Page 15 of Sac-rifice (RBMC: Cleveland, Ohio Chapter #7)

TEXTS no one was her.

“Tiny, huh? I’ll show you fucking tiny,” had just came out of Wiley’s mouth and his hand was dangerously close to his piece.

“Wiley! Don’t,” I warned, praying I didn’t have to explain to him why she was here and clearly pissed because I couldn’t. I didn’t have any answers for him. He probably had just as much of an idea as I did on that subject. Okay. That was a lie. My brother didn’t know her. I did.

“You!” she fumed, pointing her finger directly at me and taking a step closer to me. Wiley’s eyes widened and darted between Cor and me. I nodded at him, giving him confirmation that she was okay and he shouldn’t kill her, praying he got the hint.

“Hi,” I breathlessly said, not giving a damn how mad she was. I cared, obviously, but was shook to my core to be this close to her after so much time.

“Don’t ‘hi’ me, you damned spineless tube snake!

” she seethed, patting Wiley on the shoulder as she stepped around him.

My muscles tensed, waiting for Wiley to strike back, but he didn’t.

Cor was pissed, so there was no doubt in my mind she would go blow for blow with Wiley.

She grew up wrestling with three boys and used to pack one hell of a punch.

The only time I had ever heard her cuss was when she was furious.

When she got like this, there was no reasoning with her.

She was one of those people that once she was mad, she stayed that way.

“Okay. Hello, little dove,” I quickly said, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing in her face.

Her features softened for a split second, and then they hardened again. She continued her warpath straight toward me, pushing her fingertip forcefully into the middle of my chest.

She coughed out a sarcastic laugh. “Don’t you dare use that name,” she spat out with venomous hatred, poking me with her finger again.

“Why not? It’s yours.” I was pushing my luck, but I didn’t give a shit. She was here, and I didn’t have to drag Sledge back out to help me search for her. She found me. So even though she was clearly upset, her actually being here was a small win for me.

“You lost the privilege to call me anything other than what I tell you to call me the day you left and didn’t come back for me.

You’re dead to me, got it? Anyone who does know me, and that includes you in case you’re wondering, can call me Corinne,” she coldly said, the last bit holding zero to no emotion while staring at me feverously.

Ouch! That fucking stung. I had hoped she would come back into my life but didn’t expect it to be this much of a colossal train wreck.

I knew she wouldn’t be thrilled, and I didn’t blame her for being mad, but nothing could have prepared me for how painful our reunion was.

“For fucks sake, Corinne ! I get it. You’re pissed. Duly noted. Okay?” I said louder than I’d intended, staring into her eyes. Twisting my fingers around hers, I pulled her fingertip off my chest, which wasn’t quite as easy as I expected it to be. She was a lot stronger than she appeared.

Tears filled her eyes and began to roll down her face. Wiping them away, I thought about how she used to hate crying but hated people seeing it happen even more. I didn’t know if that had changed, but I doubted it.

“Don’t you dare act like everything is okay, Shane.

That ship sailed a long time ago. You made sure of it.

You were the flippin’ captain.” Her words were strong but lacked even more emotion than her previous statement.

She was shutting down and letting herself get lost. I refused to let her do it.

This was the exact reason I left. I wasn’t good for her, and as badly as I didn’t want to do it, I had to remind her of that fact.

I’d known for years her life would be shit if I stuck around and figured she would eventually come to the same conclusion.

Honestly, I thought she had, and it was the reason she never returned to Cleveland.

“I’m not. Nothing has been okay since the last day I spent with you.

I’ve fucking hated myself for so long. I’ve never forgiven myself for leaving, but what was I supposed to do?

I couldn’t stick around and ruin your life more than I already had, Cor.

I cared too much about you to drag you down with me.

You deserved better. You still deserve better!

” The words came out of my mouth, and although the voice belonged to me, it felt like a stranger had spoken them.

It was hard to explain, but I guess when you spend so much time pretending not to care and trying to forget someone, the actual emotions you’d avoided for so long felt strange.

“You mean better than these creepy cryptic texts?” She yanked her hand free, taking a step backward.

“Huh? I don’t even know your number. What are you talking about?” That was a lie. Isaac gave me her number on several occasions, but I never used it. She didn’t need to know that, though. It wasn’t important right now.

“Right, like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” she dismissively said in a sarcastic voice as her nostrils flared, and then she clamped her lips together.

I furrowed my brow and tilted my head to the side. “Honestly, Cor. I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about.”

Her face became flushed, and she huffed, “Fine! You want to act clueless? Who are you even? The Shane I knew would have never stooped this low!” She yanked her phone from her bag and dramatically opened the other hand, letting the bag drop against the floor with a thud.

Her fingers slid across the screen a few times, and then she flipped it around for me to see. “Here, educate yourself!” she quoted what used to be one of our favorite movies and shoved her phone into my hands.

I bit my lip while awkwardly holding her phone, having no clue what it was I was supposed to be looking at.

The last text was from someone called Leather Cult Leader, which was Isaac, but I wasn’t supposed to know what she called him.

The next text in line was a spam one, or at least it was a pretty sound assumption to make since the person who sent it was still listed as a number and not a name she had saved to her phone.

“Oh, you pompous jerk face! We’re not kids anymore. I don’t want to play games; we’re too old for this.” She snatched her phone back, pressing her fingertip onto the screen, and then smacked it into my palm.

I scrolled through the one-sided conversation and by the end of the short exchange was ready to kill whoever had sent them on the spot.

Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to sound like me it seemed.

It might be a mere coincidence, but my gut told me it wasn’t.

“Who the fuck sent these to you?” I spat out.

“You the f. That’s who,” she replied as hatefully.

“Cor,” I paused, needing a second to gather my thoughts before I said something I didn’t really mean. “I am being honest with you. I didn’t send these to you. You told me to leave you alone, so I respected your wishes.”