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“Do you think Luke knew?”
“I do. The dates on the bank transfer into the offshore account, they were the same day I was arrested. The sheriff was lying, and if I could buy his silence and stupidity with a tape of him, what could money and power do? I bet Luke’s parents knew of his love of little boys too.”
“If this was the case…”
“I put Ava in front of her rapist and made her vulnerable again.” He didn’t even want to think of the guilt it would take for that to have happened.
She deserved more.
“Get me the sheriff. I have a feeling he’d be more inclined to tell me the truth with a bit more incentive.”
Chapter Eleven
Twelve years ago
Ava tucked some hair behind her ear and looked down at the report she’d just finished.
Mrs. Little, her English teacher, was so nice and sweet, and she allowed her to use the classroom to finish her assignment as the library had been closed.
She read over the words again, wanting to ace this essay so she didn’t affect her overall grade.
Satisfied with the way it read, she placed it in the file and slid it into the drawer where she’d been told to store it.
“Are you being naughty?” Logan asked.
She jumped back, putting a hand to her chest. “You scared me.”
“Sorry, it’s not every single day you see the town princess going through the teacher’s drawers.”
“I’m not a princess, and no, I wasn’t stealing or trying to find answers to test scores. I was handing in a piece of homework is all.”
She held her pen in her hands.
Since Halloween night, she and Logan seemed to bump into each other a lot.
“What are you doing here? Planning on stealing those selfsame notes for yourself?”
“Nah, I was looking for you.”
“You were?”
“Yeah, I was.”
“I doubt that.”
He closed the door of the classroom, and her heart picked up a notch. He was all alone. No friends around.
“Why do you doubt it?”
“No one would know where I am.” She didn’t make a habit of announcing her whereabouts to everyone. She didn’t have regular friends, just acquaintances and a few people she studied with. No real connections.
“You see, that’s where you’re wrong. They came looking for you because I asked them to.”
“And why would you do that?”
He smiled. “You’re a bright girl, figure it out.”
“I don’t have any time for games right now.”
“It’s cute you think I’m playing right now. I’m not.” He stepped up to the desk.
She stood on one side, he on the other.
“I don’t know what is going on right now.”
“Why don’t you come a little closer and find out?”
“I don’t know if I should.” She looked past his shoulder, expecting to find Luke and the others.
It wasn’t like Logan was ever on his own for long.
Not too far behind him was one of his friends.
“Ava, come here.”
“Promise me this isn’t some kind of joke.”
“Have I given you a reason to believe it is?”
“I honestly don’t know what I believe anymore.” She ran fingers through her hair. She’d taken it out of the band as it had started to hurt her head.
Rounding the desk, she stepped in front of him.
“See, I’m in front of you, now what?” She wanted to be confident, to act like it didn’t matter.
He stepped close, and she took a step back, only for the teacher’s desk to be in the way.
“I came here looking for you. Do you know why?”
“No.”
He put a hand on either side of her, and she had no choice but to lean back.
She wouldn’t look at his lips, or think about how close he was to her.
Logan pushed against her legs, and she had no choice but to open them and he stepped between them.
“Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are?”
“Logan, what’s going on?”
“I’ve been thinking about you all day.”
She gasped as his hand brushed her hip. She hadn’t been expecting him to touch her, so it took her by surprise.
He didn’t let her go. With his other hand, he cupped her face, tilting her head back.
This couldn’t be happening.
She had to be dreaming.
Wake up, Ava.
She didn’t wake up.
“I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but I can’t get these lips out of my head. I think about them all the fucking time, and it’s doing my head in.”
His lips slammed down, and it startled her.
At first, she didn’t do anything. She didn’t kiss him back, or stop him. She didn’t hold him or push him away.
Logan Stanford was kissing her passionately in their English classroom.
He broke from the kiss and smirked down at her. “You haven’t kicked me in the balls, so I’ll consider that a plus.”
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Have you ever been kissed before?”
“No.” She felt her cheeks heat up as she admitted the truth to him.
Why couldn’t she shut up or stay silent?
