Annie exhaled, more from relief when she saw the old Jeep parked next to the Hideout. It meant that Marcus was there.
She had been searching for Marcus the whole morning, as she had yesterday, but she couldn’t find him on Twin Peaks or Blue Mountain. The Hideout was the only place left where he could be. Annie had a bad feeling in her gut, but she needed to find out what was going on.
It had been a perfect few months, but her break was almost over. She would start university next week, and the week after that, after the Harvest Festival, Marcus would leave for South America where he wanted to gain experience on the wine farms in Argentina and Chile. He had dreamed about it for years, and for the first part of summer he had often spoken about it, but the last two weeks he hadn’t mentioned it.
If he had asked her, Annie would have gone with him. She would do anything to be with Marcus, if
he had only asked.
She hadn’t been able to get hold of him since yesterday, and that was unusual for Marcus. It would be no use stalling any longer. Annie walked to the door and knocked. She didn’t wait for Marcus to answer and opened the door.
And she stopped, taking in the scene in front of her.
She had to bite back nausea, tears and screams that were all fighting for release as her heart shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.
Marcus was there, in bed, but he wasn’t alone. With him was Linda Malone, the snake. She hadn’t been wrong then. Linda wanted Marcus for herself, and she had succeeded.
Marcus sat up, and Annie could see he was not wearing a shirt, and probably not anything else either. She didn’t look to see whether Linda was in the same state of undress. For that, she was too angry and upset.
Marcus shouted at her, “What are you doing here? You know the rules. If there’s no key, the something is using the Hideout. And as you can see, we’re busy.”
Annie could only shake her head. She didn’t bother to hide her disappointment that the man she had put on a pedestal could betray her like this, “How could you, Marcus? After what we had this summer I thought…”
Marcus clenched his jaw, and then he grunted, “You thought what?”
Annie swallowed, “I thought you loved me.”
Marcus hissed, the scowl not leaving his face, “You thought we will have a happy ever after? Grow up, Annie. It was a fling, that’s all.”
Annie saw Linda’s hand rubbing over Marcus’ shoulder, almost lovingly, and she had to bite back the tears.
At that moment she hated Marcus Walker and Linda Malone. She saw Marcus look at Linda’s hand and then he said to Annie, without looking at her, “Summer is over, Annie. Accept it. Leave us alone and close the door on your way out.”
Annie swallowed. It hurt, but she refused to let Marcus or Linda see how much. She only breathed, “I hate you, Marcus.”
With as much dignity as she could muster, she turned and pulled the door closed behind her. Annie gave in to the tears while running to her horse. Her hands shook when she untied the reins. Annie could only get on her horse with the second try. By the time she spurred the horse into a gallop, sobs were racking her body.
Annie did not look back at the Hideout when she steered her horse down the road. She never wanted to see the place again.
Annie didn’t go home. She couldn’t—not yet.
When her tired horse slowed down, Annie let Brandy walk. They found one of the smaller mountain pools where she allowed the horse to drink. Annie sat down on a rock and cried. She didn’t want to go home to face Marcus and the rest of the family. Not yet, anyway. If she never saw Marcus Walker again, it would be even better.
During that time she had let her horse rest, Annie had enough time to think. When she stood up, she had decided: No man would ever do to her what Marcus had done. She would not fall in love again. Ever. And no man would ever make her cry again. Only weak people cried.
Marcus Walker did not deserve her tears. He had gotten his wish. In one afternoon, Annie had grown up.
When she got on her horse, she was not Annie anymore. Annie was the child she left behind at the Hideout. She was Anne-Marie, the woman—and Anne-Marie Sinclair would not be weak.
Five years later
Why the hell did he come back? He should’ve stayed where he was. He then didn’t have to go through this torture day after day.
His eyes slid over the guests searching for Annie as it always did. When their eyes met, Marcus felt their connection, but then Annie turned away. She put her hand on the arm of the sleazeball standing next to her. She leaned into him, whispering in his ear, but Marcus could see that the man was hardly listening. He nodded, but his eyes stayed fixed on the breasts of the woman in front of him.
What the hell did Annie see in that man? Kent Brody was a waster, a rich boy who never had done a day’s work in his life. He lived off his family’s trust funds, pretending to work as a marketer for the company.
When Annie turned and disappeared through the open door, Marcus took a chance. There was still time to dissuade Annie from marrying Kent, even though it was their engagement party that night.
He ignored the woman standing next to him. He put the glass he had been nursing for the last hour back on the table and followed Annie. Marcus startled her when he spoke up behind her as her eyes were wide when she turned to face him. He could see her hand moving to her chest, fingering the necklace he had given her on her sixteenth birthday.
If Annie was still wearing it, did it mean he had a chance? Marcus ignored the ring Kent had put on her finger not more than an hour ago and stepped closer to her. He saw her swallow, but she stayed quiet. Well, she hadn’t said a word to him in the last three months since his return to Blue Mountain, so what was different?
