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“What are you talking about?” I ask, quirking a brow. “Troy couldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Then who pushed me off the pier?” Robbie grabs my arm, his fingertips digging into my skin and I squirm.
“Nobody pushed you. You fell, it was an accident.”
“The fuck it was. Troy tried to kill me because he sees me as a threat to your so called relationship.”
I stare at him and then my lips start to twitch. I’m amused as much as I’m horrified. Taking a deep breath, I murmur, “I’m not sure what the beef between you two is but I want no part of it. And just so you know, accusing someone of murder is pretty serious. If Troy heard you talking like that he’d be so hurt...”
“Argh...you’re so stupid,” Robbie growls, turning red in the face and he yanks at his hospital gown, “how the fuck can you take his side, when you barely even know him?”
“Because I can tell Troy has a good heart.” I watch Robbie with sudden dislike. “I thought you did too, until you began accusing your own cousin of being a killer.”
Robbie’s face falls and he leans back on the pillows as if he doesn’t have much willpower left. “I’m going to call the cops. I’ll tell them what Troy did and then he’ll spend years in prison.“ He sneers. “And if you still find him sexy in that khaki outfit then you’re not the girl I thought you were.”
Horror flares in my heart and suddenly I feel like twisting Robbie’s arm and yelling at him. My voice is cold as ice when I speak. “If you do that, then I will never forgive you. If you do anything that could hurt Troy, I’ll hate you for the rest of my life.”
Gawking at me, Robbie trembles, reaching for me when I rise but I yank my arm back in anger. “You have to believe me,” he pleads. “Chuck please, Troy’s not a good guy...”
“And you are?” I hiss. “You’re aliar, but you’re hurt right now and you need me so I’m going to forgive you.”
I put my hands over my ears, walking out of the room because I can’t stand hearing any more accusations. Robbie has obviously lost his mind. He doesn’t even know what he’s saying right now but it still hurts...I gasp when I bump into Troy.
He feels harder around the edges somehow. Guarded. He clasps my shoulders and for some silly reason, I shudder.
“Hey...um, didn’t see you there,” I say with a sheepish smile and Troy’s eyes deepen.
“Are you okay?”
“Uh-huh,” I nod, but I have stopped breathing. I don’t believe what Robbie told me. Don’t believe him one bit but there’s still a part of me that wonders if maybe...just maybe he’s telling the truth.
“I’ve called an Uber,” Troy wraps an arm around me, “we can’t do much here, anyway. Let’s go home.”
“Actually, his mom asked me to stay until they get here,” I say in a thin voice, and I wonder why Troy seems to care so little about his own family member that almost died tonight.
Troy’s eyes darken, and I swallow at the look in them.
Suddenly what Robbie told me doesn’t seem entirely farfetched.
Eight
Troy
He told her. Agony flares in me because I heard every word he said and I think she believed him. Maybe she’s not completely sold, but he told her enough to put doubt in her mind. I could see it in her eyes, at the way she looked at me as if I was some big, dark secret disguising as a guy she likes.
My heart twists and the pain nearly makes me topple.
She’s slipping through my fingers and this isn’t how I imagined it. Charlotte and I are supposed to have a happy ending. I need that ending. It’s the one thing that will make me feel like my life hasn’t been one tragedy after the other.
I walk into an alley, leaning against the bricks and take a deep breath. My thoughts are a jumble and I can’t sort them out, my adrenaline’s running and all I can think about are different ways of making sure Charlotte doesn’t give up on me.
Seeing the disappointment, the betrayal in her eyes would kill me.
The next breath I draw is a choppy one and hatred for Robbie fills me, makes me feel like there’s lava in my gut and my heart is turning into coal. He has ruined fucking everything. I breathe harder, feeling rage build up in me and I choke on a scream.
Dragging my fingers through my hair, I pace through the dirty alley. My thoughts revolve around what to do next...how to make Charlotte trust me and disbelieve Robbie.
The only thing I can think of is to accuse Robbie the same way he has been accusing me.
