Southern Secrets (Southern 7)

"I don’t care." I say the three words that are a lie. I’m a liar just like him. I don’t want to think about it. I can’t think about it.

The sound of running and the door opening have me looking to the side to see Chelsea there. "What happened?" she asks, rushing over to me, turning to look at Quinn. "Did you get her a cold rag for her to put on her neck?" He shakes his head. "What the fuck have you been doing?" she says, totally unaware of what just went on. "Why are you drinking?"

"It’s over." I look at her, and her mouth opens and then closes. "It’s a long story."

"It’s a fucked-up story," Quinn says from the kitchen, drinking another shot. "It’s the story that you never expect to hear, and then you hear it, and you look around wondering, did I just hear what he said." He closes his eyes. "It’s like Twilight Zone kind of thing."

Chelsea gets up and looks at him like he has two fucking heads. "Asher is Liam’s son," I say

the words, and her face turns white. Her mouth opens, then closes again. "Exactly."

"Did he know?" she asks, putting her hand to her stomach, neither of us answering her. So she looks at us again. "Did he know when he came here?" Again we just look at each other and Chelsea sits on the couch next to me. "Does Ethan know?" she asks, and I nod my head.

"I need," I say. "I need to pack his stuff." I turn to get off the couch. "He needs his stuff."

"We need to burn his stuff," Chelsea says, and Quinn laughs.

"Again." He shakes his head when Chelsea gasps out. "Too soon."

"I’m fine." I get up and sit back down when the room spins. Chelsea gets up and holds out her hand. "I’m fine. I just got up too fast," I say, and she doesn’t move.

"I’ll help you there, and then you can do your thing," she says, and I reach out, taking her hand in mine.

"I feel weird," I say finally. "And I can’t explain it," I say, walking with her into my room. "It’s almost like …"

"A piece of you is missing," Chelsea says from beside me softly. The tears don’t even warn me this time. They just come, one after another, like a dam being opened. My hand covers my mouth to stop the sob. "You don’t have to do this," Chelsea says from beside me. "Why don’t you do it tomorrow?"

"No," I say, shaking my head. "I need him gone," I say. "I need to see that all of his stuff is gone." She nods her head at me as I go over to the bed and start ripping off the sheets. "These need to go in the garbage.” I throw my cover on the floor, followed by the sheets. My body shakes but with rage, rage that I let myself fall for someone who hurt me. Rage that I can’t stop thinking about how he is feeling. Rage that all I want to do is ask him to come back. I walk around the bed, grabbing the pillows and also throwing them on the floor.

I don’t bother to hide the tears when Quinn comes in. He looks at me and then at Chelsea, who just shakes her head. "Leave her."

"I want it all gone," I tell them both. "I need garbage bags," I say, walking out of the room past both of them and going to the kitchen. Grabbing two from the box, I go back to my room. "Quinn, hold the bag open, and I’ll throw the stuff in it." I shake the garbage bag open. "Chelsea, help me put the stuff in the bag," I say, and she helps me with no questions asked. I grab the other bag and walk around the room, throwing out everything that reminds me of him.

Picking up the little glass jar that he bought me last week with the two little red roses in them, I throw it into the empty garbage bag, the sound of the glass shattering makes me look up. "It’s funny," I say, looking down at the bag, then up again. "I thought when my heart broke earlier, I would hear it shatter, just like the glass did." I wipe my cheek when Chelsea takes a step forward, and I hold up my hand. "I just want all of his stuff gone so I never have to look at it again," I say, my voice going lower. "The sooner I do that, the sooner I can forget about him."

Chapter 31

Asher

I wait for Quinn to come out of the house, carrying two huge garbage bags. He walks right over to me. "Here," he says, dropping the bags at my feet.