There was no point in sticking around any longer. Let someone else clean it up. If the town didn’t care about me, why would I give a shit about any of them or what I left behind?
“Ellie, this isn’t over.” Josie pulled me in for a hug, but I just stood there, unable to feel anything at the moment. “We’ll get this cleaned up and it’ll be even better than before! JR can help and?—”
“No.”
“But—”
I walked away before any of them could try to convince me otherwise. I didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want to hear the pep in their voices as they tried to cheer me up.
“Ellie!” Ryder called out, twisting me around to face him. “You can’t just walk away. You can’t let them win!”
“They’ve already won!” I shouted.
The damn burst and tears spilled down my cheeks once again. There was no holding back the sadness and anger any longer. My life was falling apart, and I was done trying to fix things.
“They haven’t,” he swore.
“Look at my shop!” I shouted, pointing at the busted windows. “Someone hates me so much that they destroyed everything! And what about them?” I asked about the crowd still lingering. “Do you think any of them care? Do you think they give a shit that my life was just ruined? They’re probably cheering on the fact that someone was bold enough to do this! They don’t care about me, Ryder. Nobody in this fucking town cares about me!”
“I do!” he growled, gripping me tight and pulling me against him. “I care, and so do Josie and Delaney. You have friends. You have people who love you! Don’t let them win!”
“You keep saying that,” I cried, yanking out of his arms and swiping the tears from my face. “Don’t give in. Don’t let them win. They already have! They don’t want me around here, and I can’t stay where I’m so hated! You have no idea what it’s like for me!”
His jaw hardened as he stared at me, wishing he could say something to change my mind, but there was no contradicting a damn thing I said. They drove me to this, and they were happy to see me go.
“Ellie, don’t walk away.”
Sniffling, I turned my back on him and the life I had built. “Don’t follow me.”
24
RYDER
“Put allthe clothes in boxes. We’ll sort through them and see if there’s anything salvageable,” I told Josie.
Jeff walked over the glass from the shop window, staring in disbelief at the mess. “Holy shit. Who did this?”
I grabbed one of the racks and lifted it upright. It didn’t look too bad considering that it was under a broken table. “We don’t know.”
“Ryder!” Mav called out, stepping out of the back room, crunching over all the broken pieces of the shop to get to me. “I’ve finished cataloguing the damage, but I need to know of anyone who might have done this.”
I snorted at the question. “Try the whole fucking town. Better yet, why don’t you go ask every single one of them where they were early this morning?”
He sighed, sliding his hat up higher on his head. “Ryder, I’m trying to help, and talking to every single person isn’t going to make this process go any faster.”
I knew that, but I was so fucking angry at the defeat on Ellie’s face that all I wanted to do was burn the whole fucking town to the ground.
“There was a waitress a couple weeks ago. She was rude to Ellie, and I had her fired.”
“Amy,” Jeff spoke up. “Amy Fewekes.”
“Figures,” Mav snorted. “She hangs out with Melinda and Carmen. Nasty bunch of girls.”
“Do you think they might have done this?”
Mav shrugged. “They’re a catty bunch, but not sure this is up their alley. Still, I’ll check into it. Anyone else?”
“Not off the top of my head, but she had her car vandalized.”
