Page 76 of Shatter

Officer number two turns to Athena. "Making a false police report is a crime, ma'am. It wastes our time when we could be handling actual kidnappings."

Athena sputters and rambles, insisting that she was sure Abby had been kidnapped.

"Would you like us to escort them out of your building?" Officer one asks me, as he removes the handcuffs.

I'm about to say 'hell yes' when Abby speaks up. "No, thank you, Officer. We need to have a chat."

The officers apologize for the inconvenience, ask if we'd like to press charges, but when we decline, they leave.

Athena is still fuming, Chris is looking down his nose at me, and Abby crosses her arms in front of her chest, ready for battle.

"How dare you try to get Harrison arrested?! What the fuck is wrong with you?"

I stand and move beside her, ready to support or protect her, whatever she needs.

"What the fuck is wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you!? You're sleeping with your step-uncle?!"

"Yes. Yes, I am. And how is that any of your business?"

"You are my business!"

"I am an adult! You don't have control over me anymore."

Frustrated, Athena tries to switch tactics. "You're going to come home with us and we're going to discuss what this means for your career."

"Wait. How did you find me?"

"It's all over the news. Someone took a picture of you two early this morning and it's gone viral." Athena sneers. "And your hair!"

"Fuck my hair, Athena. It's just hair. It'll grow back."

"We're getting you a wig."

Abby rolls her eyes, but turns to me. "I have to go."

"What? No!" Panic builds strong and swiftly.

"It's the only way," she says, wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her forehead on my chest.

I don't like this at all. She was going to call Whitmoore today. She was going to get free today. Now she's going home with them?

"You can't go," I protest, but she's already pulling away from me. I pull her back to me, and lower my head so only she can hear me. "I love you."

It's not the way I wanted to tell her, but I'm terrified if she leaves now I may never see her again. What if she can't get free from her conservatorship? What if her mother finds more ways of controlling her? I can't let her go without her knowing.

Her smile is sad. "I know."

In an instant it feels like I'm underwater, drowning. I'm numb as I watch her leave with them. Just last night we were talking about marriage and babies and now she's leaving? What the fuck just happened?

I shuffle to the couch, slump down onto it, and hold my head in my hands.

And that's how my friends find me three hours later.

Chapter forty-one

Abby

Ihated leaving Harrison like that, but I knew my mother. If she couldn't get the cops to pull me out of there, she'd have found another way. I tune out her incessant scolding, that even though I fucked up, seems to be all about how it affected her. Has she always been this narcissistic? And I've just been blind to it?