“Better?” Autumn asked, her eyes flicking to me, a silent request for me to keep my shit together and back her up.
Sloane nodded, her hands rubbing her thighs before she flexed her fingers and dragged in yet another breath.
“That’s a girl.”
“Thank you,” Sloane whispered. “I just…”
“Panicked?” Autumn said with a warm smile. “That’s completely normal. There’s no right or wrong way to deal with this kind of thing, Sloane. You have to figure this out your own way. Unfortunately, you do need to explain what happened still. This guy, whoever he was, we need to stop him before hecan try again or try on somebody else.”
The edge of lunacy flared to life in her young eyes, making Sloane look older than her years. Autumn managed to knock the panic back once again by gripping both of Sloane’s hands in hers and holding them tightly.
“Breathe, sugar.”
“Ana was supposed to be there. She’s smaller than me. If he’d overpowered her—”
“No what ifs. What happened is done now.”
“But he could try again.”
“That’s why we need you to tell us who he is,” I said gently.
“I can’t, but I know if I don’t…” Her breathing became ragged again, escalating to that thin, rattling sound. She was clearly torn. “I have a meet tomorrow. I have to go to Abilene for the regionals. I can’t, Ayda. I can’t miss them. I need to go.”
“Sloane.” My voice was quiet, but cut through her rambling like a hot knife through butter. Her eyes met mine.
“Ayda, I don’t want to do this. Ican’tdo this.” Her sobs came again and she fell into Autumn’s open arms, this time allowing herself to be looked after, leaving Autumn and me to look at one another with concern.
There was a reason Sloane was hiding the identity of her attacker. At first, when Drew and I had spoken to her, I thought she’d been disorientated and just didn’t want to face what had happened, like anyone in that situation would have been. Now it felt like she was purposefully withholding the information on who had attacked her like this. If this was just one of the kids in her school, why would she feel the need to protect him? Was he a footballer? Someone on the baseball team?Why would she feel the need to shelter this person?
“If I could take this from you, I would,” I said quietly, leaning into the two of them and rubbing circles into her back. “God knows, I would. You should never have to feel this, honey. This asshole, he did something he had no right to do. You don’t need to protect him. Nothing in the world is worth protecting this asshole for.”
“I can’t, Ayda.” She sat up and wiped her eyes, her hands dropping to her lap and scrubbing at her uniform like she’d just realized how dirty it was. When the mess didn’t move, she glanced back up at me, her eyes hard and set. “I just want to forget this happened and move on with my life. He scared me, that’s all. I just need a minute to get past this. You’ve been amazing. All of you have, but I’m done talking about this. I don’t even want my dad—”
No sooner than she’d said his name, Howard Sutton burst into the room, ignoring the smash of the door as it hit the drywall and left a dent there. Just one look at his face and I knew he wasn’t taking the news well. I hadn’t expected him to. I just hadn’t been prepared for the feral look in his eyes that matched his daughter’s, and the ache of my heart that knew exactly what had put it there.
Chapter Twenty-One
DREW
Ialmost slammed into the back of Sutton when he came to an abrupt halt in front of the women and Sloane. My eyes found Ayda’s over Howard’s shoulder, and I saw the worried yet resigned look hidden in her unspoken words. The subtle shake of her head told me they’d not been successful in getting any more information out of Sloane—something that didn’t surprise me.
Howard inhaled sharply, taking a shaky step forward before he stopped himself and balled his fists down by his sides. The air was thick with a silence found in nightmares. It was strangling us all. Especially the chief and his daughter.
“Princess,” he whispered roughly.
Sloane’s eyes filled with even more tears. Her lip shook, and her chin trembled as she looked up at her father, knowing he knew what she’d wanted to hide from him. From all of us.
“Dad,” Sloane pushed out, her voice soft and her mouth dry, causing her to lick her lips furiously in a bid to gain some kind of movement.
I looked back at Ayda.
This whole fucking situation made my stomach feel like it had a thousand knots in it and someone was twisting them into a shape designed to make me want to bend over and vomit. Icould take seeing a lot of nasty shit. Blood, dirt, bodies, bones, broken limbs, ripped off skin… I’d witnessed it all before. But the vulnerability shining from this teenage kid’s eyes was tearing me up in ways that reminded me of how I’d felt seeing Ayda in that warehouse.
Another woman we hadn’t protected.
Another dent in our armor.
“Sutton,” I whispered over his shoulder. “Breathe.”
