Chapter 36
Jake
Iwas trying hard notto lose my shit, but it was proving difficult.
My knuckles ached from the throttling I’d given Jason earlier, but even the physical pain wasn’t enough to forgive him for what he’d done to Renee. I wanted to kill him. We all did. But instead, we wait. We wait because we all know that if we actually killed Jason, Renee probably wouldn’t be pleased.
She looked pale lying there on our couch, too pale like she was on the verge of death, and I almost told Matt and Aaron that we should take her to the ER, but I didn't.
We could take care of her now.
Aaron is sitting to the left of me, his eyes on Renee. Every few minutes, he rubs a hand over his face in agitation, foot tapping warp speed against the carpet. Across from us, Matt is leaned back in the chair, sitting stiffly like a statue.
“What if she wakes up and screams at us?” Aaron asked finally. “What if she thinks it was something we did and not Jason?”
“She won’t think that,” Matt whispered, his voice so low that I almost didn't register the words. “She knows who did this.”
“I wanted to kill him,” I said, not for the first time that night. “I should have finished the job.”
“We’re not murderers,” Aaron said. He sounds unconvinced, and I was not surprised. Aaron walloped Jason so hard he broke open two knuckles and bled all over my car. Still, I didn’t care. None of us did. I was still willing to go back to that party and finish this shit.
On the couch, Renee stirs with a moan, and her eyelids flicker. We all leaned forward in our chairs, eyes pinned on Renee, holding our breath, waiting.
“Ren?” Matt said softly. His voice stirs her further, and she pushes her lids open, gazing blearily over at us.
“What happened?”
My hands folded into a fist again, but I forced myself to breathe and relax.
“You were drugged.” Aaron reached for the cup of water he had grabbed earlier from the kitchen and handed it to her. Renee started to try and sit up, but she was struggling, and before she could ask for help, Matt, Aaron, and I reached out to steady her. She didn’t say anything, I was not sure she could find the words, but she didn’t resist the offer.
Renee took a long drink of the water, then shakily set it back on the table. She was a real mess with her hair in loose tendrils around her tear-stained face, but God, she was beautiful. So beautiful.
“I was with Jason,” she said weakly, her eyes working their way around the room. “I went to the bathroom, and then ...” she trails off, rubbing her head with the palm of her hand. “He attacked me.” She swallowed, allowing her hand to fall into her lap, and shook her head slowly. “He tried to rape me.”
“Yes,” Matt said. “He tried.”
“But then—-”
