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“Do you care?” I chuckled humorlessly. “Your buddies probably just ensured that I’ll never have kids. And they might have broken a couple of ribs and ruptured my spleen too.”
He sighed and helped me up to a sitting position, then helped me stand up and sit on the bench between the two rows of lockers.
“You know, don’t you?” he guessed. “About what we did to Kyler.”
My eyebrows raised and my eyes went wide as I turned to look at him.
What the hell had gotten into him in the past few weeks? Why was he all of a sudden being nice to me? This didn’t make any sense.
But the look on his face…I couldn’t describe it. It wasn’t remorse, exactly, but it was regret at least. And it made me think that I needed to listen to what he had to say.
“Did you really think she wouldn’t tell me?” I gritted out. “And did you really think I was blind enough not to notice that she’d been hurt, even before she said anything?”
“Look, I know you have no reason to listen to me or trust me. But will you give me five minutes?”
“Only because I’m not sure I’m physically able to walk away from you right now,” I muttered.
“I don’t know why I played along that night,” he sighed. “But Maxnevertold me he and Tucker were planning on going that far. They just said they wanted to have a little fun with her. The second he pulled the knife out, I knew I was in way over my head, but once I was involved, there was no going back. Not with those two. You know?”
I didn’t say anything. There wasnoexcuse for sexually assaulting a girl. None. He’d had choices that night, plenty of them, and he’d made all the wrong ones.
“I know Kyler told you they threatened to kill her if she told. But what she doesn’t know is that after we left, they threatened me too. I went into the bathroom and I couldn’t stop puking. I was terrified of what I’d seen. What I’d done. What she’d say. When I finally came out, Max dragged me back outside and put the knife up tomythroat. He said that if I breathed a word, I was dead. I acted like we were cool, but I told him I wouldneverdo anything like that again. I hate their fucking guts, but I’ve played along with everything – pretending to be their friend, keeping up the bullying and the rumors, and everything else – because I’m scared of what’ll happen if I don’t.”
My brain slammed on the brakes so hard that I got mental whiplash as I processed what he was saying.
Was he actually trying to play the victim here? To get me to feel sorry for him? Did he not realize that this wasmy fucking girlfriendwe were talking about? The only one who deserved any sympathy in this situation washer, becauseshewas the one whose life had been forever altered that night, not him.
“So, what, you tell me this and you think it makes up for leading Ky to them? For fuckingrapingher because you were too scared to say no?” I growled. “And you had to be at least somewhat into it, or you wouldn’t have been physically able to participate, asshole!”
“I was a horny sixteen-year-old and there was a mostly naked chick there. It didn’t take much to make it happen.”
“Yeah, I’m not buying that, man. My balls would have shriveled up if I’d seen two other dudes forcing a woman,” I spat. “Burning her with cigarettes. Biting her so hard they drew blood.”
“Then you’re a much better person than I am.” His voice broke. “I know I have no right to ask this, but can you ask her if she’d be willing to talk to me? You can be there, and Braden and Melissa and whoever else she wants there to ensure her protection. I’m willing to turn myself in and testify against them, but I don’t want to hurt her more by doing that. So I want to talk to her first, and I know she’ll run in the other direction if I try to talk to her on my own.”
Yeah…I wasn’t buying that shit. That sounded a whole lot like he was trying to get everyone he thought knew about this into one place at the same time. Which also sounded like we’d be walking into a trap.
“How am I supposed to trust you, Harrison?” I snapped. “You sexually assaulted the girl I love. You weren’t a fucking innocent bystander here. You actually participated. Fuck, you led her right to them!”
“There’s proof,” he said, a slight panicked edge to his voice. “Proof that what we did wasn’t consensual. Max sent a video of her whole assault to me later that night. I don’t know who the hell was there filming it, because I never saw anyone but the two of them, but someone was. All three of us are in it, plus Kyler, and we’re all clearly identifiable. Close-up face shots and everything. I deleted it off of my computer and phone as soon as he sent it because I’m not a moron. That’s child porn and I’m not about to get mixed up in that. But they’re holding it over my head as blackmail. Threatening to show it to Emporia State if I ever talk.”
Nausea churned in my gut. “I’m sorry, did you just say there’s a video floating around of my girlfriend being gang raped?”
He nodded slowly.
“Max Taylor is in possession of a video that shows a fifteen-year-oldgirl being sexually assaulted?” I clarified. “She wasn’t even at the age of consent, Harrison. Did you know that?”
“Fuck,” he growled. “No. I didn’t know. I knew she was a sophomore like us, but I thought she was sixteen. But yes, there’s a video of it. Every disgusting, sickening minute.”
“Possession of child porn isn’t just a crime for a local jurisdiction. That’s a federal offense,” I realized. “And participating in the creation of it is another federal offense.”
“Yeah, exactly. I’ll testify to what I know. Maybe they’ll give me a little break for my part in it, but I don’t deserve it. I ruined her life. I deserve to get mine ruined in return.”
I still didn’t trust this fucker as far as I could throw him, but this gave Kyler more ammunition to use against them if she did decide to report her assault. Because I couldn’tnottell her.
“Do you know if they’ve hurt anyone else?” I asked him.
“They’ve bragged about banging a bunch of chicks. But I don’t know if they were forced. I’m not exactly kept in the loop anymore. I’m a frenemy now.”
