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Entering her home, she felt the scent wash over her, but she didn’t have any way of being calm, or allowing herself to feel safe.
She was the furthest from safe she could be.
“What do you need from here?” she asked.
“Everything for a long stay. You’re not coming back here for a time. Go ahead.”
“You’re going to let me wander free.”
“Of course. Have at it.” He walked into the sitting room.
Without waiting for any other excuse, she rushed upstairs. She didn’t go to the bathroom but to her parents’ bedroom.
She sat on the edge of the bed, which she hadn’t been on for over five years. She lifted up the phone cradle and dialed the sheriff’s office. She got Susan, which didn’t help. Susan was in her eighties but refused to leave her job. The sheriff never found a reason to fire her, and being slow wasn’t exactly a problem in a town that had so few incidents.
“Hello, Sheriff’s office, how can I help you?”
“Hey, Susan, it’s me, Ava.”
“Ava, I’ve been told to ignore any and all of your calls.”
Thanks to Logan.
“I want to speak to him. It’s nothing serious, but could you ask him to come out to where Logan Stanford is living?” she asked. There was no point in even pretending the sheriff didn’t know Logan was back in town.
“I’ve got to go now, Ava. You may be clogging up the line.”
Before she could get another word in, the phone was hung up, and she heard the dial tone.
“So you want to speak to the sheriff?” Logan asked.
She jumped and stared in the doorway. She hadn’t been paying attention to her surroundings, and now she sat alone on her parents’ bed.
“Yes.” She put the phone back in its cradle.
“You shouldn’t keep everything the same way.” He pointed at the room.
“It’s none of your business.” She got up, but Logan made no move to let her pass. She folded her arms, waiting.
“You’re cute when you’re angry.”
“Why did you stop the sheriff from taking my calls?” she asked.
“Ava, sweetheart, you’re an intelligent woman.”
“Enlighten me.”
“I’ve taken you from your home, blackmailed you, and I’m keeping you for my own personal fun sport. You do the math.”
“I know each of those is a criminal offense. Abduction. Blackmail. It’s all a crime.”
“Exactly, and seeing as you had no problems giving me up for what we did when we were kids, you can imagine why I’d be cautious.”
“How did you do it?”
“One thing in my line of work, Ava, you learn people’s business and mistakes.”
She stared at him, really looked at him.
“What happened to you?” she asked. “I know you were always a bully. Around Luke you were a nightmare, but this, it’s personal.”
“Are you still going to act like you don’t know what is going on?”
“I don’t know anything. Look around you, Logan. I haven’t changed. I didn’t report you. You can think what you like, but I didn’t, okay?”
“What exactly did you report Luke for then? Being an asshole. Hurting you? What could you have possibly had against Luke that was so fucking bad?” He yelled the words.
“He raped me,” she said.
The words hung heavy in the air. There was no point in prolonging the inevitable. She couldn’t pretend it didn’t happen. Her parents believed her. When she went to the sheriff the first time, he’d thought it was a prank. It was so humiliating, but she refused to be brought down by the past.
“You’re lying.”
She laughed. “Whatever. You can think what you want. The only time your name came up was when I said he hung around with you, Riley, and Marvin. That’s why I want to talk to the sheriff. I don’t know why you were arrested, and it certainly shouldn’t have had anything to do with me.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Luke had no reason to do that.”
“You don’t believe me.”
“It’s a little farfetched, even for you.”
She nodded her head, and the tears fell from her eyes. She swiped them away. The sheriff had told her it wasn’t nice to lie.
“How fucking dare you? I’ve seen the bruises. My daughter doesn’t lie. Never has. She’s one of the best students at school. She’s telling the truth, and you better start listening.”
It was really hard to give a statement about what happened when the sheriff had laughed at the start.
“Don’t worry about it. You weren’t the only one who didn’t believe me. I had no reason to lie. I don’t now, but you all seem to know what it is that’s going on. I’ll let you guys figure it out. You clearly all know what is best.”
She stepped up close. “Let me go and finish packing.”
“Ava.” He reached out to touch her, but she flinched away from him.
“No, I don’t want to talk.” She pushed past him, heading into her room.
Logan grabbed her arm, spinning her around. “You’re not the one in charge here.”
