She's Bad News

Chapter 12

I had almost made it when Flynn reached out and gripped my wrist, turned me to face him but I kept my head down, using my hair to block my face from him. “Let me go,” I said, my voice low and steady even though I was falling apart on the inside.

“We have to talk about this, Cory,” he said softly, the concern in his tone making my heart clench.

“No we don’t. Just forget about all of this, okay? Pretend you never saw h-her and I’ll do the same,” I said even as the tears continued to drip down my cheeks but I kept my eyes firmly on his chest.

“I’m not going to forget it,” he said, taking a step closer to me until I could feel his body heat and suddenly, I wanted to lean against him again. I wanted to feel that sense of calm move through me the way it had last time.

“Then just let me go,” I said quietly, my voice less steady now, my knees starting to shake with the effort of keeping myself from sobbing.

“No.”

“Flynn,” I said, my voice choked with tears as I tugged on my arm. “I don’t want you to see me like this,” I whispered, my voice catching halfway through the sentence, giving me away and making me flinch.

“I won’t look,” he said softly before he stepped even closer and wrapped his other arm around my back, pulling me to him until our bodies were flush against each other.

I held my breath, staying stiff in his embrace telling myself to pull away, to make him leave but my body wasn’t listening to me. That sense of calm was moving through me, making me want to just stay there in his arms forever, to depend on him like I hadn’t depended on anyone in years. Finally, I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t act aloof or pretend like I wasn’t affected and I let out a sob and leaned fully against him, letting go and just crying right there in front of my house with Flynn’s strong arms supporting me. “I’m sorry,” I choked out between sobs as I soaked the front of his soft sweater with my tears.

He just shushed me and rubbed his hand over my back in soothing circles that made me cry harder.

My bag slipped from my shaking hand and landed on the pavement with a thump but I barely heard it as I continued to sob, slowly bringing up my arms to wrap around Flynn, clutching the fabric of his shirt in my fists, needing something to hold on to. I pressed myself more firmly against him, forgetting everything except for the feeling of comfort and calm that was washing through me until finally, my tears started to slow and eventually stopped.

I still didn’t move away, just stayed with my arms wrapped tightly around him and his arms holding me close, not trying to push me away and I couldn’t help but wonder when was the last time I’d let someone comfort me like this but I couldn’t remember. “I hate it that she does this to me,” I whispered, my voice muffled against his chest. I wasn’t sure if he heard me but his arms tightened a little more, making it almost hard to breathe but I found that I didn’t mind. I couldn’t explain why his mere presence seemed to calm me down but for some reason, it did and at the moment, I was too weak to push him away. “It’s always been like this,” I said, even as I told myself to shut up, that Flynn knew more than he should already. Apparently my mouth didn’t believe in self preservation because when I opened it to breathe, words spilled out instead. “I thought I was past the point of blindly trusting her.” I swallowed hard, feeling a few fresh tears pool in my eyes as I croaked, “How many times does she have to hurt me before I get the message?”

“She’s your mother. You’re genetically programmed to trust her,” Flynn said softly, rubbing his hands over my back soothingly, making me forget that I’d been standing in his arms for way too long.