Shady

Chapter 5

SAM

I vowed to never get stiches again. They left an ugly scar when taken out, and they were a pain in the ass. Right now, my scar was staring me in the face, mocking me. Well, my skin was forever ruined, now. I mentally cursed the guy who broke into the coffee shop. I mean, who breaks into a coffee shop? What could you possibly get out of that? What, are you gonna steal some freaking coffee beans, bro? People just don’t make sense, to me. It’s very hard for me to read anyone these days. I can’t even understand Scott most of the time, and I’ve known him for a while.

I shoved my hands into the warm pocket of my red hoodie after taking a sip of my mocha. I had decided to ask Lauren if she wanted to go get a coffee after she came with me to get my stitches taken out. I really needed some girl time, you know? And Lauren was a nice person, so here we were, sitting at a table outside of Starbucks.

“Thanks for tagging along, Lauren,” I said with a small, genuine smile. “I appreciate it.”

She waved a hand through the air, dismissing my thanks. “No, it was no problem, really. You bought my coffee, so we’re even.” She gave me a smile, then her gaze slid to my scarred hand. “Is your hand okay?”

“Hardly,” I replied with a moan.

She frowned. “Yeah, that scar is going to be there for life.”

I looked at her across the table. “Thanks for reminding me,” I said sarcastically, but with a tiny smile.

She smiled back and gave me a little salute. “Anytime.”

We drank our coffee in silence for a few minutes, and I couldn’t help but think about my brother. His terrified expression kept running through my mind. I remember that night perfectly; how could I forget? I even had nightmares about it at random. He was ten years old when the accident happened, and I was about seventeen. I remember the horrible, metallic screech of steel scraping against steel, and the feel on the slick pavement that caused the accident.

No. The accident was my fault. I couldn’t blame it on the rain; I couldn’t blame it on anyone but myself. And I did. I had to live with the guilt every day for the past two years. I even hated myself for a while. I didn’t really know what to do or how I managed to make it this far. The guilt always just ate at me from the inside out.

I snapped back to reality when I felt the slight buzz of my cellphone in the pocket of my hoodie. When I saw the caller ID, I rolled my eyes. Of course it was Collin. We had been planning this fake wedding thing for the past two weeks, and somehow he had managed to put his number in my phone. He was a very sly bastard. I didn’t even know how he got a hold of my phone.

I pressed “talk” and put the phone to my ear. “I’m busy,” I said coldly.

“Oh, are you?” His voice was so smooth, velvet to my ears. And I hated how I always pointed that out to myself when he spoke.

I raised an eyebrow at his knowing voice. “Uh, yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what I just said.”

“Are you lying to me, Sam?” he inquired, sounding very suspicious. What was up with him?

“No,” I deadpanned, noticing Lauren’s confused expression. I shrugged my shoulders at her and took a quick sip of my mocha.

“Are you sure you’re not just telling me you’re busy?” I straightened up and narrowed my eyes at the air as he continued, “Are you sure you’re not actually sitting at Starbucks, sipping a coffee with a friend?”