“I met you first. You were beautiful. The first time I saw you, you had your hair tied back into a loose braid and I watched as you ran your fingers through the end. You took my breath away, Lena.” She stares at me, a ghost of a smile forming in the corner of her mouth. Her emotions are back and forth. One second, she’s angry, the next she’s enraptured.
There’s a pause that fills the gap between us. Her arm slowly lowers, the gun now pointing toward the wall behind Logan. She frowns and it’s as if she’s reliving the moment. I can see it in her eyes as she reminisces back to the day we met. “I loved you and you hadn’t even spoken a word to me. It was then I knew I had to have you. You were mine until Julian showed up.” Her eyes narrow then shift to Logan before landing back on me. “I helped you, Lena. I helped you let Julian go and break free from him. He didn’t treat you the way you deserved.” Her lips thin as she breathes in, pointing to her chest. “He didn’t treat you the way I would have treated you.”
“Abby...” I tilt my head to the side in disbelief. My chest tightens into a knot, twisting with each of her words. Abby was in love with me. My mind is still trying to wrap around that detail of our friendship.
“No,” she yells, her chin quivering with her tears. “I thought you would see how I loved you when you left Julian, but you walked right into someone else’s arms.” She points to Logan using her gun. Her hand shakes and she winces. “He nearly died and when he survived, you left me and went back to him. You tossed me aside like a fucking piece of trash.”
Her voice has risen even higher, her anger boiling over.
“I’m sorry, Abby.” I try to console her, hoping if I stay calm, she’ll back down. “I had no idea you felt that way.”
“Of course, you didn’t,” she screams. “You’re oblivious to everyone but yourself. You don’t care about anyone but yourself.” The air in the room is sucked out like a vacuum.
I swallow, keeping the bile rising in my throat from escaping my mouth. I bite the inside of my cheek, hoping to pull myself together. My entire body hurts. My shoulders, elbows, and head pulsate with the pain coursing through my body. Not only do my muscles ache from being restrained, my heart bends for Abby. The longer I stare into her eyes, the more I realize my heart aches for a friendship I thought I had. It’s as if our entire friendship has been a total lie. And that pill is a bitter one to swallow.
Abby steps forward, tears sliding down her cheeks. “I tried everything.” She breathes out, her shoulders falling. “I wanted you to think Julian was back. I left you the note and T-shirt. You were supposed to come back to me. Instead, you ran away with him and got fucking married. You left me behind.”
“You were the one who broke into my apartment, not Julian?” Logan asks, clearly trying to make sense of what Abby is telling us.
“Yeah.” She sneers. “If you guys had dug a little deeper in your research you would know Julian lives in Dallas now. He’s nowhere near fucking Seattle.” She walks over to the desk and opens the top drawer. She pulls out a stack of papers and throws them at me and Logan. One of them lands at my feet and I quickly read the headline to the article.
Brown University graduate set to be head curator at the Dallas Museum of Art, youngest in the history of the museum
I search the top of the page for the date of the article.
It’s from three weeks ago. Just after I’d stopped looking for Julian.
Abby laughs, bringing my attention back to her.
“You’re so fucking selfish and ignorant, you didn’t even realize Julian doesn’t care enough to follow you all the way to Seattle.” She swallows. “But I did. I found out you and Logan had moved to Seattle, so I did what I had to.”
Abby spins around and points to Natalie. “Go on. Tell them.”
“Tell us what?” Logan asks, clearly eager to find out where Natalie fits into all this. To be honest, I’m anxious as well.
Finding out that Julian was never after me is like a punch to the gut. Here I was, thinking Julian was following me and Logan, when it was Abby all along. She was here, pretending to be my ex-boyfriend, hoping I’d leave Logan and run straight into her arms. My head spins and my throat seizes. Abby has manipulated every single aspect of my life and I was too oblivious to see it.
I hold my breath and wait for Natalie to explain. Was she a part of Abby’s plan or was she an innocent victim? As soon as my eyes meet Natalie’s, and tears spill down her face, I realize she’s simply an innocent victim.
“I’m sorry.” Natalie’s chin quivers as she trades glances between me and Logan. “I’ve known Abby since high school. She came back home and offered to pay me if I came up here and tried to have an affair with Logan.” She turns to Logan, her chest quaking with sobs. “I’m so sorry, Logan. That was before I got to know you and Lena. That was before I knew I’d actually love working at Bistro. I didn’t know the extent of what she wanted me to do. All she said I had to do was stay in Seattle for the summer and flirt with you. That was all. I thought it was an easy way to make
