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She frowns, showing her pain at Detective Erikson’s disinterest. I reach over and grab her hand.
“Have you actually told him how you feel?” I ask.
“Not exactly. But I’ve flaunted myself in front of him enough times that he has to be blind to not see it.”
I squeeze her hand, and she looks up at me. “I’m sure he’s just fighting his attraction. It can’t be easy being attracted to his step-daughter, especially one your age.”
“Maybe,” she mutters. “Anyway,” she visibly shakes off her thoughts of Detective Erikson and straightens her spine. “Enough about my problems. How are you doing?”
I sigh and lean back against the pillows resting along the headboard. Grabbing another pillow, I hug it to my chest.
“I’m okay. Still a little shaky.” I rub the side of my face. “My jaw still hurts a little, but I’m hoping the pain pills I took before my shower will help.”
“I’m still so angry this happened to you. If only I had—” She stops abruptly, her lips slamming shut and she swings her head away from me to stare out of the window.
An icy feeling slithers down my neck.
“If you had, what?” I ask.
She gives no indication she heard my question. She simply continues to stare out of the window, looking lost in her thoughts.
“Aleah,” I call and get no response. I put my hand on her knee and give her leg a gentle shake. “What do you mean? If you had, what? Talk to me, Aleah.”
She eventually brings her eyes back to me and something dark and painful fills them. She licks her lips, the action a nervous maneuver.
“A few weeks ago, I went to the movies with Sean,” she begins quietly. “After, we went to a house party my friend was having. Sean was a jerk, so I left him as soon as we got there. Dillon was in the kitchen with Aaron and some other friends. They were manning the kegs they managed to get. Of course, everyone drinks at these things, and I was no exception. I had previously gone out with Dillon, but caught him with another girl a week prior, so I wanted nothing to do with him. After a few drinks, Dillon cornered me right outside the bathroom.”
She stops and looks down at her lap, her brows pulled down as she plays that night over in her head. I’m tense as I listen to her story because I have a sick feeling I know where she’s going with it. Dillon is a vile predator, that’s a no-brainer, so there’s no telling what he’s capable of.
She looks up when she continues. “He explained to me that the girl I caught him with had actually come onto him, not the other way around. That he didn’t want anything to do with her. I didn’t want to believe him, but with the alcohol fuzzing my head and the way he was looking at me, he seemed so sincere.” Her brows crease and her lips form a straight line. “Something told me it was a lie, but I didn’t listen.” She shakes her head. “He asked where I was going, and I told him I was looking for the bathroom. He said the one we were next to was broken.” She lets out a laugh so bitter I feel the pain of it in my sternum. “I was so fucking stupid.”
I scoot forward on my butt until our knees are touching. Grabbing her hand, I bring it to my lap. She looks down at our hands before lifting her eyes to me. Tears swim behind the pretty green color.
“You were not stupid, Aleah. You were vulnerable and that asshole took advantage.” My tone is soft at the same time filled with steel.
“But I was, Luna. I was stupid because I let him take me down to the basement. He said there was a bathroom down there.” She huffs out a breath. “I knew halfway down the stairs I had made a mistake, but it was too late. When I told him I was fine and didn’t need to go anymore, he kept pulling me down. I tried to scream but he held a hand over my mouth. He had me down on a couch with him on top of me before my foggy brain fully registered how much trouble I was in.”
She stops her story right there and gets up from the bed, walking over to the window. I get up and follow her. With the light on behind us and the dark before us, her reflection is easy to see in the glass.
I want to ask her to continue because I need to know for myself, but also because I think she needs to get it out.
I wait her out, my heart breaking for my new friend. Anger sits beside the pain, and I’ve never wanted to hurt someone more than I do in this moment. What Dillon did to me was enough, but knowing this isn’t the first time he’s hurt someone triples my ire.
“Did he—” I trail off, too scared to say the word.
She turns to face me, leaning her butt on the window sill, and wraps her arms around her middle.
She shakes her head. “No. I don’t know who it was, but someone opened the door to come downstairs, and he let me go. The basement was a walk out basement, and I ran through the door leading outside. Whoever it was doesn’t know it, but they saved me from being raped, because I have no doubt that’s what Dillon would have done.”
Tears spill from her eyes. I walk forward and envelope her in my arms. Her arms go around me. We both stand there for several long minutes, crying over a horrible fate from the same man that we narrowly missed.
Over the last week, I’ve gotten to know Aleah. She always appears to be this strong and carefree girl, and for the most part, she is. But when faced with something as horrendous as what she and I have, it tends to break parts of a person. Aleah hasn’t let what nearly happened to her affect her life, but it left a stain.
We both pull back at the same time and sniffles fill the air as we wipe our eyes.
“You need to tell your step-father,” I tell her quietly.
She nods, her expression resigned. “I know, and I will.”
