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“Holy shit,” I breathed. “Beck, that’s…oh my God, that’s so shitty.”
He nodded. “It was my fault Dad lost his job. His boss had convinced Britt and my parents to keep it quiet. But I…” He shrugged. “I just couldn’t. That motherfucker destroyed her. She stopped talking, stopped eating, began to have these nervous breakdowns. She holed herself up in her room and wouldn’t come out. They finally put her into a mental health facility after she tried to kill herself.”
“Oh God.” I covered my gaping mouth with my hands.
“The rape kit they did on her showed signs of extreme force, but the prick just claimed she asked for it rough.” Beck shook his head and clenched his teeth. “I couldn’t let that go. How could I fucking let that go?” He looked at me with hard eyes as if he expected me to actually answer.
I shook my head, agreeing, “You couldn’t.”
He nodded. “So I beat the fucking shit out of him.” His chin trembled and voice cracked as he finished, “And Dad got fired.”
“Damn.” I didn’t know what else to say as Beck took a couple seconds to get himself under control. He cleared his throat and wiped the back of his hand across his cheek. “Freshly out of work and my Dad had to spend fifteen hundred dollars to bail me out of jail. They were already getting swamped under with the extra care they were paying to get Britt some help. None of the charges against me stuck since that prick had swung first, but it had already caused enough damage. Mr. Raider pulled some strings and my dad still can’t find anyone to hire him. Mom’s pay at the hair salon where she works certainly isn’t covering all the bills. I offered to take off school this semester to get a job to help with everything, but they still weren’t too happy with me. They told me to go back to Granton at the beginning of the semester and not get into any more trouble.” Beckett sucked his bottom lip in between his teeth. “But going to classes and keeping up with the fraternity like life was normal while I knew my family was going into crisis mode, especially with some of it being my fault, sent me into a tailspin. I started drinking more than I should’ve, lost my girlfriend because I was so out of sorts, and I got reprimanded
at work for showing up late and hungover. So, yeah…”
He glanced at me, and his bright blue eyes seemed so watery and sad that I almost wanted to start crying for him.
“It’s not so much that I think they truly believe I’m a rapist now. This is more about whether they can deal with one more screw up from me. Instead of helping them through all this shit, I’ve only caused more problems. It would totally serve me right if they washed their hands of me completely.”
I nodded, understanding his concerns. I’d worry about how my dad would receive me after all that too. It didn’t matter if I was completely innocent of the crime or not. If I’d stupidly gotten myself into a bad situation, I could see him shaking his head in disappointment and muttering, “Well, you got yourself into this one, Bailey Rae. Now get yourself out.”
A sudden thought struck me. Frowning, I sent Beckett a sidelong glance. “Hey, if trying to convince them of your innocence isn’t what this trip is really about, then why am I coming with you?”
Beckett blew out a long breath and his shoulders fell a good two inches before he slid me a long, tired glance. “Believe it or not, you seem to be the only person who believes in me right now. And I’m scared to death. I have no idea what they’re going to do when I show up on their doorstep.” He shook his head, his throat constricting as he swallowed. “I can’t face them alone,” he admitted. “I need your support.”
Chapter 16
BECKETT
The silence that filled the cab after confessing to Bailey Prescott what a damn coward I was kind of unnerved me.
But then she shrugged and said “Oh,” so matter of factly that I had to blink. “Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”
I shook my head slowly, not sure how to answer. She seemed so blunt and open and honest, and no-big-deal about it that I decided to go the same route. “Asking you to come with me and hold my hand while I faced my mommy and daddy because I was too scared to do it by myself sounded pretty lame to me. And besides, I’m basically a complete stranger to you. We only met once, and that one encounter landed you in a whole mess of problems. I seem to get everyone around me mixed up in the worst kinds of situations, so it’d actually be smart of you to stay away from me. I didn’t think the complete truth would help my cause any.”
Bailey nodded as if thinking that through. “Makes sense,” she said. Then her entire brow crinkled. “Wait. I don’t have to literally hold your hand, do I? Because,” she shook her head emphatically, wrinkling her nose. “I’m not much of a hand-holder.”
I laughed. It wasn’t at all a laughing situation. But this girl had managed to make me laugh. “No,” I told her. “We definitely don’t literally have to hold hands.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders sagged in relief. “Cool.” But then she began to chew on her thumbnails. “So how much farther now?”
I focused on where we were. Shit. “A couple miles,” I realized. “Maybe five.”
She nodded and repeated, “Cool.”
Cool. Not quite the word I would’ve used. I would’ve gone more with holy shit or I think I’m going to puke.
I straightened my hat and arched the bill under my palm so it would arch just right.
“You’re nervous,” Bailey said.
I sent her a distracted glance. “What?”
She motioned to her own forehead. “You’re playing with your hat. You did that earlier. That means you’re nervous, right?”
Dropping my hand and clearing my throat, I readjusted myself in my seat. “I don’t know. I’ve never noticed before.”
“Yep, you’re definitely nervous,” she stated definitively.
