Pain & Gain

Chapter 3

Two weeks since the attack. They say Marshall is scheduled to make a full recovery, and he is actually healing quicker than the average person. I slept in our bed last night. He made me. Or he had Rule make me. It was strange being there without him. It's strange being anywhere without him.
Ren is taking me out today, we're going shopping. She wants to get everyone together for when Marshall comes home next week. I'm excited for him to come home. I've been counting the days ever since they told us they'd be releasing him soon.
We walk down main street towards the shopping end. Ren has an edgy clothing taste so the typical frilly girly shops don't cut it for her. She pulls me into a shop called XV and begins shuffling through a nearby rack.

"So." She says bluntly. "Give me the story."

"Huh?" For a moment I'm genuinely confused.

"The story!" She laughs. "How'd Marshall end up in the hospital?"

"Oh." I pretended to be interested in a fringy top on the rack in front of me. "It's really not much to tell." The reality of it is I feel uncomfortable talking about it because I don't like saying it out loud.

"Come on Rachel please." She tries again. "Rule won't tell me either and I feel so in the dark about this."

This is very unusual for Ren. She's never like this, vulnerable. She's always so strong and often overbearing, but today she's the only one who's doesn't know the story. I thought for sure Rule would have told her by now. But like he told me in the hospital, she's been with Tony. I make a mental note to ask her about it after I'm done explaining what happened with Marshall.

"I really don't know what happened." I say, shrugging my shoulders. "We were just going to get something to eat and then Marshall saw Jon's truck in the parking lot. He told me to stay in the car and I did until I saw them both on the ground. When I came out Jon was gone and Marshall was on the ground, bleeding. So I called 911."

"Whoa." Ren takes it in for a minute and then looks at me. "And you're alright?"

"No." I shake my head and laugh a little. "I'm nervous."

"About?" Ren turns the rack to take a look at the other side.

"That Jon will come back." I take a long exhale. "That Emmett's gonna be on probation. You know, that stuff."

"Emmett's in jail?" Ren puts down the black tank top she's holding.

Did she really not know? I look back at her with confusion. I find the two of us stuck in an awkward silence. She looks at me with her head tilted slighty to the side. I watch her expression morph into one of sadness. Ren's eyebrows furrow and she looks down at the ground.

"I didn't know that." She shakes her head. "Rule's angry with me."

"What happened?" I move around the rack so I'm closer to her.

"I had to stop seeing him." She admits. "I was gonna end things with Tony but he started being real sweet." She puts her face in her hands. "I love them both. But I'm in love with Tony."

This conversation has me flipped upside down. I thought Tony wasn't good for her. I thought he was awful. I mean, he's friends with Emmett. And Rule is very much in love with her, but she doesn't even know.

"How do you know?" I ask her.

"We've been together so long." She runs her fingers through her hair. "He's shy and takes me out a lot."

"And Rule doesn't?" I'm confused all over again.

"No, Rach that's not the problem. Rule does do all of those things, but its way too extravagant with him because he has a lot of money." She blurts. "I like sitting on a couch and watching a movie, but with Rule I'm sitting on a $30,000 couch watching on a $50,000 flat screen."