Free Blurring Lines by Chloe Walsh Page A

she turned for the door. “What would poor Emily think?”
    My blood ran cold. “Who is Emily?”
    “You remember Emily, don’t you? Emily McAllister?” Sharon opened the bathroom door and stepped into the hallway. “Emily is Cade’s girlfriend, and I doubt she would be very happy with what happened here tonight.”
    Sharon closed the bathroom door, and I was left on my own again with only my memories for company and a huge pang of jealously that threatened to choke me.
    Climbing to my feet, I stepped out of the shower and stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror.
    I had spent the past three years dreaming about Cade – using the image of him to keep me sane.
    To keep me alive ...
    He was the one thing I clung to when those men robbed me of my dignity.
    This hurt me.
    This hurt me more than a lot of what I had been through.
    The thought of Cade with Emily caused me physical pain.
    He was supposed to be mine .
    But he was dating Emily.
    Emily McAllister.
     
     
     
     
    ****

Mackenzie
    February 27 th , 2006
     
     
    “So, Mackenzie. You’ve been home three weeks,” Anna announced with a smile. It was Saturday afternoon and we were sitting on the couch in my father’s lounge with a pot of tea on the coffee table accompanied by a flower-patterned plate filled with Sharon’s homemade cookies. Anna obviously didn’t need to visit during weekends, but it made me feel a little safer considering I’d seen her every day that I’d been in hospital. “How are you settling back in?”
    “Okay,” I told her, because it was the truth.
    I had been home three weeks and things had been okay . My father was trying hard to make up for lost time and had taken me shopping in the city and out to dinner last weekend.
    Meanwhile, Sharon was doing everything she could to keep me away from her son. She was nice to my face, but I knew what she thought of me. Sharon didn’t want me tainting her son. That’s why she kept Cade out of the house, running ridiculous errands, and purposefully altering dinner times so that we never ate together.
    Nowadays Cade was either at school, working at the mechanic’s yard across town, or running errands for his mother. And on the rare occasion he had free time, Emily was right there in the wings waiting to swoop in on him and claim that precious time.
    “Have you been getting out – meeting old friends and socializing?” Anna asked before picking up one of the shortbread cookies and stuffing it in her mouth. “Mmm,” she moaned and her eyes widened in delight. “So good,” she mumbled, taking another cookie.
    Anna kind of reminded me of someone having an orgasm when she ate. She enjoyed having that cookie in her mouth way too much for my liking, and her moans were turning me off shortbread for life.
    “I don’t have any friends,” I reminded her. “None that want to be associated with a prostitute at least.” And the one friend I thought I could rely on is being kept away from me …
    Anna’s expression softened. “Mackenzie, you are not now nor have you ever been a prostitute.”
    “Yeah.” Right …
    Reaching for her notebook, she browsed through a few pages before glancing back up at me. “I see you got the all-clear from the hospital yesterday.” She offered me a smile. “That’s wonderful news, right?”
    “Yes,” I replied in a flat tone. “I’m thrilled that I didn’t catch AIDS or any other sexually transmitted diseases while working for Mast … those men.” Shrugging, I added, “It’s nice to be clean.”
    “Mackenzie!” I heard Sharon shout in an appalled tone from the other side of the closed lounge door, which only proved that she had been eavesdropping on my therapy session.
    Anna frowned at the door before focusing her attention on me. “I know you’ve been through hell and back,” she said in a hushed tone. “And it’s normal to be feeling all of the emotions that I’m sure are coursing through you right now.”
    Reaching forward, Anna