Chapter 13

I thinkSkylar is coming to terms with everything she’s found out about me and the secrets I’ve been keeping from her. I think with time she’ll come to understand that I only did what was best for the both of us. I needed her as much as she needed me. I saw the way she was looking at that girl at the concert. That girl didn’t want her. She was using her and claiming her for selfish reasons. My motives aren’t completely selfish because she needed someone to need her just as much as she needed someone else. I fill the spaces she was missing. She’ll come to understand that.

I go down to the basement and work on my new contraption that’ll hold her up by her arms. I think she’ll love it. I’ve been reading these books I’d found in an old library sale years ago. It’s old and dated, but there are still some great ideas in here that I have yet to use. I can’t wait to try new things with Skylar. She’s had so many firsts with me, and I can’t wait to tell her this will be a first for the both of us. I continue working in the basement to give her some space which is what I think she needs right now. I don’t think she’ll leave me. I’m confident after all the lessons that she won’t leave me.

I work late into the night on little things here and there to keep my mind busy and even read some of the old books I have here, others I also bought from that old library sale in town. They keep my mind busy when I don’t want to think. I don’t want to give myself a chance to think too much into what Skylar might be thinking right now.

“You know she won’t stay.”The voice starts off soft. I groan and hit my head. “She’s just like all the rest. You can’t make them love you.”

I whimper at the cruel words. “Josh, leave me alone, she’s different and you know it. She was made for me. She’s just like me.”

“I dunno, little Alex.” Josh is leaning against the basement door with no concern at the emotions he’s making me feel. “I think you may have misjudged her.” He looks at me with a glint of amusement in his eyes.

I pull on my hair, screaming for him to stop. “Leave me alone!”

And he is gone. He plays on my insecurities and fills me with so much doubt. Skylar is different. I know it. I know it. I know it, I silently chant to myself.

Exhaling in relief, I make my way back up the stairs. I need a drink.

I walk into the kitchen and see Skylar sitting at the table with a glass in her hand. She looks like she did when I told her my story, just sitting there quietly thinking.

“Looks like we had the same idea.” I point to the glass in her hand that’s filled with whiskey.

She’s still staring down at her glass and nods her head slightly. I guess she’s still processing everything. I am, too, it seems. Josh shows up when my doubts are at their highest. It has gotten slightly easier to push him away the longer she’s here and especially since all my secrets are out in the open now. There’s nothing but me left, and she’s already accepted me. I grab a glass for myself and fill the glass with three fingers of whiskey. I grab my glass and sit beside her. Being close to her fills me with so much joy. I take a sip of my whiskey relishing the burn it leaves behind.

She clears her throat and I look up at her. “So when were you going to tell me about the women you’re torturing upstairs?”

The panic in me spikes. I’m stunned. After everything, she still wants to leave me. Anger flares within me. “I told you not to go up there!” Spit is flying from my mouth, and I lunge at her. I grab hold of her hair and I stumble a bit. My vision starts to go in and out. I’m looking down at Skylar and she’s smiling up at me. She is fucking smiling.

“I figured you would say that,” she says calmly.

“What the fuck did you do?” The breathing in my chest becomes ragged, and my grip on her hair loosens as I brace my hands on the floor to hold myself upright. I fall on my face, and my breathing rattles in my chest. I look over at the doorway and see Josh in his usual stance leaning against the door frame. He’s smirking, that cocky fucking smirk on his lips. I want to rip it right off his fucking face and blood’s dripping down the corner of his mouth. All I see are his lips moving.

“I told you so.”