Austin stops five feet away from me, out of arm’s reach. Smart man.
“I don’t know what crawled up your ass today, so out with it. What do you think I’ve done? If it’s about Rory—”
“Of course, it’s about Aurora!” I yell. “Where are your three sidekicks, Austin?”
He cocks his head, clearly trying to figure me out. “Sidekicks?”
Dustin steps between me and Austin. “JD, you’re clearly upset. Take a minute and calm down.”
I slice my angry gaze to my friend. “Fuck that shit. What happened to Aurora?”
Dustin turns around and looks at Austin who shrugs. Prez stands up straighter, a look of panic crossing his face.
I point a finger at him. “Tell me! You know something or else you wouldn’t be looking so damn guilty right now. I’m going to ask one more time before I completely lose my shit. What. Happened. To. Aurora? I just overheard her say something about Blaise, Will, and Luke—yourthree best friends,” I snarl at Austin.
Austin’s face pales.
“Did you fucking touch her?” I accuse him, shoving past Dustin and lifting Austin up with a clenched fist, slamming him into the wall next to Prez, who has to jump out of the way.
“I wouldneverhurt Rory, asshole. Get your hands off me right now!”
Prez grabs at my arm to pull me off Austin, but I’m not budging. “Tell me!”
Dustin rushes to my other side. “It was Blaise, Luke, and Will. Not Austin. Let him go, JD.”
I lean my forearm in, cutting off Austin’s air supply. “What did they do to her?”
Austin chokes out, “It was your fault.”
My fault? I drop my hold on him and stumble back. “What?”
Prez moves Austin away from me, patting his back while he gulps in air.
“Guys, this is neither the time nor the place.”
“I absolutely disagree,” I tell Dustin.
Taking a bottle of water from the fridge, Austin drinks it down, then wipes his mouth. “You left her, JD.You. You destroyed her. Ask them.” He motions to Prez and Dustin. “She cried every night for you. She withdrew and became a shell of herself. All because of you,” he spits.
“She and Shelby went to a party. It was the summer after high school graduation. Rory got drunk,” Dustin says.
“Aurora never drinks,” I reply lamely.
“She did that night. Shelby said she was falling-down wasted,” Prez continues. “Shelbs called us, asking if we could meet them at Rory’s house. She was calling an Uber to come get them. She was worried about Rory. When she turned around, Rory had snuck off.”
Austin takes back over. “Shelby came and found me after she wasn’t able to find Rory. John told me that he saw Blaise, Luke, and Will carry her upstairs.”
I swallow down the vomit that’s threatening to come up. “Did they…did they—”
The look Austin gives me has me bending over at the waist. Oh, God. No. Not my sunshine.
“They tried. We heard her screams from the stairs, and when I busted through the door, they were holding her down and ripping her clothes off. I didn’t let them do anything more.”
I look up at him, devastated. “You?”
“Yeah, me. I beat the shit out of them and then Shelby tased their asses. The police came and they were arrested for attempted sexual assault. I never spoke to them again after that night.”
I stand up, rolling my shoulders back and cracking my neck. “Where are they?”