But he had to try. Just one more time. He took a deep breath and started, “Annie.”
That was all he said before Annie hissed, “I have nothing to say to you. I hate you, Marcus Walker, and I hope never to see you again.”
Marcus could see in her eyes that she was not lying. He couldn’t blame her but damn it hurt. It still hurt after five years, and it would hurt for the rest of his life.
He dropped his head to his chest, trying to breathe through the emotions following each other in quick succession. He could not pretend that he was okay, so his best option was to leave the party, and find his solace in a bottle of liquor or two. That was the only thing that could numb this pain at that moment.
Marcus took one last breath, then turned back to the party. He only stopped to grab a bottle of whisky from the bar and stormed out again. When he felt a restraining hand on his arm, he looked up to find his father watching him concerned.
Marc was, however, the last person Marcus wanted to see at that moment, but he was so angry he didn’t mind confronting him, “Twenty-five, Dad?”
Marc flushed, but Marcus was too angry to let it go, “It had all been a lie, hadn’t it? But I should’ve expected it. I’ve never been good enough.”
“Marcus, that’s not true,” Marc argued, shocked.
“Well, explain then how Annie can marry that twit. She’s not twenty-five yet. You could’ve given permission five years ago. Yes, Dad, I read the fine print when I got my trust fund. You just didn’t want me to marry Annie. I get it.”
He pushed his father’s hand away and glared at him, then stormed to his room.
He was ten sails to the wind when there was a soft knock on his door, but Marcus ignored it. He took a deep swallow from the bottle, his throat numb from pouring the fierce liquid down his throat for the last half an hour, closing his eyes. When he heard the door open, he glared at Linda, who stood at the entrance, “Marcus, are you okay?”
“Do I look fucking okay?” he retorted.
Linda was used to his bad moods and proved that he did not scare her as she walked into the room, closing the door behind her. She came to sit on the bed next to Marcus, resting her back against the headboard, mirroring his position.
“Talk to me,” she said.
Marcus snorted, “As if that will help. The love of my life got engaged to another man. What the hell do you expect?”
He didn’t wait for her answer and took another healthy swig of the bottle.
“Marcus, I know you are hurting now, but it will get better. One day you’ll find someone else,” Linda said to console him.
Marcus cursed, taking another swig before he said to her, “Don’t you think I’ve tried that? The last five years… I tried, but Annie always messed it up. She was there standing between every other woman and me, even though she was a thousand miles away. The only way I could forget was to get drunk. The only way I could be with another woman and not see her was to be out of my mind drunk.”
Marcus didn’t see the sly look on Linda’s face, as he could feel his tears sliding down his cheeks. He thought he was over that. For goodness sake, he was not eight. He shouldn’t cry about a woman.
No, not a woman.
Annie.
He shook his head, “Don’t you understand? I love Annie. I always had, and I always will. She was and still is the only woman I’ll ever love, even though she hates me.”
When he heard his own words, Marcus could not stop the sob escaping his lips. He had messed up so badly five years ago, and he would pay for that one mistake for the rest of his life. He didn’t, and couldn’t think about it, so between sobs, he tried to drown his sorrows with whisky.
He cried on Linda’s shoulder, but Marcus was past caring. Linda had been his friend, and that was what friends did, wasn’t it?
All he needed now was to drink himself into oblivion. Tomorrow he might find a woman to help him forget and start again.
Marcus woke up, his head pounding. His tongue felt thick in his mouth, but that was not the only thing bothering him.
He lifted his head and looked down at his naked torso and the rumpled sheets below. He cursed. He could not remember undressing as he was so far gone last night.
He heard the rustle of the sheets and stopped. He turned his head, and then he cursed again, sitting up straight. What the hell did he do last night? He regretted the sudden movement, but there was no way in hell he was staying in bed with the woman who was now opening her eyes, a satisfied smile playing around her lips.
He glanced around, finding the jeans he wore last night on the floor and grabbed them. He slipped them on, cursing non-stop. Only when he was decent, did he turn around to find Linda’s eyes on him, clutching the blanket over her naked chest, “Marcus…” she started, but he didn’t give her a chance.
“I don’t know what happened last night, Linda, but I’m so sorry,” Marcus started. He swallowed, “Did we…? Did something happen?”
Linda nodded. He guessed she didn’t like his reaction because she turned her face away, as Marcus continued to curse.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you. It should never have happened. I’m sorry.”
Linda swallowed and then she turned her face back to him, a calculated look in her eyes, “Who says I didn’t take advantage of you, Marcus?”
Marcus scowled, “It doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t have happened, and it won’t happen again.”
He grabbed a clean shirt from the cupboard and slipped it over his head, still cursing while he struggled with his shoes. He needed to get out of the room and out of the house. And away from Blue Mountain too. He could not stay here, knowing that Annie was down the hallway.
He left Linda in his room to phone Nathan.
Later that same day, Marcus moved into Nathan’s house at Twin Peaks. The less he saw of Annie and his parents, the better.