Anyone But Me

by J.D. Frost

And while that’s true, I know there’s a whole other reason behind it; it’s an escape, a way for her to live in another reality, even if only for a short time. And I totally get it.

She’s with Asher. Her and Asher. Unwanted images flash behind my eyelids of them together, him touching her, kissing her.

His eyes are hard, his jaw clenched. And when he speaks, his voice is angrier than I’ve ever heard it. “Who did this to you?”

“Of course it fucking matters. Somebody hurt you, Oakley. Really hurt you. You have to tell me who did this.”

“Fine. You don’t wanna tell me? I get it. But, at least tell your uncle. He’s the Chief, right? Surely he’ll be able to do something.” God, I’ve never wanted to laugh so much in my life.

He’s quiet for a beat, then he lunges forward, smashing his mouth against mine.

“You wanna know why?” he murmurs. “It’s because I can’t stand the thought of anyone hurting you, okay?” His throat bobs with an audible click. “Anyone but me.”

“Can you hear them?” I taunt, voice low. “They’re looking for you. They could come in here any second. What would they say if they saw you like this, huh? What would they say if they knew that their captain was on his knees for me, moaning like a damn whore?”

I wait for Asher to say something back. To… defend me, in some way. But, nothing ever comes. He just stands there, letting his father’s words linger in the air, completely unaffected. And… it hurts. It hurts really fucking bad.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper hoarsely. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

“Oakley…” he whispers, panting breaths hitting my lips. “Don’t you get it? I would hurt anyone for you. Anyone. All you have to do is tell me who it is.”

I haul ass down the hall, hand covering my mouth, and fly into the nearest bathroom, not even caring whether it’s empty or not before collapsing to my knees in the first stall and puking my guts up.

Whether I’m being stupid or not, all that matters is getting to Asher. If he needs me, I’ll be there, no matter how much he’s hurt me.

I feel him swallow hard, his hands reaching up to gently push me away. I frown, lips parting in shock as I take in his confused expression. “Who are you?” he asks.

“Yeah. The drawings of you, anyway. The ones in the journal he tries to keep hidden. I’m not supposed to know about it, but I’ve seen him get it out tons of times. Sometimes, he stares at the pages for hours, just running his fingers over the paper.”

8 year olds dont talk like this lol

“You drugged me,” I whisper. Peyton’s face turns ghostly pale. “Asher, I…” “You stole my phone, gave it to Chief Farrow, let him use it to hurt Oakley and then you fucking drugged me so I couldn’t do a thing to stop it.” “I’m sorry,” she sobs. “I just wanted you to forget about him. I thought the Chief really would fix it, I didn’t know he’d try to kill him.”

“Wow. We, uh…” He pauses, lets out a hoarse chuckle. “So, we were really together, huh? I know you said you love me, but…” My stomach drops. “You still don’t remember?” A pained look crosses his face and he shakes his head. “I’m sorry. I wish I did, but there’s just… nothing.”

Oakley has no recollection about a single second of our time together. It’s all gone. He has no memory of how much he loved me, how much he wanted me. Now, all he feels for me is pity. I could see it in his eyes, clear as day. And when our fingers touched for that brief moment, he jumped away like he’d been struck by lightning. No, he doesn’t want me anymore. All those feelings disappeared when his uncle hit him over the head with that iron bar.