Finding Amity

Chapter 45

I led Pippa and Isaac through a side gate into the side patio, where we sat around a glass table awkwardly, the only light source being the subtle beam of the moon and Pippa's glow-in-the-dark mesh top.

"I didn't want to do that to Noelle." Isaac started, his voice already croaky. "She wasn't just some fling. I loved her."

"Thats worse!" I shouted. "You apparently loved her but then yo-"

"Goddamnit, Amity!" Pippa reprimanded. "Let him speak."

I shut my mouth. Pippa had never raised her voice at anyone before. I turned and nodded at Isaac to continue.

"That night, Noelle and I were supposed to be going on a date. She wanted to see what a bar was like, so we made her a fake ID and I said I'd meet her there. I was getting ready in my dorm room when Dustin came in and started threatening me. Thats the first time he blackmailed me. He wanted me to stand her up and expected her to come running to him and he could swoop in and win her over. Eventually I gave in. I said that I didn't care if he told the police about the ID's; I just couldn't stand the feeling in my gut that something was wrong."

My hands fidgeted under the table and my eyes darted around awkwardly.

"I went to leave and the asshole fucking sucker punched me." Isaac rubbed his hand over his face, turning the skin pink which made the cut over his cheekbone stand out. "Thats all I can remember."

"I found him lying on the ground with blood all over his face." Pippa continued. "Dustin beat the shit out of him. I had to take him to the hospital. I dropped him off and drove straight to the bar, only to find an ambulance out the front and Noelle on a stretcher."

"Why didn't you tell me before I started dating him?" I asked. Isaac's jaw clenched visibly.

"I didn't know the whole story, and I didn't even know Dustin's name. Noelle never told me his name, just that he was scarily over-protective. I thought that Isaac left Noelle by herself, and got beaten up because of it. I asked who Dustin was after you left and Isaac told me what actually happened and that he was the guy blackmailing us."

"How do you know he isn't just lying to both of us?"

"Amity, you know I'd never do that." Isaac was growing hopelessly frustrated.

"I don't know that! I don't know anything because you never told me your excuse until I decided I didn't want anything to do with you."

Isaac stared into my eyes, his dark eyes sad and exhausted. "You said that you trusted me."

The wind was knocked out of my chest. He looked so broken, and it hurt me just to know that I did that.

"I do trust you." I sighed. "I trust you so much that it scares me. I trust you so much that you could murder someone in front of me, turn around and say "I didn't do that" and I would still trust you." I ran a hand through my hair and looked up into the night sky. "I just need to be sure."

Pippa reached over the table and placed her hand over mine, squeezing it comfortingly. "You know us. You've known us longer than you've known Dustin. I can be self-centred, Isaac can be rude and arrogant. But we aren't bad people, and you know that."

I felt a tear slide down my cheek as my bottom lip wobbled. I've lost enough people in my life, and I'm glad I wasn't able to push Pippa and Isaac away. They drove all the way down here to see if I'm okay, and to tell me the whole story.

"I'm so sorry." I cried, burying my head in my hands. "I just- I thought it would be easier to just drop everything and leave. I didn't mean to scare you, or anything. I just needed to leave."

Isaac wrapped his arms around me, pulling up from my chair and into his chest. I held on and squeezed, maybe a little bit too tightly, but he didn't complain. he put me down swiped my tears off my cheeks with his thumbs.

"You don't need to apologise." He smiled.

"Who are these people?" Carrie asked from the back porch.

I turned, hoping it was too dark for her to see that I'd been crying. "Um, Carrie, this is Isaac and that's Pippa." I pointed. "Guys, this is my godmother, Carrie."

"Nice to meet you!" She beamed. "Are you guys hungry? I've got soup for all!"