouth. “Oh, Lacey.”

“I felt like such a slime ball, Faith. I mean, was I the one being cheated on, or was she? What was I supposed to feel? Didn’t I have a right to be upset too? I was a victim of his lies as much as she was.”

“What did she say?”

Lacey shook her head. “What do you think she said? What would you have said?”

“I’m so sorry, Lacey.”

“She called me a whore, a home wrecker, a slut. She said I’d ruined her life. She said she hoped I burned in hell for what I’d done to her.”

“You didn’t do it to her, Lacey. You didn’t know Matt was married.”

“But should I have known? Was I intentionally being naive?”

“No. You had no clue. Did you?”

“No. I didn’t.”

“Then how can you be held responsible for his decisions? Matt did this, Lacey. He hurt you and he hurt his wife.”

“I felt sick to my stomach, Faith. I don’t know what I was thinking. I just felt such rage.”

“Weren’t the brothers around?”

“No, they were out. You were out with Jackson. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

My mind cast back to the text message she’d sent me. It had been out of character and I should have realized something was up. I’d been so taken by Jackson meeting Sam for the first time that I’d completely forgotten.

“You should have called me, Lacey. You know you can always call me. I’d have talked you down.”

Lacey smiled. It was an embarrassed look but at the same time mischievous.

“I didn’t want to be talked down, Faith. I wanted to hurt him. I went over to his apartment, the one his company rents for him, and I tore up his suits and shirts, ripped his furniture, smashed his television.”

I was shaking my head but when I caught her eye, we were both seeing the funny side of it.

“That will teach him,” I said.

“I hope so. He probably won’t care. He’ll replace it all.”

“He’ll be in trouble with his wife.”

“She’ll probably forgive him. Hold it against me instead.”

“Do you think he’ll press charges?”

“No. He wants this brushed under the carpet as quickly and quietly as possible.”

“What a fucking asshole,” I said.

“I know.”

“Let’s tell the brothers. They’ll teach him a lesson.”

Lacey grabbed my shoulders. “Don’t even think about it,” she said. “Faith, I’m mortified. The less people who know about this, the better. It’s too humiliating.”

“All right, Lacey. All right. Calm down.”

Lacey let out a sigh.

“Are you ready to leave?” I asked.

“I need to wait to sign some statement. They’re typing it up.”

“I’ll wait with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Nonsense. You helped me through all the difficult times in my life. I’m not going anywhere.”

She smiled. “Thank you, Faith.”

I hugged her again. “I’m so sorry I didn’t reach you when I got that message,” I said. “I should have tried again. My mind was elsewhere.”

“Of course it was. You were thinking about Jackson.”

“Yes.”

“And?”

I paused.

“Faith, tell me,” Lacey insisted.

I was glad to see she was cheering up.

“Well, he met his son for the first time.”

“And did they hit it off?”

My eyes teared up. I don’t know where it came from, but I was crying like an idiot. I nodded.

“They did?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, Faith.”

“Yes,” I said again, practically balling. “They hit it right off. They were like old friends.”

“Oh, Faith. I’m so happy for you.”

I didn’t know what was wrong with me, but I couldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t pull myself together. I was a basket case. We were both basket cases.

“Did he fuck you?” she said.

My mind flashed back to all the things Jackson had done to my body. I got goosebumps.

“We fucked all night,” I said. “He was all over me, Lacey.”

Lacey laughed. “Well, at least things are going right for one of us.”

I was in tears as I held her. I felt so guilty that I hadn’t been there for her when she’d needed me. She was always the one I called when things got difficult.

“I promise you, we’ll get through this together, Lacey. Whatever you need, whatever you have to do, I’ll be right here to do it with you.”

“Thank you, Faith.”

The door opened and we both turned to see who it was. It was Jackson.

“Jackson,” I said.

“I had to come check on Lacey.”

He gave Lacey a big hug, and she wiped away her tears.

“Sam’s at school,” he said to me.

“Thank you so much. How’d it go?”

“It went great,” he said.

I turned to Lacey. “Jackson took Sam to school for me.”

“Is that so?” she said, her eyebrows raised. “You two are thick as thieves.”

I was embarrassed but Jackson didn’t seem to mind it.

“What the hell happened to you?” he said.

Lacey laughed. “You don’t want to know.”

“I can guess,” Jackson said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jackson winked at her.

“Let’s just say you’re not as good at keeping a secret as you think you are.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Jackson said, and he turned to leave.

“Jackson, wait right there,” Lacey called. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t worry,” Jackson said. “Me and the boys have your back.”

“Jackson,” I called. I knew how private Lacey was about those things.

He turned at the door. “Oh, and I’ll pick up Sam. You two take some time together.”

And he was gone.