“Ren,” Matt said gently, kneeling on the tile beside me. “Did he hurt you? Jake and Aaron have him. You’re safe now.”
I tried to shake my head, but the world was fading out. I knew I wouldn’t be conscious for much longer.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, but I didn’t know to who I was apologizing. “I’m so sorry.”
Matt reached for me, and I felt his warm skin against mine before everything around me faded into a black hole of nothingness.
Chapter 35
Matt
Renee was out cold, so I scooped her up in my arms and carried her out of the bathroom towards the front door to get her out of there. Nobody noticed what just happened; the house was too drunk to care, but I found Jake and Aaron with Jason once we were safely outside. Or, more specifically, I saw Jason on the ground with Aaron and Jake standing over him, snarling in the rain.
“Let’s go,” I told them, and Jake took one last hardcore punt at Jason’s ribs before backing away.
“He fucking drugged her,” said Aaron, fury seething in his voice. “We found the pills in his jacket.”
I look down at Renee’s still face, taking a deep breath so I didn’t fucking kill Jason with my bare hands. I wanted more than anything to rip him apart, to make him hurt the way he’d hurt her. I imagined bloodying his face, bashing it into a pulp.
“Matt,” Jake said, pulling me out of my focused rage. “Let’s go, man. He’s not worth it.”
With a curt nod, I carried Renee to Jake’s car. Aaron opened the back door, and I slid into the back seat, holding her in my lap. Aaron and Jake took up the two front seats.
“Fuck you guys!” Jason screamed at us through the pounding of the rain. “Fuck all three of you.”
“Let’s go,” Aaron said to Jake with a nod, and he gunned it, peeling out of the driveway, kicking gravel up at Jason, who was scrambling to get to his feet.
None of us speak as Jake pulls onto the highway and races for home. Renee was still unconscious, and I wondered aloud if we should take her to the emergency room.
“No,” Aaron said. “She’ll hate us if we do.”
“Home it is,” I said, and Jake drove to our house, his knuckles white against the steering wheel. Once home, I carried Renee inside and lay her on the couch. Aaron grabbed a blanket from the recliner and draped it over her, and Jake went to the kitchen for some water and aspirin. Then, three sets of eyes still on Renee, we sat down.
And we waited.
