LWLU – Massive Miscalculations

Oh. My. God. This was beyond the worst thing that could happen. Well, actually, it already happened. Now it was just the simple matter of finding out what one of her best friends did to destroy her life.

“Sara…why did all the blood just rush out of your face?”

She squeezed her eyes shut and fought for calm. “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.” She opened her eyes and leveled her gaze at Veronica. “Just tell me what you said.”

“Uh…I…uh…I told Michael to stay away from you.”

Ice flooded her veins. “Why would you do that to me?”

“Please stop looking at me like that. I can’t take it.” Veronica jumped off the bed and paced the floor. “It’s not like you’re making it sound. You’re not letting me explain. You have to let me explain.”

Sara glared at her. “You’re the only one talking, Veronica.”

She stopped pacing. “Yeah…I guess I am.” The pacing resumed. “I thought I was helping. I swear to you I did.”

“You helped me by telling Michael to stay away from me. I’m going to need a little more detail than that.”

“I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Probably somewhere around the time when you decided to tell my boyfriend to leave me alone.”

“He was your boyfriend?” Veronica sat down beside Sara. “Why didn’t I know that?”

“It was a secret. I didn’t want everyone to know until I was sure everything was working out with us.” It was amazing how stupid her reasoning sounded to her own ears all these years later.

“So…Michael was dating you and Jessica at the same time then?”

Sara dropped her eyes to the carpet. “Apparently.”

“That’s…wow. I thought it was bad when I just thought he was sleeping with you while he was with her. Now that I know he was stringing you along…bastard.”

He really was. So why did she still have feelings for him? “But you didn’t know all that back then. Why did you tell him to stay away from me?”

Veronica ran pale fingers through raven hair. “Okay…well, you remember how I reacted when you told me you’d slept together?”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure I never got full hearing back in that ear.”

“Even though I thought he was taking advantage of you, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he’d treat you right. I mean, he’s Lincoln’s brother and at the time I didn’t know what a total ass that man really is.” She shook her head. “Anyway. Once Jessica came back and we all realized he was still with her…”

“What?”

Veronica bit her lip. “That’s actually the reason Lincoln punched Michael at the party. I know everyone thinks we were having sex and Michael interrupted something, but…” She sighed. “You told me not to, but I was in the bedroom with Lincoln because it was the only quiet place where I could tell him what Michael did to you.”

“You told Lincoln? I always thought Michael was the one that told him.”

“No. I was so furious with him for hurting you after we caught him fooling around with Jessica…Lincoln wanted to know what was wrong with me and I was too pissed off to come up with a decent lie.”

“I probably owe Lincoln for that.”

“Trust me, Sare, you don’t owe him a thing. Michael deserved it.” The smile faded from her lips. “You remember how Nika and I were waiting at the house for you when you got home from the hospital after your mom…after your appendix burst? I heard a noise upstairs and left Nika in the kitchen. I caught Michael coming through your window. He said he wanted to explain, but I told him to go home. He, uh, didn’t know what, uh, just happened. So he left.”

“Okay. You still aren’t really answering my question.”

“I know. I was getting to that. He kept trying to get your attention at the funeral. I could tell you didn’t notice, so I pulled him aside and told him you were in enough pain without being used by him. I told him to stay away from you or he’d have Lincoln to deal with.”

“Yeah, I guess that would do it.”

“Actually, Sara, it didn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“He came through your window again that night while you were in the shower. When I threatened to call Lincoln, he told me he didn’t care what his brother did because he was going to talk to you whether he was turned into a bloody pulp or not. I had to threaten to go get your dad and tell him what was going on to get him to leave.”

Now it all made sense. Fear of what her father would do to him would be enough to keep any guy away. Frank Tancredi wasn’t the kind of man anyone crossed.

She felt Veronica’s hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay? You’ve been quiet for about five minutes.”

Sara nodded. “I just want to be alone right now.”

“Yeah. Okay.” She paused at the door. “Please don’t hate me for this. I really thought I was helping.”

“I don’t hate you,” she whispered as her friend was leaving the room. She couldn’t hate Michael, not even when he’d made her the other woman by cheating on his girlfriend with her.

But she still hated herself for what she’d done the night she found out about Michael and Jessica. As long as she lived, she’d never forgive herself for it.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Well lookie here…a bonus chapter. If you didn’t know to look for it on Tuesday when I first posted it, sign up for the email feed so you’ll always know when there’s a new post on the site. The email will even let you know if you if it’s a new post for this story, The Freelancer, another story or an announcement.

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