Poison by Leanne Davis Page A

thought I did. Until he threw me against a wall one day when he thought I had lied about where I’d been all afternoon.”
    “He abused you?”
    “Not at first. Not very much. He started after Tim was born. Then the real Marcus came out. So I left.”
    “So you meant to have Tim?”
    “No. I got pregnant. That’s why I married Marcus.”
    “How did you end up with Marcus to start with?”
    “When I was twenty-five I finally quit partying. I got a job as a secretary for the same company Marcus was a low level manager in. At the time I was freshly sober, celibate, and lonely. Marcus wanted to take care of me. I thought I needed him in order to stay sober and faithful. I got pregnant. We got married, and I thought I was better. But I wasn’t. The only thing that changed me for real was Tim. As I got better, sober, confident, and less into sex, Marcus started to get weird.”
    “And then you left.”
    “I left. He followed. You know the rest. You know why I’m here. You can trust that much, I would never live with you if I had any choice at all.”
    “You never trusted me,” he said after a long moment. He stared at her, trying to understand who Cassie was compared to who he’d always thought she was.
    “No. I never trusted you. I never fully trusted anyone. That’s who I was a decade ago. I drank too much, partied too much, and slept around for nearly ten years. But the one thing I didn’t mean to do was hurt you like I did.”
    “How did you hide it all from me?”
    “I made sure my secrets stayed away from you just as I wanted them to.”
    “I was an idiot.”
    “No you weren’t. You didn’t see it. Any of it. I knew you didn’t, and I liked that. I liked who I was in your eyes.”
    “I almost deserved it didn’t I? I was so in love with you I never saw one real thing about you.”
    “No. You didn’t. You didn’t see me, nor did you deserve it. But it doesn’t matter now. It was a long time ago, and everything about me is different, and better. I hate remembering what I was. I’m sorry for it, I really am. But I can’t change it.”
    “You can’t possibly think that makes any difference to me.”
    She shrugged. “What do you want from me? I can’t undo it. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better person. But I was doing the best I could at the time. I wish it could be enough for you that my entire life changed after that. That I’m entirely different now.”
    “I should take comfort in the fact you were willing to be a mother to Marcus Leary’s child, but not to mine?”
    “Don’t. Don’t ever think of my son as a comparison to what you think you lost. Tim is mine. And Tim is nothing like Marcus. I’ll listen to a lot of things from you about what I did to you, but I will not listen to you insult my son.”
    He nodded and let out a breath. “I know. Tim isn’t a problem. I wasn’t trying to say he is. He’s a great kid. Really great.”
    “I’m the problem right? I’ll always be the problem. So what is it you want? You want to kick us out? Because I’ll leave. But if you don’t, you have got to quit being such a bastard to me. It was ten years ago. I shouldn’t have done what I did to you. But you could look at the circumstances now, as an adult, rather than like a hurt teenager. You really could do that.”
    “Now I need to grow up?”
    She sighed. Closed her eyes. “You purposely take everything I say wrong. I hurt you. I’m sorry. But I’m begging you; let me stay here with my son. I’m that scared of Marcus. And I need your help that much. So you know what? You won. Your life is a success, and I’m practically on my knees here begging for your help. Please, for now, just let that be enough.”
    He stepped back into the hall. He hadn’t expected this conversation to go where it had. Or for Cassie to gain the upper hand in this thing between them. But she had. She was right. He should grow up. There wasn’t anything more she could do.
    He could