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CHAPTERELEVEN
IAN
I knew right awaythat something was wrong when I walked into Spanish and Kyler wasn’t there yet. I knew she wouldn’t have gone anywhere other than to her locker and straight here from the bus entrance. Except maybe to the bathroom. But still, that wouldn’t have made herthislate. Something wasn’t right. I could feel it in my gut.
Damn it. I should have just missed weight training and given her a ride to school this morning.
Just as I pulled my phone out to text her, it buzzed.
Braden: Dude, get your ass over to the vending machines by the gym. Now. Ky’s here and she’s having a full-blown meltdown. She won’t talk to me or let me help her. I don’t know what’s going on, but it seems bad.
“Motherfucker,” I growled, turning right back around and almost running into Mrs. Hernandez as I stormed out of the classroom.
“Ian,” she called, but I ignored her.
If this was about what I thought it was about, I couldn’t bring a teacher into it. Because if a teacher knewanyof the numerous things that were wrong with this situation, parents would be alerted. And that would be bad news for everyone, Kyler most of all.Ifshe reported this, she needed to do it the right way. She needed to report it to the police, with protection and an attorney to back her up, not to a teacher at the school.
Braden was pacing back and forth at the very far end of the alcove that housed the vending machines when I got there. I couldn’t see Kyler, but I heard crying, so I broke into a run. She was curled up into a ball, sitting on the ground with her head down between her knees, her entire body shaking as she sobbed.
“I couldn’t get anything out of her other than her screaming at me not to touch her when I tried to help her up,” Braden said, sounding panicked. “I don’t know what the fuck happened, man.”
“I’ve got this, B,” I told him as I knelt down next to her. “You can go. All three of us don’t need to be late to class.”
“You sure?”
“If she didn’t want to let you help her before, I doubt that’s changed in the past three minutes,” I pointed out. “Go, man. Let me take care of my girl. I’ll fill you in later.”
He still looked skeptical, but he sighed and nodded. “Okay. Text me later.”
Then he left, and now that we were alone, I turned back to Kyler. Her sobs had quieted a little, but I still heard her sniffling and she still hadn’t raised her head.
“Ky? Baby? Can you look at me?” I murmured.
She didn’t say anything, but she raised her head. I noted her puffy eyes and the expression that was somewhere between terror and desperation, but what immediately drew my eye was the trickle of red on her neck that had made its way onto her shirt.
I took my backpack off and opened the front pouch. Being an athlete, I’d learned quickly to always keep a first aid kit handy. At least some Neosporin and Band-Aids.
“Baby, you’re bleeding. Can I get you cleaned up?” I asked.
She nodded, but didn’t say anything. Some of the blood had already dried, so I grabbed a towel that I’d brought to put in my gym locker out of my backpack and went to the water fountain to get it wet. Then I went back over to her. Making sure she saw where my hand was, I put it on her shoulder as I used the other hand to clean up the area around the cut. It wasn’t huge and it seemed superficial, but it was at least an inch long. I’d need more than one bandage to cover it up.
And then I remembered. Latex. I had no idea if my bandages had latex in them or not. I’d never even thought about it. I’d never had to.
“Ky, I don’t know if the Band-Aids I have with me have latex in them. Do you have anything in your purse that I can use?”
Kyler grabbed her purse from the ground next to her and dug through it for a minute.
“How many do you need?” she said in a small voice.
Oh, thank God. She was talking again.
“A couple. Can you tell me what happened, baby?”
She just started crying all over again.
I sighed. It was going to be a while before I could get anything out of her.
“Baby, can I get the bandages out of your purse?”
