1
Just the sight of this man curled Malone’s stomach and sent a bead of sweat down her back.
Horrendous memories that she’d battled for seventeen years came rushing back. Sickening, terrible ones. Suddenly she was there again, smelling his rancid breath, aching under his grip on her wrists. Thank God she’d managed to avoid the worst, but only just.
Acid rose up her throat. She planted her feet to keep from bolting from the ballroom filled with round tables draped in white cloths, each anchoring colorful balloon bouquets reaching for the ceiling.
She forced herself to look at the offender, Gilbert Flagg Jr., otherwise known as Junior. He hadn’t grown even a fraction of an inch since she’d last laid eyes on him at high school graduation. Now, fifteen years later at their reunion, if his high boot heels were any indication, he still had an issue with barely clearing five feet in height.
She glanced at his fingers. No wedding ring. He’d been desperate all through high school for a girlfriend, but very few girls were his height or shorter, and he’d been too self-conscious to date a taller woman. Drug and sexually assault one? Sure. That he could do. Namely her, but date one? Nah.
Chad Williams crossed in front of her and headed straight for Junior. One of their meaner classmates, who now played professional football, had his arm slung around a slinky woman, looking up at him with hero worship.
He strolled past Junior, cockiness oozing from Chad’s pores as he nudged junior out of the way.
“Hey, shrimp,” Chad said, his tone raised for others to hear. “I see you’re still a junior version of the old man.”
Chad’s rumbling laugh filtered through the crowd, causing the others to shift uncomfortably.
Junior gritted his teeth and fisted his hands.
Normally, Malone would feel sorry for a guy in such an uncomfortable situation. She might even call their classmate out for calling him Junior Shrimp. But not with Junior. She was just thankful that Ian Blair had come along that horrible night at the football field, or Junior would’ve finished what he started.
“Lay off, Williams.” A deep voice took control of the crowd and burned a path through Malone’s heart.
Ian.He was there. Sticking up for the underdog, as usual. Even a creep like Junior.
Malone wanted to turn. To drink in the sight of him, but she couldn’t. Wouldn’t. No way she would risk him seeing that she still had the same stupid crush on him that she’d had in high school. Maybe it was more like he was her hero, but no matter. She was a grown, thirty-plus-year-old woman, and she didn’t need to be infatuated with anyone. Especially the class bad boy, Ian Blair.
“Still sticking up for the wimps, I see.” Chad cast Ian a challenging look.
“And I will be as long as there are bullies like you in the world.” Molten iron ran through Ian’s tone, and she could remember the fire in his eyes, the same fire she’d seen when he’d pulled Junior off of her.
“Chill, dude.” Chad lifted his hands and backed away.
The others in the room let out a collective sigh, and Malone had to grip the back of the chair next to her not to turn and look at Ian. She heard footsteps, and Junior materialized in front of her.
“I need to talk to you,” he said, his tone demanding. “Alone.”
She gritted her teeth to keep from telling him off in front of the whole class. “If you think I have anything to say to you, you’re wrong. And I’ll never be alone with you again.”
He inched closer. She jerked back.
“You’ll want to hear this.” He leaned in close, his voice low. “It’s about your parents. Their car crash wasn’t an accident.”
“What?” Her voice rose, drawing attention from her former classmates, and she had to work extra hard to control the pain that rose up at his comment about her parents’ crash that had killed them back in the nineties. The sheriff’s office had ruled it an accident, and Junior was just likely blowing smoke to get her attention. “How dare you even talk about them after what you did to me.”
She glared down at him and tried to ignore the other guests’ questioning stares.
“I was young. Stupid. I’m sorry.” He looked like he regretted his actions, but anI’m sorryfor attempted rape didn’t cut it.
“Please leave me alone.” She gritted her teeth. “I can barely look at you.”
“If you want to know how they died, I’ll wait for you in Ballroom D.” He marched off.
Feeling her classmates eyeing her, she concentrated on taking deep breaths and trying not to flee. She’d never told anyone about the assault. She was too embarrassed, and she worried the authorities would take her from the foster home, and she hadn’t been willing to risk being separated from her older brother, Reed. She’d had to swallow the pain to be sure they would remain together and stay with the loving foster family they’d been placed with. She knew that this family was a blessing from God. God had watched out for her and Reed after the car crash that had killed their parents when she was six and Reed was eight.
And now this guy, this creep, was telling her the crash wasn’t an accident? She’d done a report in her high school psychology class about the crash and the influence it had on her life, but Junior wasn’t in her class. So how did he even know about it?
