Betrayal: Abby's Guilt (The Betrayal Series) (7 page)

“Hi, honey. It’s me,” Abby said after Kyle picked up.

“Hey babe. I called you a few minutes ago, and you didn’t pick up.”

“I’m sorry. I had to put my phone on silent for the concert and forgot to turn it back on.” Abby winced as the lie came out of her mouth. She had told Kyle more lies that day than in the three years she had known him.

“Where are you? Shouldn’t the concert be over by now?” Kyle asked.

Abby began to stammer, “Oh, the girls and I decided to go to a bar for drinks after the concert.” Another lie. 

Brianna came back to the living room area holding a couple of glasses of wine in her hands. She gave Abby a questioning look.

“All right. Have fun and be careful,” Kyle said.

“I’ll be home in a bit, honey,” Abby replied, raising her gaze and meeting Brianna’s.

“I love you,” Kyle said.

“I love you too, Kyle,” Abby replied before ending the call. She quickly shoved the phone back inside her clutch.

“The girls?” Brianna asked, raising an eyebrow as she sat on the couch next to Abby and handed her one of the wine glasses. “Kyle doesn’t know you are out with me, does he?”

Abby took the wine glass from Brianna’s hand and stared at the floor for a moment. “I’m sorry,” she said, raising her gaze to meet Brianna’s. “After our meeting at the café, I tried to talk to him about you. When I brought your name up, he just shut me down. I wanted to invite you over to our apartment for dinner, but he didn’t even let me get that far. The mere mention of your name had him seething with anger.”

Brianna shrugged as she took a sip from her wine. “I told you it was a lost cause. He will never change. I’ve come to terms with the fact that he will never accept me or even tolerate me. I can’t make him love me, Abby. That’s just the way things are.” Brianna placed her glass down on the coffee table.

The resignation in Brianna’s voice made Abby profoundly sad. She too placed her glass of wine on the coffee table without taking a single sip. “But Kyle said the fact that you are gay is not the reason why you two don’t have a relationship. He told me to stay away from you because you are a liar and have done some disturbing things. What was he talking about, Brianna?”

Brianna scoffed. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He was just a kid when I left home. My family filled his head with lies about me. I’m not going to go into details, but I can promise you I didn’t do any of the disturbing things he was told I did. He chose to believe the lies and never gave me a chance to explain my side of the story.”

Abby scooted over and placed her palm over Brianna’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “I’m so sorry, Brianna.” Abby’s heart was breaking for her. She had two brothers and was very close to them. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would feel like to have one of them shun her the way Kyle had shunned Brianna.

“I guess you and I won’t be hanging out anymore after tonight, huh?” A bitter smile twisted Brianna’s face.  “I don’t want you to lie to Kyle. I don’t want him getting mad at you because of me.” Brianna freed her hand from Abby’s and reached for her drink.

Abby refused to throw in the towel. “I’ll talk to him again. I will get him to talk to you so you two can straighten things out. Just give me some time.”

Brianna chuckled at Abby’s naive stubbornness. It touched her heart that Abby wanted to fix her relationship with Kyle so badly, but she knew that it was a lost cause. She had spent years trying to do just that to no avail. Brianna tucked a leg under her and twisted her body so she could face Abby. Resting her elbow on the edge of the sofa and her head on her hand, she gazed at Abby curiously.

“You know, I don’t know what my brother did to land such a kind, sweet, and adorable girl like you, Abby. I hope he realizes how lucky he is and appreciates what he has.”

Abby cast her gazed downward as heat crept up her cheeks. “He does,” she cooed before raising her gaze. “He’s a good guy, a kind, reasonable man, Brianna. He is kind to every person he meets regardless of who they love or how much money they have or what god they worship.”

“I know he’s a good guy. He’s just been brainwashed by some very twisted, fanatical people.”

“Let me fix this. I want you in our lives. I won’t give up until you and Kyle fix your relationship.”

Brianna chuckled. “You know what? I don’t want to talk about Kyle anymore.” She  waved her hand dismissively in the air. “I’d rather spent the few minutes we have left together getting to know you.” She narrowed her eyes and held her lower lip between her teeth. “So, you are a diehard classical music fan, huh? I couldn’t believe how giddy you were about meeting those musicians. You were all over them at the dinner.”

