We Paid The Price (sequel to RPAP)

Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX

~Mark

"Why am I remembering things that make absolutely no sense?"

Tamara Rose stared at me with a mixture of anger, frustration, and fear struggling for control over her expression.

I remained calm. My back was to her. She was sitting at the kitchen table, while I was facing the counter in order to pour out two sodas.

When she spoke, though, a giant grin crossed my face.

Dylan, your little web of lies is unraveling itself.

Turning with the drinks in my hand, I kept a solemn expression while facing Tamara Rose. She didn't know I knew anything, and I preferred it to stay that way.

"Well, let's start from the beginning," I began carefully, passing her the soda. "What exactly are you remembering?" She stared at the soda for a moment before looking up at me and giving a small smile.

"Ok. Um, well, I'm just getting these really...vivid flashbacks," she started, looking troubled. "The first one was just insane. It made absolutely no sense."

I raised an eyebrow. "What happened in it?"

Two pink blotches appeared on her cheeks as she blushed. Ducking her head and coughing uncomfortably, she muttered, "It was just...strange."

Now I was suspicious. My eyes narrowing, I demanded, "Tamara Rose, what did you remember?"

She grimaced. "It was...it was Dylan. And he was..." she glanced away, licking her lips, "he was Claiming me."

I leaned back in my seat, nodding in understanding. "I see." Still playing stupid, I added, "But why is that such a big deal?"

She shook her head, eyes falling shut as if she were silently willing away the memory of the painful flashback. "Because...becausehediditforcefully."

Giving a short, humorless laugh, I said, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

She gazed at me through wet lashes, her eyes brimming with tears. "He did it forcefully! I was crying, and I...I told him he had no right. I called him a monster...it seemed like I hated him. I even remembered my thoughts; I was thinking that he had no right to Claim me if he couldn't even accept me." She shook her head, a few tears leaking out of her eyes and streaking down her cheeks. "But it doesn't make any sense. Dylan accepts me. He's always accepted me. Is my memory damaged or something?"

So much for the web unraveling.

My jaw clenched in anger. That bastard had completely f*cked her head up. She no longer had any sense of what was real and what wasn't. She was confused beyond belief.

I should have listened to Josh and Jordan and just chopped him up, I thought darkly.

Sighing, I placed a comforting hand over Tamara Rose's and replied softly, "You're not crazy. You aren't remembering false memories or anything like that, either."

"But that memory can't be real," she cried desperately. "It makes no sense. I don't hate Dylan. I've never hated him!"

Those words were the last straw.

Abruptly, I stood up and threw the chair I had been sitting in across the kitchen.

It smacked against the wall, the wood splintering and breaking into a dozen pieces from the force of the impact.

"You've always hated him!" I growled, unable to keep in the truth any longer. "You've hated him for years. Your relationship was finally warming up when you were kidnapped. Before that, you two didn't live together. You weren't a couple. You hated Dylan, and you had every right to!"