Page 194 of Revv

Hands hook under my arms and drag me backward while I fight against them on instinct, still trying to get to him even after they’ve put several feet between us.

Travis is sprawled beside the shelving, blood smeared over his face and shirt, trying to push himself upright while someone crouches near him.

I’m still shouting.

Don’t even know what anymore.

Lena’s name.

What he did.

How everybody fucking knew enough to ask questions and somehow nobody did enough to stop it.

Then the cops come.

Everything after that moves too fast and not fast enough at the same time. My wrists are pulled behind me, metal closes around them, and suddenly I’m being walked through a grocery store with half the place staring while Travis stays on the floor behind us.

I should feel better.

I don’t.

The cruiser door shuts beside me and the silence inside hits harder than anything else has.

My hands are cuffed behind my back. My knuckles are split and throbbing. My cheek is starting to ache where he caught me.

None of it matters.

All I can think about is Lena.

How young she was.

How fucking young we both were and how many times I told someone.

All the nights she had to survive something because the adults around us fucking failed.

Then another thought punches straight through everything.

Cece.

Dinner with her mom.

I twist enough to see the time on the dash through the divider.

Fuck.

I promised her.

Not just dinner.

I fucking looked her in the eyes hours ago and told her I’d always come back. Told her I wasn’t going anywhere.

“Fuck!”

I drive my heel into the back of the seat hard enough to rattle the partition, then let my head fall back against the headrest and stare up at the roof of the cruiser.

Because this isn’t just me missing dinner.

I looked Cece in the fucking eyes and told her I’d be there. Told her I wasn’t going anywhere. Told her she could count on me.