Abby shifted her body and tucked one leg under her so she could face Brianna. A crinkle appeared between her eyes as she leaned her elbow on the edge of the sofa. “Oh my God! Was I that bad? Did I embarrass you in front of all those important people? I feel terrible. I’m so sorry. I…”

Brianna shook her head and chuckled. “Relax. You did not embarrass me. I thought it was actually refreshing and adorable how you were acting. The musicians whose ears you were chewing off seemed to enjoy it too. I bet they don’t have a lot of hard core fans who worship at their feet.”

They both giggled as Brianna reached out and placed her hand on Abby’s forearm. The smile on both of their faces vanished as a shock of electricity ran through both of them. Abby stared into Brianna’s eyes and did not see the gaze of a friend. She saw desire and longing mixed with pain. Abby stared at Brianna’s perfect glossy lips and wished she had the courage to lean in and take those lips into hers, but she knew it would be wrong. She was a straight girl in a long term relationship with that beautiful girl’s brother. Kissing her would be wrong for too many reasons. Abby turned her gaze away from Brianna’s piercing blue eyes and reached down for her glass of wine. She downed the contents of the glass in a single gulp. She couldn’t look Brianna in the eyes anymore. She was certain Brianna could tell how badly she wanted to be kissed by her, to be touched by her, to feel what she felt that fateful night at Ryan’s birthday party.

Brianna removed her hand from Abby’s arm, realizing she was making her uncomfortable. “So, besides geeking out over classical musicians, what else do you do, Abby Slone?”

“Well, not much really,” Abby replied. “Between school and my job at the bookstore, I don’t have a lot of time left for hobbies or going out.”

“What are you studying?”

“I’m an English major. Just finished my third year at NYU.”

“What do you plan to do after you graduate?”

Abby shrugged. “I don’t know. I want to be a writer, but it is really difficult to make a living just writing. I guess I’ll teach or get a job as a copy editor somewhere while I write my first novel.”

“A novelist? You must really love books.”

Abby nodded. “I do. Sometimes I wish I did not have to worry about money so I had the time and freedom to sit around and read every great book that has ever been written.”

“I wish I had paid more attention in school and had graduated.” Brianna let out a sigh loaded with regret. “I feel like I missed out on learning a lot of things…important things. Now I understand the importance of education. But with my career, I just don’t have the time to sit down and learn anything or even read a good book.” Brianna gazed at the New York City skyline through the glass doors of her terrace as memories of her high school life flashed through her mind.

“I can’t believe you moved to L.A., all by yourself, at the age of 18. I don’t think I could ever do anything like that. You must’ve have been really scared,” Abby remarked, her face beaming with fascination and curiosity.

“I was terrified,” Brianna admitted, turning her gaze back to Abby. “You know, I didn’t run away from home because I wanted to be an actress. The acting thing was just a fluke. I ran away because I needed to get out of my parents’ house and couldn’t wait until after I finished school to do it. I needed to put as much distance as possible between certain people and I, so I took off.”

“Why did you run away? Who were you trying to get away from?”

Brianna chuckled softly and her gaze bounced around the room. From the look in Brianna’s eyes, Abby could tell the conversation had brought back some very painful memories for Brianna.

“It doesn’t matter now. Things have turned out pretty well for me, and the people who hurt me then and made me run away can’t hurt me now. I don’t even think about it anymore.”

Abby searched Brianna’s face. She wondered who hurt her and what they did to her that was so unbearable she had to run far, far away. She felt Brianna was lying to herself when she said she was over what happened to her. It was written all over her face just how much she was still hurting.

Abby’s phone buzzed once. She fished it out of her clutch and stared at the text message notification that popped on the broken phone screen. “It’s Kyle,” she mouthed to Brianna.

“You should get going, Abby. I don’t want you to have problems with Kyle because of me. Let me go get your new phone so you can go home,” Brianna said, before getting off the sofa and disappearing into the suite’s bedroom.

Abby read the text message Kyle had sent her. Kyle wanted to know where she was and when she was getting home. Abby replied that she was still at the bar with her friends but was about to head home.

