I slowly peeled my fingers away from my face. His mouth fell open when he got a look at me. “Make it stop,” I begged. “Please, make it stop.”
He sprung into action and tried to pry the men apart.
That hadn’t been what I was asking him to stop, though.
I wanted someone to make the memories go away. I realized that would never happen. They were trapped inside, forever a part of me. There was no getting rid of them.
I had thought I was a strong person.
I saw now though, with Marcus’ reappearance, it had only been a mask I was wearing.
I wasn’t strong.
I was weak.
I was damaged.
I was broken.
I’d only been blocking what I really felt with false smiles. The fact of the matter was, I wasn’t okay. I hadn’t been for a while. I was struggling. The horrors of what he’d done to me would haunt me for the rest of my life—unless I did something stop it.
I saw now that I just wanted it to end.
I needed the silent suffering to go away.
Cyrus eventually got his arms around Marcus and pulled him away from Caelan. Frankie was there now too, standing in front of Caelan. Daphne stood in the doorway surveying the scene with confusion.
“What the hell is going on?” Frankie asked.
“Get him out of here!” Caelan pointed a finger at Marcus, his teeth clenched as he said every word. “Get him out of here before I kill him!” He lunged forward past Frankie, his arms outstretched like he was going to strangle Marcus. Calmly, Frankie wrapped his arms around Caelan’s middle and pulled him back a few feet.
“Get it together, Gregory,” he hissed.
“Come on,” Cyrus started dragging Marcus away and out the door, “you need to leave.”
Once they were out of eyesight Frankie released Caelan who came running to my side. I still sat on the floor with my back against the wall. He dropped to his knees, running his fingers along my cheek. “Sutton, sweetheart, are you okay? Please, talk to me.”
When I said nothing he pulled me against his chest and let me sob into his shirt.
I wasn’t okay and I didn’t want to lie to him.
I felt more shattered than I ever had before.
The pieces of my life that I had so carefully reconstructed had been flawed. There were gaps and they didn’t fit together right. It had all been a façade and now I was too broken to rebuild.
“Sutton, please say something,” he begged, smoothing his fingers through my hair.
“He found me,” I sobbed. My fingers tangled in my hair and I forced my head up to look at him. “Don’t you see? No matter where I go or how much distance I put between us, he’ll always find me. He’s always going to haunt me.”
“Who was he?” Daphne asked, tiptoeing closer to us.
“Go,” Caelan snapped at her. “Can’t you see she’s not okay?”
I peeked over his shoulder to see Daphne pale. “Okay, fine. I’m going.” When she saw me looking at her, she added, “If you need to talk to someone, I’m here.”
I nodded, letting her know I heard and understood.
The other guys had left, so she closed the door behind her.