Audrey?

“What the hell are you-” The words died in her throat as she opened the door to reveal a sickly pale Audrey. Lara stepped closer, hand reaching for the other woman’s cheek.

Audrey’s face turned away and her fingers tightened into fists by her hips, back so rigid she fit in with the lone pine tree that grew next to the shed. Her forehead sparkled with humidity, and Lara hoped it was because of the trek—Audrey never liked to walk anywhere.

“Why are you—Are you ok?”

She tugged on her hand, but Audrey’s feet remained rooted to the ground.

“We have to leave, now.” Her eyes flitted around as if she was a wild animal backed into a corner.

“What are you talking about?” Lara cupped Audrey’s cold cheek and tried to bring the paranoid green eyes back on hers, but Audrey shook her head, still avoiding her gaze. “What happened to you?”

“I’m fine.” At a crushed leaf, Audrey threw a look behind her.

A second hand joined on Audrey’s other cheek. “Look at me,” Lara demanded now, worry etching itself deep into the lines on her forehead.

Chilly fingers wrapped around her wrists and tugged down, but then Audrey’s hold tightened, stopping the hands from going anywhere. They stayed like that, in silence, for a moment. Then Audrey took a shaky breath and stepped away, causing Lara’s arms to fall by her sides.

“I’m fine.”

The rejection stung, but Lara held her ground.

“You don’t look fine,” she said with a hard edge to her voice. “Far from it.”

“I... I fucked up, Lara.” Audrey tried to pull Lara to walk with her. “I’ll explain in the car.” Once again she avoided eye contact, and Lara escaped the hold to wrap her arms around herself, as if the chilliness had spread from Audrey to her.

“I don’t care what you did, just tell me what happened to you. You’re hurt. Where?” She insisted. There weren’t any evident injuries, nor blood.

The effort Audrey put into keeping her breathing shallow and slow was hard to miss, and Lara placed her hands on the other woman’s shoulders. A gentle grip brought Audrey’s eyes home, and then the hands slipped along her arms. Lara kept her prodding subtle, determined to find out where the damn injury was.

“I said I’m fine. We can’t stay here.”

“Why?” She humored Audrey as her hands dropped to her hips. Not the right place either. Through her concentration, Lara almost missed the sharp intake of breath following her question.

“I was desperate. There was nothing else I could do, I needed the money. Debt collectors weren’t willing to wait any longer—If I had one more week, one more chance, everything would have worked out. I had a plan,” Audrey rambled without actually saying anything, like the true lawyer she was.

And then three things happened at the same time. Lara touched her ribs, Audrey flinched, and the bomb dropped.

“I sold the drugs.”

Lara’s hands retreated as burned. Only the deep care she felt for Audrey stopped her from stepping back and putting physical distance between the two. You did what? Lara wanted to ask, but couldn’t bring herself to. It would make it more real, whereas now she could pretend she misheard. At least until she made sure Audrey would be ok.

“Lara,” Audrey said, which was also ignored.

Audrey was injured, and now she suspected where. Without a word, Lara gripped the hem of her shirt and pulled up. Splashes of black and blue bruises colored the pale skin. Lara’s fingers shook.

“Who did this to you!?” She asked as Audrey tugged the blouse back down.

Not receiving a reply, Lara grabbed Audrey’s hand and made for her dirt bike, parked a few feet away.

“We need to get you to a hospital. Can you hold on? How did you walk all this way here, are you crazy!?” At her own raised voice, Lara bit down on her lip. “I’m sorry,” she leveled the volume. “But we need to get this checked out, come on.”

Audrey only followed for two steps before resisting the pull.

“No, listen to me.”

Lara turned around again, lips pressed tight. She didn’t want to talk anymore.

“This,” Audrey gestured to her own ribs, “it looks worse than it is. They sent me home from the ER.”

Lara crossed her arms, not sure if she believed that. More than that, Audrey not being in immediate danger made snuffing out her anger more difficult than a moment before.

“The drugs—it’s not all of it. The Don hired a woman, Bryn, to find you, and she said there were more after you. I messed up but I know what I’m doing, Lara.” Audrey reached for her, but Lara took a step back. Hurt crossed the woman’s features. “Please, trust me. We need to get you somewhere safe. After that I’ll fix everything, I promise.”

“Let me get this straight,” Lara said. “You steal my drugs, wait long enough for Alberto to notice, then you come here and lead his lap dogs straight to me? And now you demand I leave-“ Her throat closed up and she swallowed. “I’m not fucking leaving.”

Audrey should know better than to ask that.

“I didn’t just sit around and wait for him to notice, I had—I have a plan.” She paused. “And no one could have followed me.”

Lara took a few deep breaths and rubbed the back of her neck, staring into the forest to calm herself down. “You couldn’t have needed it all. Did you at least return some of it?”