Brianna returned to the living room with a box containing a brand new, white iPhone 5S. She handed the box to Abby and sat back down.

Abby grabbed the box from Brianna’s hands. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much I appreciate this. I will pay you back. I promise.”

Brianna sighed and shook her head. Abby’s stubbornness would have been annoying if she wasn’t so darn adorable.

“Well. I have to go now. Thank you again for the concert. I had one of the best times of my life. And thank you again for the phone. We’ll keep in touch, Brianna.”

Chapter VI

Abby smiled sweetly at Brianna and got off the sofa. Brianna could no longer hold back. She stared into Abby’s sparkling hazel eyes and knew she needed to say what was in her heart. She knew she and Abby were not destined to be friends, let alone anything else. She knew they were probably not going to see each other again after that night, so Brianna decided to come clean.

“Wait!” Brianna yelped, grabbing Abby’s hand. “I have to confess something to you.”

Abby sat back down slowly and stared at Brianna with a puzzled look on her face.

Brianna took a deep breath and scooted over to get closer to Abby. “The other day at that café, I apologized to you for kissing you at the party. But the truth is, I’m not sorry.” She paused, realizing she was not explaining herself well. After finding the right words, she continued with her confession. “What I mean is that I’m sorry I made the bet, and I’m sorry I used you to get back at Kyle, but I’m not sorry for kissing you.”

Abby just stared blankly at Brianna and with her mouth hanging open.

Brianna reached out to touch Abby’s cheek with her fingers, but stopped herself midway. “I felt that kiss in every fiber of my being, Abby. That kiss is all I had been able to think about. I replay it over and over in my head, and I get chills every time. I can’t even concentrate on my auditions because I can’t get you or that kiss out of my mind. I even have dreams about it. All I want to do when I’m around you is pull you into my arms and devour those pouty lips of yours. And I don’t just want to kiss you. I daydream about doing other things to you… things that would probably gross you out and scare you and make you want to run screaming from the room if I told you.”

Abby let out a sharp breath she didn’t know she was holding. She just stared into Brianna’s glassy blue eyes while she spilled her guts to her. That’s all she could do…stare. All blood circulation had abandoned her face, and she could no longer feel her hands or legs.

“And I know it is selfish of me to even be telling you this,” Brianna continued, drawing a deep breath, her face contorting as she tried to fight back tears. “You are a straight girl in a relationship with my own brother. I know there is zero chance of anything ever happening between us, but I needed to get this off my chest because it’s been eating me inside. I hope that now that I’ve told you, I’ll be able to sleep at night and get on with my life.” She stopped talking. She wet her lips and sucked in a breath waiting for Abby’s reaction to her stream of consciousness.

Abby drew in a deep breath as her gaze bounced around the room. Her brain was trying to put together some coherent thoughts she could convey to the tormented woman who had just poured her heart out to her. “I have to go.” Those were the four words that fell out of Abby’s mouth after the world’s longest pause. Those were the only words her brain could string together. Clutching the iPhone box to her chest, she slowly got off the sofa. She avoided Brianna’s gaze as she dragged her barely functioning feet towards the front door.  

Already regretting her selfish confession, Brianna shot to her feet, grabbed Abby’s clutch off the sofa, and followed Abby to the door. Abby placed her hand on the front door’s handle and began to turn it. Halfway through the turn, she stopped and turned around to face Brianna. Brianna handed Abby her clutch which Abby awkwardly snatched and clutched to her chest along with the iPhone box. Brianna searched Abby’s face and held her breath, waiting for the visibly shaken girl to say something, anything to her.

“Goodbye, Brianna. Take care of yourself,” Abby whispered, her eyes looking everywhere but Brianna’s face. Brianna wrapped her arms around Abby, and Abby rested her chin on Brianna’s shoulder. With the iPhone box and Abby’s clutch standing between them, Abby and Brianna held each other for a bit. They both understood that was going to be the last hug they would probably ever share. Brianna was wishing she could take back what she had just said to Abby because all that did was confuse and terrify the poor girl. Abby wished she could tell Brianna that she felt exactly the same way about her, but she knew that information would not have done either one of them any good and would have only made their goodbye more painful than it already was.