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CHAPTERNINE
IAN
My head was spinningas I walked back inside and trudged up the stairs toward my bedroom. I couldn’t even begin to try to sort through the jumbled mess of emotions that were coursing through my body.
Was it wrong to still be over the moon about the fact that Kyler had told me she loved me tonight, despite the mind fuck that came after that moment? Because I was. And was it wrong to be a little happy that she’d finally decided to trust me with her story tonight? Because that was definitely happening too. But the predominant emotions that were warring inside me were absolute devastation and white-hot rage.
I played football with these monsters.
I’d spent time with them outside of school.
I’d been to Max Taylor’s house.
And he and his two best friends had brutally assaulted the girl I loved.
They’d stolen her dignity. Her sense of security. Her trust in her fellow human beings.Her fucking virginity. She didn’t have to spell that out for me to know. Fuck, her first kiss had come from one of those assholes that night.
They’d burned her. Max had bitten her so hard that she still had a fucking imprint of his teeth on her body. He’d put a goddamn knife to her throat and threatened to kill her if she talked. And the kicker was that, given the level of violence in this attack and knowing what I knew thanks to what my father did for a living, I would have bet any amount of money that it wasn’t their first offense.
So how many other girls at that school had they hurt?
How was I supposed to go to football practice on Monday and act like I didn’t know any of this? How was I supposed to run plays with the psychos who had raped my girlfriend without beating them to a bloody pulp?
“Shit, Ian,” I heard Izzie gasp as I made it to the top of the stairs.
I turned in the direction of her voice, and she was standing in the doorway of her bedroom.
I could only imagine what I looked like right now. But as much as I needed someone to talk to, I couldn’t. Kyler had told me about her past in confidence, and I couldn’t break her trust. Not when it had taken so long to earn it.
I tried to trudge ahead to my bedroom, but my sister beat me there and stood between me and the doorknob.
“You don’t cry,” she said quietly, like she was trying to make sure our parents didn’t hear. “Ever. What the hell happened?”
“Leave it alone, Iz,” I muttered as I gently pushed her aside and opened my door.
“Is it about Ky?” she asked, following me inside without an invitation and shutting the door behind us.
Another lump rose in my throat, and I tried to swallow it down as I sank onto my bed and buried my head in my hands, but I wasn’t entirely successful. Izzie sat down next to me and put a hand on my back.
“You two break up?” she pressed.
“No,” I choked out.
“Then what’s wrong?” She pulled me into her arms, squeezing tight. “I’ve never seen you like this.”
I shook my head as I returned the hug, desperately needing the comfort she was offering. Well, what I really needed was to have Kyler in my arms again, but I couldn’t have that until tomorrow morning, so a hug from my sister would have to suffice.
“I can’t, Iz,” I sniffed.
“Is it about her?”
“It’s not my place. If she wants to talk to you about it when she gets to know you better, that’s her choice, but please don’t try to pry it out of her. It just about killed her to tell me tonight. And hearing it...I can’t…” I trailed off as a few tears wet her shirt.
“Shh,” she murmured, rubbing comforting circles on my back. “It’s okay, Ian. You don’t have to say anything else. Just let it out.”
So I did. I took the time to let myself really feel everything that came with hearing my girlfriend’s horrific story tonight. And Izzie just sat there without saying a word, acknowledging my need for support, but also not pushing me to tell her why I needed it.
After about twenty minutes, my phone buzzed, and I pulled out of my sister’s embrace to check it.