Her gaze snapped to Audrey’s when her question was met with silence.

I can’t fucking believe this.

“You gambled it.”

“No! I mean yes, technically-”

In two quick steps, she was in front of Audrey again. “How could you be so stupid!?”

Audrey bristled. “You were the one who left, Lara.” An edge joined her voice. “You knew I was struggling, scared, and you left for some woman you haven’t seen in ten fucking years.” Those cold, direct words formed a sharp blade that cut right through Lara’s chest. “And now you’re putting your life at risk to stay. Don’t do this, Lara. Let’s go. My car is parked at the end of the trail.”

A dark storm gathered inside of Lara, her balled fists the only thing keeping her from shaking with anger.

“How dare you-”

Her hand raised, but she controlled herself and shoved it through her own hair, then stomped past Audrey for a few feet before turning back around.

“She isn’t just some woman, she’s the fucking most important person in my life!”

Audrey flinched, but Lara was too angry to stop or correct herself. Sam would never betray her like this.

“Time’s not gonna change that,” Lara said, trying to keep her tone leveled.

“Clearly,” Audrey muttered, which only added fuel to the fire.

“And you, you’re a whole ass grown, healthy woman. You should be able to fucking take care of yourself for a few months. Sam is fucking dying!” Her voice broke and tears brimmed in her eyes, but she kept going, clutching onto the rage. “I won’t just leave her when she needs me most because you’re jealous. Is this why you’re here, why you did that? You can’t stand me walking away for someone else?”

Audrey’s jaw tightened. “I’ve stood behind you for three years.” Her voice was low, barely holding back. And soon she wasn’t. “Three fucking years, Lara, and you’re going to act like you know me as a jealous, reckless person? Why are you being like this?”

It was Audrey’s turn to step away.

“I’m sorry about Samantha, but she won’t be any better off when you die because you’re too fucking stubborn. Don’t take my word for it though, ask her.” She gestured toward nowhere. “Do it. Maybe she can get through to you.”

The knife twisted in her chest and the anger and hurt wrapped like vines around Lara’s heart, squeezing, suffocating her.

“Clearly three years aren’t enough to truly know someone, because your actions speak for yourself,” she said, her voice suddenly calm, quiet. “You never loved me, Audrey, you only-”

“I never-?”

Lara pointed a finger at Audrey. “Don’t. Did you even consider selling your car instead of fucking me over?” Silence followed. “Of course not, because you’re a selfish piece of shit and that’s why we can never be together.” Her blood felt hot, burning, the heat spreading like a rash through her skin.

For a few moments, Audrey stood speechless, a few different emotions flashing on her face; anger, hurt, embarrassment. The first won over the others.

“No, we can never work out because you never fucking help yourself. There’s no reason you couldn’t have left drug dealing in the past ten years—No reason you couldn’t have had one other person stick around for longer than a few months, that you weren’t fucking supplying. Don’t act like it’s all on me that your shitty life choices caught up to you.”

“Fuck you, Audrey!” Lara snapped. “I didn’t ask for any of this!”

Audrey was really accusing her of putting herself in this situation? Lara started pacing back and forth, like a lion in a cage. It didn’t help calm her down. How dare she?

As if things weren’t bad enough already, Audrey continued. “And now suddenly you decide the most important person in your life is someone who’s dying. Someone who you barely recognize anymore. I’m so fucking tired of you choosing to be a victim.”

“Choosing to be-“ Lara stopped pacing, her mouth closing as she processed Audrey’s words. “Are you fucking serious right now? You didn’t complain about the way I make money when you used me to pay for your gambling debts. And then you accuse me—you know what? You’re right. I am to blame.” Lara’s lips curled as she marched up to Audrey. The other woman stumbled back, stopping against the trunk of a tree. “For trusting you. We’re fucking done.”

“Lara, I-”

“I’ve heard en-”

“I know I fucked up, but if you give me another-”

Lara’s open palm slammed against the rough bark next to Audrey’s head, making her flinch. “You’ve had dozens of chances to fess up to what you did so I could fix it!” Lara leaned her face inches from Audrey’s, so the woman would look into her eyes and understand she was dead serious. “Don’t contact me again.”

The tears on Audrey’s cheeks didn’t stop Lara from stalking off, but Audrey grabbed her hand, stopping her in her tracks. “Please, Lara.”

“Don’t you fucking touch me!” She snarled and shoved her aside.

Audrey fell on the hard ground with a grunt, an arm wrapping around her stomach. Lara instinctively reached out, but took a step back instead and clenched her fingers into a fist.

“I hope it was worth it. Stay the fuck away from me.” She said the next words slowly, a pause between each. “You’re dead to me.”

After that, she rushed towards her motorcycle, put on her helmet and rode off. The rev of the motor didn’t drown the way Audrey called out her name for the last time, but its growling fed the angry beast within her chest.