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“Jesus.”
“Yeah,” she mutters, shaking her head. “Second, I took pictures of your bruises last night, and the boys and I think you should go file a police report.”
“Addy, you know that’s pointless. He’s one of them. They are going to cover his back.”
“Okay, then let us take new pictures with like the newspaper or something to show the date. You know, just in case you need them later.”
I look at her with a mix of apprehension and horror.
“What do you think is going to happen, Addilyn?”
“I don’t know what he’s capable of and that scares me.”
“Ad, I don’t think he meant to hurt me. He loves me. I know he does. Maybe if I just go talk to him.”
She shoots off the bed, giving me an “are you insane” look.
“Trey! Tucker!” she yells and seconds later, both boys come barreling into the room.
“What?” Tucker shouts, looking around for some hidden threat. I giggle at his ridiculous behavior. Addy’s apartment is on the third floor. What is Ryan going to do, scale the wall? Trey grins and I know he’s thinking the exact same thing I am.
“She wants to go talk to him. She said she knows he loves her,” Addilyn rants.
A frown instantly replaces the smile on Trey’s face as Tucker stares at me like I’m crazy for a second before his expression turns pitying. I’ll tell you one thing. I’m getting pretty damn tired of that pity look. He sits on the bed in front of me and grabs my hand.
“Em, he doesn’t love you. You don’t do this to someone you love.”
In an instant, I feel myself getting defensive of Ryan. It pisses me off.
“You guys don’t know him like I do. He didn’t mean to hurt me. He
DOES love me!”
“You can’t be this stupid!” Tucker yells and I immediately pull my hand away, tears stinging my eyes.
“Shit, sis. I didn’t mean that.”
I see my opening. “Do you love me, Tucker?”
“Yeah, of course I do, Em.”
“But you just said that mean thing to me so you couldn’t possibly love me because you don’t do that to people you love.”
“That’s different; I didn’t hit you!”
“Neither did Ryan.”
“I can see the bruises!”
“That was my fault. I didn’t listen and I tried to walk away.”
“Guys, can I talk to you both in the hallway?” Addy asks and both boys walk out of the bedroom clearly frustrated with the situation. Addy shuts the door behind her and I creep closer to listen to their conversation.
“He has obviously been conditioning her for a while now,” Addy says and someone growls.
“God, I want to kill this son of a bitch,” Tucker seethes.
“Agreed.”
