Page 56 of The Retaliation You Deliver

Macie.

Scrubbing my hand across my face, I push my hair back, pulling on the ends until it hurts knowing that I left her no choice but to flee in the middle of the night wearing a shirt that was covered in blood.

“Leon, I swear to God, I’ll break this door down if you don’t— Oh hey,” she says with a fake ass smile the second I pull the door open.

“How did you know— Macie,” I mutter, turning away from my know-it-all best friend and walking back into the room.

“Yeah, Macie. Did you think she just magically transported herself back home in the middle of the night?” Letty quips sarcastically.

“Did you come here for a reason, or just to piss me off?” I ask, grabbing the tablet on the coffee table and ordering myself a coffee to be brought up.

“She’s okay, in case you were wondering,” she says, dropping onto the couch and folding her arms across her chest.

“You made a mistake letting her come with me last night.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was either of your keepers. You’re both in charge of your own destiny.”

“I’m destined to go to hell, Let.”

She stares at me, refusing to accept my words.

“What happened to you? She might have been mad, but there’s no way Macie did that,” she says, nodding toward my busted face.

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” I mutter, walking over to the floor to ceiling window I had her pressed up against last night.

“I know you went out, that you left her…” She cuts herself off and I wonder just how honest Macie was with her about what went down here last night. “Where did you go?”

“To blow off some steam before I did something I’d regret.”

“So you’re telling me that you don’t regret last night.”

My lips part to tell her I don’t, but then I picture Macie, her arms above her head, shivering cold as I returned, and guilt lashes at my insides.

“Exactly.” I watch in the reflection of the glass as she pushes to stand and walks over to me. Her hand slides down my arm until she takes hold of my hand. “I get what you’re doing, Leon. So does Macie. But hurting her isn’t going to change the past. And in the long run, you’re only hurting yourself more.”

I scoff, not wanting to listen to her advice.

“You really like her, don’t you?”

“No,” I bark, startling her. “I fucking hate her, Letty. How can’t you see that? She stood there and watched as that cunt abused me.”

“She was a child,” Letty shouts back, matching my volume and anger. “Have you even asked her what he did to her? You said he never sexually abused her. But do you know why she was too scared to say anything, to help you. Don’t you think that knowing Macie like you do, that maybe, just maybe there was a very good reason why she couldn’t help you.”

“She should have run last night. Hell, she should have run the second she discovered all of this, but she didn’t. She stood here last night and took whatever punishment you delivered because she felt she deserved it. She knows she was wrong, she knows she hurt you and she’s willing to see this through because she wants you to punish her. But she doesn’t fucking deserve it, Leon.”

I stand there silently, feeling like a scolded child as she pins me with a fierce look.

“I get your need for… for this,” she says gesturing around the room. “Hell knows I’ve been there. And hate sex, well, it’s doesn’t really get much hotter. But you’ve got to talk to her. You share something that no one else can understand, not really. Did you ever consider the fact that you weren’t ever meant to find her for revenge, but because she’s the only one who can help heal you, help fix everything that’s all fucked up in your head?”

“Letty,” I sigh, hating how well she’s got all this figured out.

“Leon, Macie is… She’s the sweetest person. The kindest person. And despite her better judgement, she’s still here. Still fighting for you.”

I think of her brutal honesty last night.

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you heard the things that she spat at me only hours ago.”

“The truth?” Letty asks.