I Let Her Ruin Herself Chapter 10
That fight in the hospital severed all ties between our families.
Carol never apologized for Taylor’s false accusation. In fact, Taylor seemed to think I had deliberately cornered her in front of the police.
Mark and Carol were too busy with work to drive her, but they weren’t about to let her walk that greenway alone again. They enrolled her in a residential arts program near the school. On weekdays, she stayed in the dorms.
That only made it easier for her to see Derek.
Taylor would slip out of evening rehearsals early, meeting him at a side door.
The school had no secluded woods, but it did have backstage storage rooms, the gym’s equipment closet, and family restrooms that were almost never used.
Derek found every corner the cameras couldn’t see.
At first, whenever Taylor saw me, she would look away, as if worried I might notice something.
I never asked. After a while, she stopped trying to hide it.
I saw Derek pulling her into his arms in the parking lot. I saw her climb onto the back of his loud, beat-up motorcycle.
I acted like I saw nothing.
The love she craved was about to bear fruit.
Two months later, Taylor fainted during a regional audition for a performing arts program.Â