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"Because I check every day. Lana, after you told me the truth about what happened that night, I searched the hospitals to find her. I've been struggling with what to do. I hate not being able to do anything to help her."
"Me too. But I don't know what other choice we have until she wakes up."
"Let me tell my father about the convenience store."
"No," I say adamantly. "Besides, that doesn't matter now. And it won't prove that Vic hurt Allie."
"But if he's arrested for the armed robbery, he'll be off the streets."
"Will he? Really?"
"I don't know." I can hear the defeat in his voice.
I sigh. "Let's not do this, okay? I'd rather focus on Allie. She's the one who needs us."
"What do we do?"
I rub my forehead. "I don't know. But there has to be a way to prove he did it, even if she doesn't wake up." The thought of her not recovering makes me nauseous.
There's silence on the other end.
"He won't hurt anyone else. I won't let him, no matter what happens."
"You don't know what he's capable of," I tell him, remembering the look in Vic's eyes before he shoved Allie down the stairs. It was ruthless. He grinned at me when I screamed out, like he enjoyed it. "I can't do this right now." I hang up without letting him respond and shut off the phone.
I pace the width of the driveway for a while, trying to be rid of the trembling in my hands. I go inside and pour another drink, hoping it'll help. I shouldn't have called Joey. Except that I needed to know that Vic wasn't here.
The shadows stretch across the grass as the sun begins its descent on the other side of the lake. I make my way back up the steps to the party.
"There you are!" Ashton exclaims, throwing an arm around my shoulder when I step onto the porch. She's drunk.
"How did this happen?" I ask Brendan, who's standing beside her.
"Someone kept forgetting the lemonade already had vodka in it." Brendan slides an arm around Ashton's waist to shift her weight onto him. "We're going back to campus."
"Oh," I say, the sudden inebriation now making sense. "Do you have a ride?"
"Yeah. Another Blackwood guy." Before he guides Ashton inside, he says to me, "Don't lose your way, Lana." And then he leans over and sucks on Ashton's neck, making her giggle. "Or you could always join us."
Just when I thought he was being a human being... I groan in disgust.
I leave them and walk onto the grass. A guy is setting logs onto a fire that's just started to burn in the fire pit, and a few other people are sitting around it with guitars. More gravitate toward the scene. I find a chair and pull it closer to sit and listen.
I'm soon lost in harmonious voices singing acoustic folksy rock music, mesmerized by the flickering flames. My mind is a blur of thoughts I wish I didn't have to think about.
"Want to go for a swim?"
I turn to find Grant crouched beside me. I also realize it's dark. I have no idea when that happened.
"Sure," I say with a bright smile.
He takes my hand and pulls me up from the chair, not letting go as we walk down the steps to the beach. The air is still warm, but without the sun, the water feels cooler than it did this afternoon. I shiver when we wade in.
Grant's strides are much longer than mine and within a few steps, he's up to his waist and plunging under the water. He emerges, and his glistening, sleek body stops my progress. It actually stops everything. My breath. My heart. My thoughts. I stand there staring.
"Are you coming in?" he calls, pushing off and gliding backward, his arms swinging casually over his head in smooth, long strokes. He looks like he belongs in the water, moving within it effortlessly.
"I'm not the best swimmer," I confess, continuing to walk out until the water is covering my chest. We're the only ones in the water, and the voices and guitars from the party fade the further we go out.
