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NATHAN
“BECAUSE I WAS THE one who found you.” I lean against the headboard with my eyes closed as I wait for her reaction.
“It was … it was you?” she asks, stunned.
“Yes.” I nervously run my fingers through my hair, remembering every detail from that night. “I was downstairs, crashing on the couch in the front room, and just about to pass out when I heard the front door slam shut. Curiosity got the best of me, so I stood up to look out the window, and that’s when I saw you. You were running barefoot in the snow. And I don’t know. I just had this horrible feeling that something was wrong.” Natalie doesn’t say anything, so I keep talking, reliving this awful memory.
“Without thinking, I ran after you. You were hard to catch up to. I even lost you at one point. But I kept shouting your name, and eventually, I spotted you. You were lying still against a tree. So unbelievably still. It was the scariest moment of my life. As I got closer to you, I saw blood dripping down your face and …”
The image of Natalie on that night appears in my mind, so I open my eyes to make it stop.
“One of the neighbors must have called for an ambulance because I heard sirens approaching, so I wrapped my jacket around you and lifted you in my arms to get you out of the snow. You were trembling from head to toe. I swear your feet were blue. And when the EMTs arrived, I heard you come to, struggling to tell them that you had slipped on ice. I knew you were lying because I had just followed you, but I didn’t know why you would lie.”
I look down at Natalie, unsure how she feels about everything I’m saying. “When I saw Brian in that jersey tonight, my mind instantly flashed back to the image of you wearing it, and all I saw was red. I had no idea it was his until tonight.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Natalie asks.
Good question.
“I don’t know. I thought you might have remembered, but when I saw you again for the first time at school at the coffee shop, you never said anything about it, so I thought it best not to bring it up.”
She nods just slightly in understanding but then suddenly looks at me. “Wait, so it was you who left the pink roses for me?”
“Yeah. I should have handed them to you in person, but I …” I was a coward. “I wanted to make sure you were ok. You were all I could think about for the longest time. I couldn’t get that image of you against the tree out of my head. But you just disappeared this past year. No social media or hanging out with Vanessa. You were gone. So, when I finally saw you at the coffee shop, well, I was just so happy to see you healthy and just as beautiful as ever.”
Her cheeks turn the faintest shade of pink as her eyes drop. “I’m sorry you had to see me like that.”
Everything that Natalie has told me replays in my head. I never knew that Brian had it in him to do something that cruel. Anger radiates through every part of my body as I think about it. I had been right downstairs when Brian attacked her. That part makes me sick to my stomach. The asshole outweighed her easily by a hundred pounds, and there was no way she would have been able to get away if someone hadn’t knocked on Brian’s door.
Thank fucking God for that person.
Brushing her hair back, I say, “Stop saying sorry to me, beautiful.”
“I’m sor—I mean, ok.” She bites down on her lower lip.
“Natalie, if I had any idea what had actually happened to you, I would have gone right back in that house to kick Brian’s ass. Probably would have done worse if we’re being honest. But I never imagined he could actually be capable of something like that. I would never have expected this, even knowing how much of an asshole he can sometimes be.”
“There’s no way you would have known. It was my fault for not saying anything to you.” She stares down at my chest. “I wanted to tell you, Nathan. So badly I did. But I was … scared.”
I think back, realizing how many times she did try to tell me.
There was the day at the apple orchard when I could see her struggling internally over something. Then there was the night I told her about my father, and she stood in front of me, ready to tell me everything right before her mom called. And then the night after we returned from dinner with my mom and brother, when she even told me there was something she needed to talk to me about, but like a fucking caveman, I threw her over my shoulder and took her to the bedroom.
This had to have been weighing heavily down on her for so long.
“Natalie, it’s ok. You don’t need to be scared anymore.” I tilt her chin up toward me so that I’m looking into her sorrowful eyes. “But there’s one last thing we need to discuss.”
“What?”
“I recorded the whole thing tonight between you and Brian.” Jesus, just saying his name creates a rancid taste in my mouth.
Her eyes go wide. “How … how much of that did you see?”
“Plenty. And it killed me watching what was going on. Believe me, Natalie, there was no way in goddamn hell I would have let him lay a finger on you, but I knew as soon as I got close enough to you guys that something wasn’t right, so I hit record on my phone and waited. I wanted to make sure there was plenty of evidence if you decide to … press charges.”
“Oh,” is all she says.
“I know this is a lot, and I’m not telling you what to do. But just know I have it if you decide to go that route. And the asshole knows I have it too. I told him in maybe not so nice of words that if he makes one slip up, the recording will find its way to the police. So besides now fearing me, this recording is being held over his head, reminding him to stay the fuck away from you. That is why I can promise you that you don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
