Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
I should’ve had him come.
“I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry for that, but I’m here.”
I let out another deep breath and just sat there. What else could I do? Then, after a few minutes of silence, she reached out. She didn’t look at me. She didn’t get up and leave. She just sat there and she cried and she held my hand.
I would’ve sat forever if she wanted me to.
“Clarke.”
I was walking to class the next morning when Shay hurried his pace to catch up. He gestured to an empty sidewalk around the side of the building, and I went with him. We moved farther away to an abandoned set of stairs that led off the left side of the building. It was rarely used because there was nothing it led to, just a patch of grass and trees all around. I had a guess what Shay was going to talk about, and for that, it was perfect.
He lounged against one of the two pillars by the stairs. “Is your friend okay after last night?”
I nodded, sitting down on one of the steps. I gathered my bag on my lap, hugging it to me. “Yeah. She knows I’m there for her. That’s all I can do.”
“She say who raped her?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t ask. If she wants to tell me, I think she will.”
“Was she raped at a party?”
I looked up. There was a reason he was asking. “You heard?”
“Was it Sunday night’s party?”
He did know. “You heard.”
His jaw clenched. “Yeah. I heard. That shit pisses me off.”
“Me, too.”
“Look.” He sat next to me, turning his head my way. “I heard the rumor. I know who did it. I know who it was done to. I just needed to know if the girl from Sunday’s party was your friend or not.”
I frowned. “What are you hearing?”
He paused a second, like he was deciding if he should tell me or not. His jaw clenched once more. “You heard it was a football player?”
I nodded. My stomach twisted in a knot.
He said, “I know the guy. Casey Winchem. That’s your friend, isn’t it?”
He knew the guy. Of course, he would know him. He was on his team.
I said faintly, “Yeah. She’s my friend.”
He swore, turning away. “He has a type. Long legs. Brown hair. Dark eyes. He likes pretty faces.” He glanced back, his eyes lidded. “You fit that type.”
Wha—
“Are you saying . . .” No. What was he saying?
“If you’d gone to that party, it could’ve been you.”
Gage’s phone call made so much more sense. He’d been worried about me. My friend. Similar type.
It could’ve been me.
Shay’s words echoed in my head. I felt the first slice of fear. I’d never been legit scared of men before. There were other feelings about guys. How I hated them at times, how they were annoying, how they wanted to screw me, or use me… But I’d never been scared like this. This was . . . I wanted to bury my head on my lap. This was new. This was alien. This was not what I wanted to feel.
“Oh.”
He frowned at me. “Oh?”
I swallowed a knot. It could’ve been me. “I never thought of that. She asked me to go to a party Friday night.” I might’ve gone. If I had, maybe I would’ve had fun. I might’ve gone a second time. I might’ve gone instead of going to his house and studying. “We were at your place that night.”
“I know.” He cursed again before standing. He pulled out his phone to check the time. “We gotta go. Look, this could be a problem for the team. Is she going to report it?”
“Why?”
Did he want her not to? Did he want me to encourage her to stay silent? I was getting pissed just thinking about that. It was a violation of her body, and he was going to suggest—
“She should. This asshole’s done this to other girls. He needs to get locked up.”
Oh. My whole argument deflated.
“You want her to report it?”
“Fuck yeah.” He narrowed his eyes. “Wait. You thought I wouldn’t want that to happen?”
I used his words. “This could be a problem for the team.”
He rolled his eyes, cringing at the same time. “Bad choice of words. Yes, I want her to report it. This school handles sexual assaults in a good way. They take it seriously and the girl’s not blamed. They have policies about it. Every now and then, we hear about a rape and the team gets a whole lecture, in case one of the guys decides to do something stupid. It’s a whole preventative strategy, or that’s what Coach told me one time.
From what I heard, he drugged her, took her to his bedroom, and raped her. She tried to get away, but the fucker had her so doped up that she could barely lift her arms. Her friends thought she hooked up with someone and stayed, too.”