Chapter Seven
Haley narrowed her eyes into slits at Rachel. She stood up abruptly and headed for the door but Rachel followed her. "Haley, wait, please," Rachel begged as Haley began to open the door. The desperation in her voice is what made Haley turn around. "I know what you must be thinking and I don't blame you one bit."
"Don't patronize me, Rachel because let's face it: you have no idea what I'm thinking right now," Haley spat angrily. Rachel bit her lip and looked down as a child that was about to be scolded did. "After all the insidious things you've done, I really shouldn't be surprised, but I am. Why is that?" Rachel remained silent. "I'm actually asking you, Rachel." Rachel sighed and looked up at her. She simply shrugged.
"I don't know why you're surprised," Rachel admitted. Haley raised her eyebrows in surprise. At least the girl didn't have the nerve to defend herself this time.
"I guess I figured that even you wouldn't stoop so low. I know you think you love Nathan but there are things you just don't do," Haley said. Rachel raised her head. There was shame in her eyes but also some sort of innocence that sent Haley over the edge as she opened her mouth.
"I was only trying to salvage my reputation. I didn't want the whole world to know about my problems. Is that too difficult to understand?" Rachel asked. Haley just shook her head and smiled at her sarcastically.
"Oh, ok, so let me get this straight: you wanted to save yourself in Nathan's eyes so you agreed to continue to work for Dan to break us up in order to keep him from telling Nathan?" Haley asked.
"I know it seems insignificant," Rachel started. Her voice small and meek when faced with the rage in Haley's brown eyes.
"You're damn right it's insignificant because your secret cost me and Nathan our son," Haley said, walking over to Rachel threateningly. Rachel started to back away in fear but Haley continued to walk closer. "You took everything away from me. My son, my husband and if that wasn't enough, you had to take away my ability to get pregnant too!"
"I'm so sorry for your suffering, Haley. I never meant for this to happen," Rachel started.
"You don't mean for a lot of things to happen, Rachel, but they do. You're like an angel of Death; pain follows you wherever you go," Haley said, inching just a little bit closer. Rachel looked at her in fear.
"Haley, what are you doing?" Rachel asked. Haley faltered and stopped moving as she looked at Rachel in confusion. "You're not going to hurt me." It sounded more like she was trying to reassure herself. Haley looked at her thoughtfully.
"Now there's an idea I like," Haley said, coming a little closer. "If you did have some sort of accident here at the house, like, I don't know, falling through the window maybe, and I went to prison, it would almost be worth it because I would've gotten you out of my life once and for all." Rachel's eyes widened in fear and Haley reached out to grab her by the throat but then pulled away as her hands came into contact with Rachel's skin. She moved back and sighed. Then she looked at Rachel thoughtfully. "But I'm not you."
Nathan walked into his house, closed the door and locked it. He had just spent three hours with his mom in the hospital. The doctors kept telling him that they'd seen very few sons like him. Nathan had to smile at their comments because if it hadn't been for Haley, he never would've gone into see his mom that first time a week before. He wondered that if he told he nurses that bit of information, they would still be praising him for what a good son he was.
He walked down the hallway and stopped when he caught sight of Haley. He swore he must have been dreaming but turned into the kitchen. Haley was there all right. So was Rachel; looking terrified as she inched backward out the sliding door. Nathan walked deeper into the room just in time to see Haley reaching for Rachel. Her hands grazed Rachel's neck and then, out of nowhere, she pulled away. She took a few steps back and blew out a frustrated sigh as she said, "But I'm not you."
"What's going on here?" he asked. Both women jumped at the sound of his voice. Rachel's eyes widened with relief. She walked over to Nathan, looking at him apologetically.
"Rachel was just confessing her sins," Haley said matter of fact. Rachel shot a glare at her. Nathan looked at Haley in surprise. Haley just smiled at him and asked, "How's Deb?"
"She's fine. The doctor says she'll be as good as new within a few weeks," Nathan replied. Then he looked at Rachel. "What were you confessing to?"
"Her part in what happened to James," Haley replied. Nathan shot a puzzled look in Haley's direction. Haley cleared her throat and looked at Rachel. "Tell him." Rachel looked at Haley pleadingly. Haley's eyes just narrowed.
"I'm the one who's responsible for tearing your marriage apart," Rachel admitted. Haley walked over to Nathan, took him by the hand and led him to the table.
"You're going to want to sit down for this," she said. He obeyed and she sat down beside him, entwining their fingers. Haley's behaviour was probably the most unsettling thing to Nathan in this situation. What could Rachel possibly had told her to make her suddenly want to be near him? Rachel sat down across from them and began the tale.
Ten minutes later, Nathan was furious. "I don't understand. How could you have done all this from behind bars?" he asked. Rachel sighed.
"That girl was one of my buyers. She came to visit me in prison and I told her that it would be worth a year's supply for her if she seduced you," Rachel said.
"So not only did you hire drug addict to seduce me, you drugged me so she could rape me?" Nathan demanded angrily. Rachel looked down in shame as she nodded slowly. "Why, what could be so horrible that you would do such a despicable thing?"
"Your father had her under his thumb again," Haley replied for her. Nathan looked up.
"My father hired you again?" Nathan asked. Rachel nodded. "What did he have on you this time?"
"He was going to release a video to the public," Rachel replied. Nathan shook his head in confusion.
"A porn movie?" Nathan asked.
"Of sorts," Rachel replied. Nathan sighed. "If you believed the people that made it, it was a porn movie. Senior year of college, I went to a party one night. I got really drunk and some guys decided to take advantage of that. They led me to their dorm room…"
"They gang-raped you?" Haley asked in disbelief. A few tears had fallen down her face and Rachel wiped them away with the back of her palm as she nodded.
"Your father threatened to have the video released, but would make it look like it was consensual. He said that since he was the mayor, no one would refute it," Rachel said.
"So you did all of this to save face?" Nathan asked. She nodded. Nathan took pity on her and as he turned to look to Haley, expecting to see the same thing, but her eyes were burning with anger.
"I hope you don't expect me to feel sorry for you," Haley said. Rachel looked at her in surprise. "I understand that you've suffered, Rachel, but it's no excuse. You should've just let the tape out yourself. People may have thought you were a slut but at least they wouldn't look at you the way I do."
"What's that?" Rachel asked.
"You're a criminal," Haley replied, "You deal drugs and in your spare time, you pimp out your buyers to kill a baby."
"I never meant for your son to die, Haley," Rachel said.
"Like I said before: it doesn't matter what you meant to happen. What matters is what did happen," Haley said.
