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“Someone from the force will come by to take your statement.” Sawyer reached for her hand, placing both of his around hers. “But you don’t have to do that until you’re ready. These questions are mine.”
Ashlyn nodded. “Okay.”
“I need you to be honest”—Sawyer’s voice was low, soothing, and reassuring—“and tell me what happened.”
Ashlyn’s head dropped and a single tear fell onto the yellow blanket over her lap. “I broke up with him.”
“Was there an argument?” Sawyer asked.
“Not really.” Ashlyn glanced up at her brother. “Travis has been weird, not himself at all. He’s doing drugs and it makes him different.”
“What kind of drugs?”
“Cocaine.”
Sawyer’s eyes widened. “Please tell me you aren’t involved.”
“I’m not.” Ashlyn shook her head. “I mean, some of my friends have tried it and stuff, but I’ve never done coke.”
Sawyer regarded her, hard.
Chloe intervened, knowing that it wouldn’t get them anywhere if Sawyer went all big brother on Ashlyn. “Okay, yes, cocaine is bad news,” she put in, “but let’s move—”
Sawyer ignored her attempt to change the subject. “What drugs have you done?” Sawyer demanded of his sister.
Chloe rolled her eyes. The big brother would be annoying.
Ashlyn sank against the pillow behind her, folding her arms. Her open eye scowled at Sawyer. “I’ve smoked some weed before. But not a lot or anything, just a few times at a party. A puff or two.”
Sawyer frowned. “Ashlyn—”
“Oh, please, what’s a little pot?” Chloe retorted. “I mean, seriously, who hasn’t tried a joint at some point in their life?”
“I haven’t,” Sawyer growled.
“Well, that’s because you’re Mr. Goody Two-shoes.” Chloe smiled at him. “I doubt you’ve done anything wrong in your life. Like, ever.”
Ashlyn laughed and then grasped her side, groaning. “Ow. Don’t be funny. That hurts.”
Sawyer glared at Chloe. “Let’s not get started on the list of illegal things you’ve done, Chloe.”
Chloe winked at Ashlyn, who smiled again. Unlike a few minutes earlier, this time the smile reached her eyes.
Sawyer turned his frown from Chloe to Ashlyn. When he spotted her smile, his tension eased a bit. Good, Chloe thought. He’d evidently understood that Chloe had been intending to lighten the mood. He turned to Ashlyn, his expression more relaxed. “As you were saying, you think Travis is doing drugs, and…”
Ashlyn shrugged against her pillow, her long dark hair covering her hospital gown. “It started a couple months ago, when he began partying more and, well, harder. He becomes angry when he does that stuff.”
Sawyer gave a grim nod. “Drugs can do that to people.”
By the darkness in his features, Chloe suspected that Sawyer didn’t think it was only drugs that made Travis an asshole—he clearly thought his sister’s ex-boyfriend simply was an asshole.
Chloe asked, “Did you break up with him because of his drug use?”
“Yeah, I hated the partying. And I’d heard rumors he’d been cheating on me.” Ashlyn’s voice cracked. “I’d only seen him a few times in the last month. He hadn’t been answering my calls, so I left a message telling him not to call me again.”
She paused, inhaling a deep breath. “When it happened…I was asleep when something woke me up. He was there, and he lost it.” Her swollen bottom lip quivered. Chloe noted how Ashlyn couldn’t look at Sawyer. “He kept me in the bedroom a while before taking me to the kitchen. I tried to fight him off….” Tears rushed over her cheeks.
“Don’t do that to yourself, Ash,” Sawyer said softly, drawing his sister’s attention. That only made her cry harder. “You’re tiny in comparison to Travis. What could you have done?”
