Cayenne walked inside the library and looked around. It had been three days since she returned back from Seth and her old gang, and she had done a lot of thinking. She could only hope Seth stayed true to his word of having someone in the library everyday.
She casually walked down the rows of bookshelves until she spotted the face that still made her heart beat faster. Roman was sitting at a table in the back with an open book in front of him. He wasn't reading it. He was just sitting there looking at her. She took a deep breath and walked towards him. She nodded at him to follow and continued behind the last bookshelf so no one could spot them from further up.
"Of all the people here today," she said.
"I'm the one here everyday," he said.
He cracked a little, sideways smile at her and she felt butterflies in her stomach. She remembered the first time he had smiled like that at her. That was the first day they met. It had been love at first sight for both of them. He pulled her in for a hug and she took in his scent. She had missed him so much.
"Have you made your choice yet?" He asked.
"I can't leave," she said.
"Can't or won't?" He asked.
She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. She wanted to leave more than anything but she couldn't.
"Do you know what they do?" She asked.
"A little of everything like we do," he said.
"They're way worse than anything we ever did," she said.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
She peeked around the corner of the bookshelf to make sure no one was there watching them.
"They never enter," he said.
"Shut up!" She hissed.
She looked at him again and he looked at her with worried eyes.
"Human trafficking," she said.
"What the fuck are they doing to you?" He asked.
"Not me," she said. "They took them from Pete Dunne's orphanage. No one ever comes around to check. They just send him money to house them and he sells the older ones to Jacob. Girls and boys all the way down to age 13. I'm their only friend in that house. I can't leave them. Jacob told me exactly what he plans to do to them if I ever leave. They'll be punished if I get out."
"What the actual fuck?" He asked.
"They call him the Samoan werewolf because he will tear you apart limb by limb if you cross him. He will torture these poor souls way worse than he already is and he will make damn sure I somehow hear of it or even get to see footage of it," she said.
Tears rolled down her cheeks and he reached his hands over to dry them.
"They only have me, Roman," she said.
"You've always had a soft heart. That's one of the things I love about you," he said.
"You shouldn't still be loving me. I don't deserve it," she said.
"My anger faded a long time ago," he said.
"What do you feel now?" She asked.
"Sadness," he answered. "For a life that should have been but never got to be. The life we would have lived together."
"I'm so sorry for what I did to you," she said.
He sighed and gave her a little, tired smile.
"So why did you?" He asked.
"I don't know," she said.
"Don't give me that," he said.
"I have no memory of it," she said.
He furrowed his eyebrows and his mouth suddenly felt dry.
"What are you saying?" He asked.
"Why did you knock on his door that morning? I've never been able to make sense of that since you never were one to wake up people unless something really bad was about to happen," she said.
"Solo texted me to come to his room. He wrote that it was important," he said.
"It was a setup," she shook her head. "I got so drunk that night. The last thing I remember was feeling ill so I went to the bathroom to throw up. Next thing I know, I woke up in his bed to you knocking on the door. My head was pounding like crazy the same way it did the other day when you guys drugged me."
"Cayenne," he said scared. "Are you saying that Solo drugged you?"
"Does it matter?" She asked.
"Yes, it matters," he said. "It means you never cheated on me. It means that he..."
All color drained from his face when realization hit him.
"It means he raped you," he said.
Tears showed in his eyes. He had been wrong about everything and he had chased her away.
"Why didn't you tell me? Why did you let me believe you cheated on me? Why did you leave me because of it?" He asked.
"I was so confused that day that I thought I had cheated on you. I couldn't remember anything but I was naked in his bed. We were all drinking the night before so I thought I had gone to bed with him. It made no sense because I would never be with him but I was naked in his bed. That morning I couldn't come up with another explanation so I left. It wasn't until later I started piecing together that something wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Solo never cared about me, Roman. It was all about hurting you," she said.
"I'm so sorry," he said.
She grabbed him and pulled him down for a kiss.
"I'll always love you," she said.
"Cayenne," he said.
"I've made my choice, Roman. Those teenagers need me. I'm the only sanity they got left," she said.
"Fuck!" He growled. "Cayenne, come with me. We'll figure it out."
"I know you will. You always do," she gave him a smile. "I gotta go. I need to pick up some books for them to read. They rely on me to bring them something good."
She hurried away and he stepped around the bookshelf to see her move to another section of the library. It suddenly made sense why she went there as much as she did. She was renting books for the human trafficking victims back at Jacob's place. He took out his phone and called Seth.
"What's up?" Seth asked.
"Cayenne was just here," Roman said.
"And?" Seth asked.
"And we got a bigger problem to deal with," Roman said.
