A Timeless Place

Chapter 56

The Magical Fountain of Resolve

How did she have the audacity to show up here when Wes was in hospital because of her? My anger was suddenly directed away from Room 213 to Renee. Who had the heart to cause such a drift between two brothers? Part of me wondered about what Jordan had said- that this wasn't the first time Wes and Mason had fought. Renee and Wes had dated once. Was the last fight about Renee too? This was all her fault. Wes and I wouldn't be fighting either if it hadn't been for her.

No, that's wasn't fair. The last part wasn't her fault. The position I was in right now- well, that was all my fault. Wes didn't want to be with me for the way I had dealt with our problems, regardless if they had been Renee or not.

"Kitty?" Renee rolled down her window and peered at me from over the glass window.

I raised an eyebrow at her. She indicated to the passenger seat next to her. She wanted me to get into the car? Was she crazy as well as a home-wrecker?

"Please?" The way she looked at me pleadingly- there was something in her eyes, something sad, that made me open that car door and sit beside her.

"I'm sorry," she didn't meet my eyes, instead she kept facing forward, not wanting to face me.

"You should be," somehow, I couldn't bring myself to build up the venom in my voice that I had envisioned myself on using if I were to ever run into her. Instead, it remained at the back of my throat, burning me instead.

"I was there when they fought," her voice was constricted. "It all happened so suddenly. I was talking to Mase, I told him that I was leaving and h-he got so mad. He went straight to Wes and I- I couldn't stop them. I didn't mean for it to get this far."

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't bring myself to hate her. She sat so vulnerable and broken in front of me- not the elegantly poised girl that I saw at dinners.

"So it isn't Wes' fault that you're leaving?" I asked her.

"No, it's not," She looked at me in surprise. "For years, my life has always been mixed with the Bane family. And I can't do it anymore. I feel so caged."

"How so?" I asked her. How was she the one feeling caged when she had caused two brothers to fight over her?

"Because when you date two brothers, the whole world expects you to end up with either one or the other. No one ever thinks that there's another choice out there. What if I wanted to meet someone else? Experience something else?"

In a very deluded sense, I could actually understand what she meant. I couldn't even begin to comprehend the convolutions of her mind, but in some twisted way, she somehow managed to make sense.

"For years, I was confused. I didn't know what I wanted because I always had to choose between Mase or Wes that I never even got a chance to choose me- to see who I really am. But I want to do that now."

"Did you tell Mase this?" I asked her.

"I did, but he can't seem to understand that I want to do this for me," she sighed sadly. "He still thinks I'm hung up over Wes."

"And are you?" I asked sceptically. Even though I was no longer his girlfriend, I still felt territorial.

"Mase and Wes are very very different. Being with Wes was fun and light- it was the teenage crush I dreamed for. But Mase was exciting and daring. He was the adult relationship I was looking for. But between swapping a boy for a man, I never developed into the woman I wanted to be."

She didn't answer my question and I knew she had carefully steered clear of it.

"Then this is your chance," suddenly, somehow I found myself comforting her. "Wes will be okay, nothing bad really happened to him besides a few scratches he can survive with."