the amnesiac

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

I race out the front door in tears only to find Jack sitting on the sidewalk. I stop when I see him and try to wipe my eyes. "Jack?" He stands up and comes toward me. "What are you still doing here?" He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me toward him, hugging me. I bite my lip, but that doesn't stop the tears from falling. "I couldn't leave you. I knew something was wrong." I try to hide my face in his chest, and he holds me tighter against him.

"We should get out of here," he says. I nod.

He takes my hand and leads me to his car, opening the passenger seat for me. I step in, and, soon enough, he is on the opposite side of me with his hands on the wheel.

He backs out of the parking spot in front of my garage and drives off. I stay silent, staring at the window. Jack taps his hands on the steering wheel impatiently.

"I can't believe it," I whisper to my reflection.

Jack pulls off the road and stops the car. He turns to me and I look back at him with a lump in my throat. "My mother is getting married," I sob. His eyes widen, but his surprise doesn't stop him from reaching out towards me and holding me once again. "I can't believe she would do this to me," I cry into his shoulder. "Why would she even think that this is okay with me?" I pull back and look Jack in the eyes. "Why do bad things keep happening to me?"

His eyes widen. "Do you remember..?" I nod. He scrunched up his nose and let's go of me. He bites his lip and shakes his head. "Why did you act as if you didn't?" I open my mouth to respond, but I don't know how to, so I close it again. "I'm sorry," I finally say.

"Sorry?" Jack whispers. "Why?" He looks at me. "You're not the one that's supposed to be apologizing."

My shoulders shake, and I place my head in my hands. "Hey, look at me." I look up but stare forward. "You know who it was, don't you?" Jack nods.

"Yeah," I whisper.

He sighs. "I swear I would kill him if you let me."

I look at Jack, surprised. "Why?"

He looks at me as if I just asked the stupidest question he's ever heard. "Why? You know what he did to you!"

I shake my head. "But you don't," I say quietly.

"I can think of a few things," Jack says. I look back up at him, and there's so much anger in his eyes.

"I didn't come quick enough. I should've been there to stop him." He whispers. "Two minutes was all I needed. Two minutes and he wouldn't have done anything to you. Two minutes and you'd still be okay."

Tears fall down my face; everything is so hard to take in. I'm mixed with the thoughts of what Jack is saying, the memories of what happened, and the things that my mother and Cassie's father had told me. I wish everything could just go away. I wish that now I could forget about everything.

Jack's lips crashing into mine did just that.

I was taken by surprise, but that didn't mean I didn't kiss him back. The minute his lips touched mine, I felt the sparks in my body light up, and all the tears, all the sadness, and all the guilt was washed away.

Jack wrapped on of his arms around my waist; the other cupped my cheek, then my chin. My arms found their way to his shoulders, and my fingers brushed his hair at the nape of his neck. I let the seconds pass by; the minutes followed.

Finally, Jack pulled away. I stared at him, stunned, but he doesn't let go. "I'm sorry," he says. "I just couldn't stand to see you cry."