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"Ashley also wasn't assaulted tonight, so your situations aren't exactly comparable. Reveal yourself. Now."
I'm a grown woman. I don't take orders from anyone, not even one of my two best friends. Then again, Noelle is scary. If I don't do what she says now, I know she'll show up on my doorstep right as I'm getting ready for bed.
I sigh and grab my phone, giving her anare-you-happy-nowgrin.
"You're pale," she observes without missing a beat. "And is that a bruise on your jaw?"
"No,” says Ash, “that's pizza sauce."
"Thanks for finally chiming in, Ashley." I roll my eyes and wipe the sauce off with my forearm. “I’m fine, okay? The guy was drunk and upset. He lost his kid this week. I don’t need to make it worse.”
Noelle’s eyes bug out like they’re about to pop. “Who cares abouthisweek? What aboutyou, Piper?! The guy choked you!”
“He tried,” I correct. “He didn’t get that far.”
“Only because some giant came along and shoved him away,” Ashley reminds us.
“He wasn’t a giant.”
“I distinctly remember the word ‘giant’ being thrown around.”
“Giant biceps, I think,” Noelle says. “She said he was a big guy with giant biceps.”
“They were proportional to the rest of him,” I mutter.
Noelle claps her hands like an elementary school teacher trying to get the class’s attention. “Regardless, the fact remains that you need to file a report. He could come back and try again some other time.”
I hear the man’s deep voice like he’s whispering the words in my ear.I won’t always be there to save you.
Some masochistic part of me is disappointed. Maybe another attack wouldn’t be so bad ifhecame back to intervene again.
“Fuck the cops,” Ashley blurts out. “Buy a gun. I can get you one on the cheap.”
“A gun? Piper isn’t getting—she doesn’t need a gun!”
Black Screen Ashley is unmoved. “What is a police report going to do if that guy comes back? Piper needs to be able to protect herself.”
“Not with agun,” Noelle argues. She shakes her head. “If I could see your face, I’d be able to tell if you’re joking. What is with the two of you trying to hide tonight?”
Suddenly, Ashley’s screen goes white and then she’s there. Her dyed-black hair is tucked behind her ears and her eyebrows are as thin as they were in high school, which is to say, almost nonexistent. She raises them and stares at her camera like it’s a personal challenge. It takes me a second to understand why.
“Ash,” I breathe, covering my mouth, “is that a bruise, or…?”
She presses tenderly at the horrifying black ring around her right eye and gives a humorless chuckle. “Well, it isn’t pizza sauce.”
Noelle has gone eerily silent. Her nostrils are flared.
“What happened?” I ask, even though I already know.
Ashley has been in an on-again, off-again relationship with her abusive drug dealer for years. Apparently, they’re on again. Or they were. I don’t know what they’ll be after he’s punched her fucking lights out.
Before Ashley can even answer, Noelle shakes her head. “I’ll kill him. I swear to God I will.”
“What happened to filing a police report?” Ashley taunts. “Suddenly, you’re Ms. Vigilante.”
It’s Noelle’s turn to be unmoved. “Jason already has several warrants out for his arrest, I’m sure. If the police were going to do anything about him, they would’ve done it several infractions ago. I might as well take matters into my own hands.”
Ashley snorts. “Your boyfriend works for the FBI. You do realize that, right? He’s probably recording this conversation right now. Everything you say can and will be held against you.”
