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The door opens, and Tug stands in the doorway, wearing an anxious half smile. Tug. He was there. “Hey.” His voice is timid.
He closes the door behind him, pushes a chair up next to the bed, and sits down. His hand wipes away a few tears from my face as his worried eyes scour over me. “I’m sorry, sweet girl.”
“Did you know, too?”
He nods. “Brady wanted to tell you.”
“But he wanted to protect his friend more!” I spit angrily.
“You don’t know the whole story.” His insistence is infuriating.
I can’t hear it right now. “I don’t care!”
“Brady was there the night Davey was arrested.”
“For manslaughter!” I remind him angrily of what a vile person Davey is.
“Yes, but there was no way for Brady to know that Davey would attack you.”
I huff, wincing in pain when I do. “He’s obviously violent. I had a right to know. I wouldn’t have opened the door.”
“I agree, Brady should have told you.” He grabs my hand and holds it. “The two of them were at a bar with Davey’s girlfriend.”
I clench my jaw, glaring at Tug. “I don’t want to hear this.” I’m fed up with everyone defending Davey.
“Just hear me out.”
“Fine!” I look out the window.
I hear him inhale and exhale long and deep before he begins. “Davey’s girlfriend went out to the car to get something. When he and Brady realized she had been gone for a while, they went looking for her. They found her. She was being raped. They dragged the guy off her. Brady beat the guy pretty severely, but Davey went into a blind rage and finished him off. Brady was leaving the following week for USC. Davey told Brady to leave so he wouldn’t lose his scholarship. He took the rap for all of it.”
I whip my head around in shock. “Oh, my God, Tug!”
“It gets worse.” He pats my hand. “His girlfriend was nearly four months pregnant. She hadn’t told him.”
My eyes widen as I hang onto every word.
“No one cared that she was raped and that what Davey did was justified. Davey was high that night, so the DA charged him with manslaughter. He was sentenced to five to seven years. He served four years and got out on good behavior.”
“The baby?”
Tug brings my hand up and kisses it before dropping it back to the bed. “His girlfriend delivered while he was in prison and moved away with their baby. He hasn’t been able to find her.”
I study him for a moment, absorbing everything he’s just told me. “That’s awful.”
His expression changes slightly. He looks apprehensive. I pat his hand, prompting him to continue. “This is why Brady feels obligated to help him. What Davey did to you is not right. He’s clearly unstable and has been since that night. I think Brady feels responsible.”
“Where’s Davey now?”
Tugs jaw clenches. “He’s in jail, where I hope he rots.”
I’m suddenly filled with guilt. “He didn’t attack me, Tug.”
Tug straightens in the chair. “What?”
I exhale slowly. “Davey…he didn’t try to hurt me.”
He shakes his head, his lips pursed. “But I saw him coming after you. Your lip was bleeding. I saw his back when he pushed you.”
