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I wished I could say that surprised me, but after the way he’d acted today – or was it yesterday now? –nothingwould have shocked me about him at this point.
“Oh. My. God,” I gasped. “You’re not joking, are you?”
“I wish I was,” he said. “But the good thing is, he’s dead now and he can’t hurt anyone else. And neither can the boys who hurt you. They’re all going away for a very long time, and Max willneverget out of prison.”
I sighed and closed my eyes. This was insane. The fact that someone who parents trusted to watch over their children had a part in hurting over fifty young girls was still throwing me for a loop. And it was hard to believe it was over.
But God, was I glad. The fear, the panic, and the uncertainty were all a thing of the past. I was finally free from all of it, and I could start focusing on building my future.
“I’m still creeped out by all of this,” Braden muttered. “How did I play varsity football for three fucking years and not see that something was off about Jefferson?”
“Because he’d gotten good at hiding it,” Hillary sighed. “That’s what men like him do. But that’s also when they get stupid. The longer they get away with it, the bolder they get. And especially once he got a rich kid who flashed his dad’s money around on his side, he thought he was invincible.”
“Until Ky came along and was brave enough to report it,” Izzie said with a smile.
* * *
Between visiting with everyone for a little while and waiting for the doctor to finally sign my release papers, we didn’t get back home until late. After a quick dinner, Ian and I headed upstairs so I could get some rest.
I was supposed to be supervised continuously over the next twenty-four hours and woken up every hour because I had a concussion from when Max hit me over the head with a tire iron. I needed to go back and see the hand specialist, and I was going to need some serious physical therapy to get my hand and wrist in working order again. They’d also given me a prescription for a couple of weeks’ worth of hydrocodone for the pain, because over-the-counter wasn’t going to be nearly strong enough.
I curled up in bed as soon as Ian and I walked into our room, and he went to Cosette’s cage, got her out, and brought her over to me. I choked back more tears just thinking about how devastated she would have been if I’d died as I reached my good hand out to pet her.
“Hi, sweet girl,” I sniffled. “I’m sorry I can’t hold you. I wish I could. I love you so much.”
“You can hold her,” Ian said. “Hold your good arm up. I’ll do the rest.”
I made a crook with my good arm, and he gently set Cosette in it. She immediately snuggled up against me and licked my arm. I bent my head to nuzzle her soft fur and kissed her head as a few tears fell.
Ian kicked his shoes off and got in on his side of the bed, but crawled over so he was sitting on my pillow right behind me. I leaned back against him, and he pulled me close as he draped his legs around me so I was sitting between them.
“I never even said thank you. For not just blindly doing what they said. For calling the police. You saved my life, Ian,” I said quietly.
“I didn’t save your life, baby,” he murmured, kissing my head. “I savedmylife. Becauseyou’remy life. I’ve never been so scared. But we’ve got our whole lives ahead of us now, and those monsters aren’t going to be a part of it.”
I turned my head to look at him and was rewarded with a kiss.
Cosette started fidgeting, and because I only had one good arm to hold her with, she hopped down onto the floor. I sighed and went to get up so I could put her back in her cage. I was too tired to let her play right now.
“I’ve got her, baby,” Ian sighed, getting up. “You’re not going to pass out in the next two minutes if I run down to the kitchen to get her a treat, are you?”
“No,” I yawned. “I might fall asleep, though.”
“Can you try to stay awake for me? Maybe I’m being a little paranoid, but I think I’ve earned paranoid after today.”
“I’ll try,” I promised with a smile. “Can you grab me an ice pack while you’re down there? My arm’s killing me, even with the pain medicine.”
“Yeah, of course.” He came back to the bed and kissed my forehead. “I love you, Ky. So damn much.”
I chuckled. “Think you’ve said that enough tonight yet?”
“Nope,” he teased. “Because I canneversay it enough. I’ll be right back.”
Ian was back in less than two minutes with a baby carrot for Cosette and an ice pack for my arm. He grabbed a hand towel out of his bathroom and wrapped the ice pack in it, then put it in my sling against the inside of my arm, where the wound was. Then he got back in bed in the same place he was before, positioning me between his legs. I smiled and curled up against him, and my eyes immediately started to drift closed.
