Chapter 8: The New Crooked World

Lynx's POV

I watched it happen myself and I couldn’t stop it.

Did Ellie really let that girl fall on purpose knowing she couldn’t swim? That’s not like her. When I left town, she had always been such a sweet girl, but then again, when I left, I wasn’t always the sweetest guy.

“Want me to stay at your place tonight?” Victoria asked the girl.

Brie. I had finally learned her name.

She was here the night I left, and I hadn’t stopped to get her name. She was beautiful then and now even more. Her face was bare of makeup, not that it would help her anyway. She had a natural beauty about her that not many girls or women have.

When I saw her at the gym, I was awe-struck by the way she moved, and the way she had so much anger. I could feel it pulsing through the walls. She called to me and when I responded, she froze up.

After Ellie told me she was the girl who was attacked it made sense. She didn’t want to be cornered again, and I was just another male who had cornered her.

Brie had signed something back; so, she wasn’t deaf. She could hear everything happening around her, she just responded differently. Vic responded with various hand motions and that ensued their finger movement war.

I wish I knew what they were talking about but my knowledge of sign language was few. I had to ask Victoria how to say you’re welcome only because I knew that she had said thank you to me. It was the first time she had said anything to me, or engaged with me at all.

Normally, she was a deer in headlights, and I just pushed her closer toward the light. I had to find a way to communicate with her that wouldn’t scare her away, to show her that I wasn’t a threat to her and only wanted to get to know her.

Hell, maybe she’d want to get to know me too if this town hadn’t already gotten to her. I knew the way it worked—they spread the worst but the truths and all the good you could do would be forgotten in the blink of an eye.

“Victoria, you still at the same place?” I asked.

“We’re in a town that never changes. What do you think?” she retorted.

Victoria Sharp, another childhood face that I had watched grow up, turned from someone sweet to nasty, but after what happened to her boyfriend, I couldn’t blame her. She was angry at the world. They had plans together, a future together, and now she had to carry those plans herself.

“Do you need me to turn the heat up?” I asked.

The question was simple, either female could reply, but we all knew I wanted Brie to answer even if it was with a nod or shake of her head. I enjoyed watching the matted hair tangle around her head as she answered. Watching those amber eyes lock in a trance that I’m not even sure I want to escape. She was different from the girls here and not just because she didn’t speak.

Something about her called to me three years ago and it called to me every time I saw her. The sheer excitement I felt finding her at my brother’s party of all places was the best feeling that I had in years. She was sparking something inside of me and stroking its flame.

I pulled up beside Victoria’s house and waited for the two to exchange more hand signs.

Mental note, learn some sign language.

“If anything happens to her, I know where you live,” Victoria warned.

I laughed. She wasn’t the first person to threaten me with that or the last. What made it comical was that everyone swore I feared them each time they said it. I was a lot of things and most of the town knew the not-so-nice things about me and yet each time they tried more and more to make me fit whatever version of myself they wanted me to be.

In Victoria’s story, I would always be the villain.

Hopefully, in Brie’s, I could be something else. Anything else.

“I know you don’t talk, but can you point me to where you live?” I asked once Victoria was out of the car and in the house.

Brie nodded and leaned forward from the backseat. I wanted her to sit beside me, but I wouldn’t push what she wasn’t ready for. It was risky enough for her to allow me in her car to drive them home.

Whatever turn she needed me to take she would tap my shoulder and point me in the direction. Oddly enough, she didn’t live far from my house. We could’ve walked if she didn’t have her car with her. Victoria, on the other hand, lived at least two roads over and our roads weren’t the best for walking conditions on most days.

I switched off the engine and turned to face her. She hadn’t moved back yet and I had no idea we’d be this close to one another. I just wanted to steal another glance at her before she became a ghost again.

“Thank you,” she sighed again.

It was the only thing she had ever said to me, and I wanted more. Even if I didn’t understand it, I wanted more from her. I wanted her to share more with me. In truth, I wanted to part her perfect lips and have her speak for me, but I wasn’t sure how far her condition went. Could she not speak or did she simply not speak?

“You’re welcome,” I signed back. “It was my pleasure, Brie.”

It was my first time saying her name aloud and it rolled off my tongue so easily. It was as if I had been saying it my whole life.

She smiled and held her right hand forward and slowly began to make letters, L-Y-N-X. I had learned the alphabet years prior and that was about the only thing that stuck with me.

I nodded, and she spelled my name, in her own way. She said my name just as I had said hers.

“I’m sorry for what happened today. I had no idea she was going to do that.”

I didn’t plan on apologizing. I planned on heading home and demanding an explanation from Ellie and Logan. They knew better and that was completely uncalled for.

What could Brie have possibly done that warranted being pushed into a pool and nearly drowning?

She shook her head and placed a finger over my lips, silencing me.

She didn’t want me to apologize. Didn’t want to hear the excuse or even the reasoning why. Or perhaps she just didn’t want me to apologize for their actions.

Logan and Ellie were old enough to own up to their mistakes. I wasn’t their guardian and they weren’t kids who accidentally hurt someone else. Tonight was intentional—I saw the look on Ellie’s face when she dropped Brie.

When had everything turned so wicked here?

Regardless, I was going to get Brie an apology whether she wanted it or not. Whether Logan or Ellie wanted to or not.

It’s the least they could do. Hell, if I hadn’t pulled her out, she could’ve died.