The knocking grew louder.
“I said go away!” I yelled.
“I will not go away!” Piper yelled through the wood. “I’m not leaving until you open this door!”
I dragged my pathetic self off the couch and opened the door, then went back to the sofa and did another faceplant. I heard the door shut, but I didn’t bother to see if she took one look at me and hightailed it to safety.
“What happened to you?” she said, coming to stand beside the sofa.
I pushed myself up and swiped the hair out of my face to look at her. Her eyes widened when she looked at me. “Have you been crying?”
I sniffled.
She sighed. “You didn’t stay away from him, did you?”
I shook my head.
She sighed again.
“You fell in love with him.”
I groaned and fell sideways. “I’m so stupid!”
She sat down on the edge, where I wasn’t completely taking up all the space, and patted my back. “Not stupid. I know how easy it is to fall in love with someone like him.”
I blinked back the tears in my eyes. “I didn’t know Dex, but I do know that he wasn’t like Olly.”
“Who?”
“Charming,” I corrected and ignored her look of curiosity.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it does.”
“I thought you would hate me. I was so scared to tell you about him.”
“I could never hate you. But you shouldn’t have been scared to tell me. I thought we were best friends. Friends tell each other stuff. Even the hard stuff.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, my voice hoarse. I wanted to cry all over again. “But you told me to stay away from him. I promised.”
She half-smiled. “That was selfish of me to make you promise. I knew by the look in your eye that day it was too late.”
“What?” I said, incredulous. “I hated him back then. I never hated someone so much.”
“There’s a thin line between love and hate, Frank.”
She was right. Aside from the fact he was completely horrible, I think part of me knew he had the capability of hurting me this way. That hewouldhurt me this way. I hated him for that too.
“He tried to kill you. How could I fall for someone like that?”
“Dex tried to kill me more than once. I loved him anyway. I still love him.”
“We need therapy,” I said.
She laughed. “Yeah, we really do.”
“Maybe we should start a support group for women who love killers. Just think of all the women who love inmates across America…”
