Tempted Hearts (bxb)

Chapter 16 - Love is Blue

Emily stared at me, a blank expression attached to her face. The moment had consumed her, and turned her world upside down as she was about to let down the only people left in the world that had any faith in her as a person.

"I... had sex with Charlie," she admitted softly, her voice breaking as she spoke.

I looked to my left, to see Jake and Lilly sharing twin expressions of shock and rage. Neither of them could speak for a few seconds. The silence in the room was so thick, it was almost like a gas that had choked the lot of us.

"Funny, I honestly didn't think it'd be hard to figure out," Lilly finally uttered and chucked the necklace over at Emily as the pendant fell, but the chain caught her fingertips and it hung in front of us.

Jake shook his head in disbelief. "How could you do this to us... to Max?" he scoffed, looking up at the ceiling as if trying to hide watery eyes. I'd never in my life expected to see him so emotional. I knew that I shouldn't have felt so attracted to him when he was clearly going through so much, but seeing him for once vulnerable made me like him even more.

My heart ached for the siblings, but it pained me, even more, to feel betrayed and backstabbed by someone that I was finally warming up to, just to have all those emotions crushed by a simple yet stupid one-night stand.

"But why?" I asked her as she turned to look at me frantically.

"We... we used to date," she revealed as Jake's face became more and more unsure of who the girl in front of him really was. It was like he was seeing a stranger in front of him, rather than the girl he'd been slowly mustering feelings for. "He... he beat me, just like my own mother and that night I was drunk, and so was he, and..."

"Are you sure he was drunk?" Lilly asked, suddenly even more serious in tone.

Emily eyed her for a second before answering. "Yes, he wouldn't-"

"After everything that I've heard about him, it's not the last thing I'd put on the list," Lilly interrupted.

"We were both drunk! I swear!" she cried as we all stood facing her, each of us unsure of how to handle the situation.

Jake shook his head. "You're unbelievable..." is all he could say, and I know that he wanted to say more just by the look in his eye. I wanted to stop him, just in case Lilly's theory was correct, but I couldn't even find the words to speak at that moment.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "I figured it out a while back when we picked up that necklace from your locker," she said. "Jake doesn't hold any religious beliefs or symbols, but Charlie had a golden one around his neck that day at the mall. And it looks just like this one, but in gold." Emily's face turned sour with guilt.

"You can stay here the night," Jake said plainly, seemingly unsure how to cope with the whole ordeal.

"And then?" she squeaked.

"And then... I don't want to see you here again. Understand?"

"No... Jake, please-"

He shook his head. "I don't wanna hear it," he turned and exited the door as tears began streaming down Emily's face again.

Lilly gestured with her eyes for me to follow him, to make sure that he was alright. It was really sweet to see that Lilly secretly kept an eye on her brother and always thought about him, even if she didn't show it. She didn't have to, though. I imagined that he knew, deep down.

I heard the sliding glass door open that led out into the pool area. I followed after him for a few minutes, hoping to give him a little bit of space that he was clearly craving. He needed a minute or two alone to gather his thoughts and process everything. It had been a crazy, fucked-up week.