Bad Blood

seven

song of the chapter is Neck Deep ' A part of me'

"Betrayal is never easy to handle and there is no right way to accept it."

- Christine Feehan

The days were blurring into one. All I did was sit with Cynthia and go for walks. It was too painful to go home now, so I started to make myself a new one.

If Alec entered a room, I left it and vice versa. Being around him was both angering and painful. I was entitled to both emotions just as much as he was. But I didn't miss how taken back he looked when I showed him some of what I was feeling.

"Turn that frown upside down or you'll get wrinkle lines. I can see them already," Dean pointed out as he lay on the grass beside me. I was leaning against a tree while he lay flat out, trying to cheer me up.

"Dead people don't age, moron," I spluttered out as I started to feel around my face.

"Still checked though didn't you," he shot back playfully with a grin.

"You're a moron."

"And you're behaving like a bitch but you don't see me calling you out on it."

We fell into a silence before I broke it with an apology, "Sorry. I guess I'm just not really up for playful banter right now."

"The sooner you remember that everything happens for a reason, the sooner you'll feel happier. Like I've said, just because you're-"

"Dead, doesn't mean you have to stop living. I know. You say this all the time," I continued.

"But do you listen to me? No."

"I'm in mourning," I shot out, "Everything is changed. I am grieving for my past life."

"Wake up and smell that freshly cut grass," he said as he breathed in dramatically, "just because you grieve for it doesn't mean it's going to come back. So why bother? I didn't."

"We are two different people with completely different situations."

"Are you totally sure about that?" he asked, sort of wincing as his words left his mouth.

I remained quiet as he sat up and brushed at the back of his neck.

"You never did tell me what happened," I replied quietly.

"I'll give you the short version. I fell in love with a girl who wasn't in love with me. She pretended she was. Maybe she even actually thought she was at one stage. But that didn't stop her fooling around with one of my best friends in college. Long story short, she stabbed me in the back metaphorically, but he did it physically."

"He stabbed you in the back?"

"With a kitchen knife," he replied without missing a beat.

"Jesus Christ."

"And to add insult to injury, she saw and just left me to die. Jokes on her I guess. She was stupid enough to marry him and now he's treating her like a punching bag."