Tangled Up in You

Chapter Five: Revelations

A/N: Filler chapter, but still interesting. Happy reading. :)

~FP's Point of View~

I was outside working on my truck, I could tell there was a storm about to roll in soon. I hadn't seen Helena in a week, and I had not heard from her in three days. The last thing she said to me was that what happened can't happen again in a text message. When I asked her what I done wrong, she told me it wasn't me it was her. The classic ol' line when you've used someone for what you can get out of them. I should have known that a girl like that could only want one thing. I could hear tires on coming up the gravel road through the trailer park. I looked up to see Cliff Blossom's fancy vehicle driving towards me. What the fuck could he possibly want? I wiped greasy hands on my rag and came out from behind my truck hood. Cliff parked and got out of his car.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Cliff?" I asked sarcastically.

"I need to speak with you about a matter regarding a certain woman we both know." He gave me a look of 'you know who I'm talking about'.

"Listen, if you're trying to ask me about marital advice, you've got the wrong guy. I'm not the best guy to come for marriage counselling." I smirked.

"Don't play dumb with me, Forsythe Jones. You know exactly who I'm talking about. Listen, I'm just going to be frank with you, FP, and cut to the chase. I want you to stay the hell away from Helena Holcomb."

"Well, lucky for you, she's already told me she doesn't want to see me again. What's it to you anyways? You got the hots for her or something? And you being a married man and all?" I laughed. "And I take it, you're the one who threw that rock through Fred Andrews window that night last week?" I added.

"She may have told you to stay away, but I know you. You don't listen, you never have, FP. You don't know what that girl has been through, and my wife and I don't want you corrupting her any more than she already is. Penelope is very fond of her. As for the rock, that wasn't me. I don't know who it was, honestly."

"What do you mean by what she's been through? Why do you self-absorbed Blossom's care so much about her?"

"You know it's funny how little you know about a woman you screwed just last week. Then again, you screwed her within hours of knowing her. I bet you thought I didn't know that. Funny how word gets around so quickly." He laughed. I was angry now. I was angry that he knew so much and I didn't know how he did. Angry that he thought it was all just a game.

"How the fuck do you know so much? Who's been talking to you and feeding you information? Why do you care so much?!" I was trying not to lose my cool. He knew too much about me for me to start wailing on him.

"Funny you should mention it. You probably don't remember my nephew, Michael Blossom. My eldest brother's son."

"Yeah, I remember that idiot. He disappeared after high school. What about him?" I hated Michael Blossom. He used to run around with me and some guys, getting into trouble. He ratted on us once, that's one time that Fred Andrews came and bailed me out.

"Michael is engaged to Helena's older sister, Rhiannon. Helena tells her sister everything and Michael tells me everything. Michael told Helena to stay away from you, but she's bull-headed. I guess she finally figured it out. She doesn't want to get hurt anymore. Now, you just do as I told you and stay away. Besides the occasional, parent-teacher meetings, where you will keep things strictly professional."

"Right, I got it. You don't have to say anymore. Thanks for the lecture, Cliff." I nodded to him as he turned from he and got back in his car and drove off.

I put the hood of my truck down, I couldn't believe what I had heard. I didn't know what to think or how to feel. I tried to think of every scenario in my head of how badly she could have been hurt to run here from California. Then I wondered how much of Cliff's story was true or if any of it was true at all and he was just fucking with me. I went into the trailer and got a beer out of the fridge. I sat down on the couch and began getting lost in my thoughts when the door opened revealing Jughead and Betty.

"Hey kids. How ya doin?" I grumbled.

"Pretty good, Dad. You look really out there. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just had the strangest visit from Clifford Blossom, son."

"Really? Why would that scum bag be coming out here?" Betty asked.

"Told me to stay away from Helena. Said that she's been through too much and that I would only make it worse. Said her sister is with his nephew, Michael, the one that got me put away once. Said that Penelope loves Helena and wants to protect her. That's all I know. I told him not to worry about it, though, because Helena texted me three days ago and basically told me to leave her alone."

"That doesn't even make sense after what happened last weekend with you two." Jughead said.

"Especially, after what she told me and Veronica. She couldn't stop talking about you." Betty said.

"Yeah, well I guess she's just protecting herself. That's all. She should have thought about that before getting involved with me."

"Listen, Dad, there's something you should know about Helena. I've been meaning to show you this, it's something a friend of ours dug up on her. We knew she had secrets, we just didn't know how many. You should see this, read all of it. Look at the pictures." Jughead handed me a file. I opened it and began reading it. It contained a full history about Helena. Graduated high school at 16. Married her high school sweetheart at the age of 17. Immediately started college. Graduated college at age 20. In between all of that she was severely abused. Sexually assaulted by her own husband, broken nose, stabbed, and almost killed. Facial reconstructive surgery was necessary to fix the damage caused to her face. He began stalking her, resulting in her moving to her sister's house. When that didn't work, she disappeared. As of last summer, her whereabouts were unknown. It finally clicked in my head why she was so scared. She ran away to safety. I was angry now, I wanted to kill that son of a bitch.

"Jughead, why didn't you tell me sooner?" I said, trying not to be angry with him.

"I was going to, but you know how crazy things have been lately. I knew you would flip out. I knew you'd want to kill her husband, Terry. He's all the way in California, anyways."

"Are you sure that motherfucker is still in California? Cliff denied throwing that rock or hiring anyone to do it. I know he's a liar, but I'm beginning to think that Helena's husband isn't so far away after all...