The Other Side Of Fear[1]

Chapter 16

Don't forget guys! My other book Defy Desire if now available to download on Amazon for Kindle! Please help a self-published writer out and give it a download, I would appreciate the support so much!

This chapter contains some scenes that may cause upset for some readers who may have experienced some form of psychological abuse in a relationship themselves. I myself have been in the exact situation that my character Bethan finds herself in in this chapter and writing this was HARD for me! If anyone does experience some unwelcome feelings when reading this PLEASE feel free to message me - I have experienced it first hand and am here to talk to anyone who needs it! I am writing about this because it is a part of my past and writing about in in a fictional sense helps me deal with things I still suffer with now because of it.

'It was nothing,' I shook my head frantically.

I had no clue what to say to him. The reason Cal was here was...complicated. Things had happened that I didn't want to tell Archie about; like Kayne in the woods and the fact Cal had saved me from drowning when Archie pushed me off a cliff.

'It didn't look like nothing,' Archie scowled. His brows were so furrowed that his eyes looked like pure darkness; I had never seen him so annoyed.

'He was telling me to stay out of the woods,' I said. It was the truth after all.

'Why?' Archie pushed. 'What were you doing in the woods?'

'Nothing!' I cried. 'What are you, my father?! I was at the waterfall with the girls! Hence my soaking wet hair!'

'You went there with them and he was there too?' he asked, clearly not buying it.

'No he wasn't,' I sighed. 'He followed me home and told me to stay out of the woods. I don't know, it's obviously their territory or something.'

'Well it's not,' Archie spat. 'The Lakeys reside nowhere near the damn waterfall so I think you're lying to me.'

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

'Don't roll your eyes at me,' he took a step closer to my door. 'It's patronising.'

'I just think you're overreacting,' I shrugged.

He glared at me and studied my face carefully before some sort of clarity swept his face and he let out a light breath of laughter at something he clearly didn't find funny.

'Are you...fucking him?' he asked.

I let out a gentle laugh and upon seeing his expression unchanging I let out a louder one. I laughed long and hard at the insane words that had just left his mouth.

'Are you fucking kidding me?' I laughed.

Archie's face grew angrier and he stepped past the door into the hallway.

'Don't laugh,' he muttered. 'I'm serious. I want to know what is going on with him?'

My smile faded as I realised this fury that laid upon Archie's face was as serious as the words leaving his mouth and there was clearly no jokes about this conversation. Why was he acting this way? His anger was unsettling and I was starting to feel my mouth dry up with nerves at where this was going. I had to calm him down.

'Archie,' I said, calmly. 'You know I only have feelings for you. Why would I ever on this planet go anywhere near him like that?'

'You tell me,' he muttered. 'You rejected me. Now I'm thinking...it's because you didn't want to cheat on your other boyfriend.'

'He's not my boyfriend!' I cried then quickly re-calmed my tone. 'He's a freak. He's a loser and he was threatening me to stay out of the woods because he and his family clearly get up to...god knows what in there! I promise.'