8 Seconds

Chapter 17 - Allison

It had been three hours since Shane dropped me off at the house. I instantly went up to my room, shutting and locking my door. I couldn't breathe. I was pissed. I was upset. I was nervous. I was scared. Kooney told Shane he shouldn't consider riding this year, his ribs were still tender from being in the brace. He did so well during his tests, but the scans showed that his ribs were healing... but not as quickly as Kooney hoped they would.

It angered me that all Shane did was take it in, collected his papers, and walked to the truck and waited for me. Kooney instructed me that he was able to ride but not for another two weeks, and to be sure that nothing was going to come about it. I was nervous, because Kooney hadn't been around Marshall for the last four months.

No matter how intimate we were, Kooney didn't know how much of a hard head Shane really was.

The only thing Shane told me was he was going to check in on the guys at the ring and would be back. He promised he wasn't going to ride... not tonight anyway...

But I know how promises work.

Ripping off my scrub I hopped into the shower, keeping it cool to calm my nevers and skin. My hearthing was all over the place. The water cascaded down my face, over my breasts, and down my body, polling at the drain. My eyes closed, the coolness of the water seeping into my skin. It was silent in the house other than some light whining from the barn. Assuming Meelah and her foal were messing around.

Focusing on my breathing, and claiming myself, I finished up in the bathroom, tossing on some sweatpants and a v-neck shirt. Taking my hair out of my bun I had done up, I was about to walk out of my room, before my phone lit up with a text message. It was from a number I didn't have saved, and I thought about immediately deleting it. Somehow my subconscious thought otherwise. Open it. Read it. But as soon as I did, the world came crashing onto my shoulders.

My heart rate picked up once again, as I slid my thumb across the screen opening the message. A gasp left my mouth, my hand flying to my mouth.

There was a picture of Shane and I, in his truck on the side of the road. His face was buried between my legs, my hand on the back of his head while mine hung out the window. Tears burned my eyes, and one fell out, before a gray bubble popped up. Signaling someone was typing. Then came the message:

??: Guess you should be more careful about who you spread your legs for. ;)

I dry heaved, plopping onto my bed, staring at the message. Who... Who would take this? There was no one else on the road. There was no one - absolutely no one who drove past us earlier today. I would remember hearing a car. But maybe..

The tears uncontrollable now, I go to type a reply, and delete it three times before replying:

A: Who is this? It's illegal to be taking pictures of people without consent.

I started chewing my thumb nail, watching the bubble appear, disappear and reappear again before the next message came through. Sweat was forming on my brow, the anxiety setting in, and suffocating me. Another message comes through, a sob trying to break out of my throat as well.

??: It's also illegal to be sleeping with your patients too. Either come out and tell everyone by Friday evening; two days from now, or I will do it for you. This picture included.

Tossing my phone on to my bed, my head went into my hands, and I sobbed. Quietly. The tears drenching my sweatpants in dots, my head was pounding from the aggressive crying. I knew it. I knew all of this was too good to be true. I knew it shouldn't have happened.

I knew I should have stopped this from the beginning. That morning in his room shouldn't have happened. The night after the lake shouldn't have happened. Everything.

Everything should NOT have happened like it did. I was careless. I was stupid. I wasn't thinking. I was thinking with the wrong parts of me, and the dark cloud had now caught up to me.