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“Luke Green.” Erica’s voice shook. “H-He attacked me.”
I clenched my teeth, knowing her accusation could be misconstrued. But maybe not, as Robert was clearly a football fan.
“What do you mean? He hit you?”
“No. But he pushed me against the wall and kissed me. He wouldn’t let me go. I told him to stop. I said no.”
“And why are you here, Shane?”
He turned to me, dismissing Erica for the time being. I hadn’t checked for cameras, but I hoped there were some. “The Williams family hired me to keep their daughter safe when she walked from classes to her car. Her ex-boyfriend”—I indicated Luke—“wouldn’t take no for an answer and had been harassing her. Incidents have been filed with the university.”
“If you were with her, why did Luke have the chance to make advances on her?”
He gave nothing away when he questioned me. I could do nothing but tell the truth and hope that, somehow, the tragedy would be seen as the accident it was. “Her class let out early. Erica messaged me about it and said she was going to her car. When I found them, I had to pull Luke off her. He took a swing at me, and I retaliated.”
“You hit him repeatedly?”
“No. Once.” But that had been all it took. One swing, and everything had changed in that second.
The ambulance arrived, and paramedics spilled from the vehicle. They bent to assess Luke and came to the same conclusion we all had. A squad car parked alongside the ambulance, just behind the path we would have been on to the parking lot if her ex hadn’t intervened.
Two officers crowded around us, and we exchanged the same information. When they realized I was on Thane’s football team, their tone of questioning changed as it had with Robert. Erica backed me up, reiterating my story and that it was a horrible accident. We gave our contact information and were told we had to go to the police station to file a statement.
Erica’s complexion was alarmingly pale. I got her to my SUV since she was in no shape to drive, then we went to the station. We gave our statements and were fingerprinted, processed for evidence, then told we were free to go, that it was a clear case of self-defense. I had to assure them we wouldn’t leave town. I mentioned I would be at my mom’s after dropping Erica off. It felt like a mistake, them letting me go, but I hoped I was wrong.
I ushered her out of the station and took her to her parents’ house. We explained the altercation to them, and as I left, Erica called out to me.
“It wasn’t your fault. It was self-defense.”
Was it?I wasn’t so sure. I had control. I could’ve stopped it—or at the very least stopped him from falling.
Not knowing what else to do, I went to Mom’s house. I didn’t remember the drive. Somehow, I was inside my mom’s home, where I’d grown up, feeling lost. I’d killed someone.
“Shane.” Mom rounded a corner from the back to find me standing in the foyer. “I wasn’t expecting you.” The happiness that had lit up her face melted away when she got a good look at me. “What’s wrong?”
A wave of despair washed over me. I had to tell her. She would find out, and I would rather it be from me. So I did. Every detail—from being hired by Erica’s family to what happened that day.
“It’ll be okay. It’s not your fault.”
But she was shaken. I could tell. And she was wrong. It was my fault.
Being released and told I was free to go felt too good to be true. And I would soon find out that it was.
CHAPTER TWO
SHANE
In the back of my mind, I’d counted the minutes until they came for me—the police with their flashing lights painting the front of our house red and blue. I knew they would. Luke Green’s family wouldn’t accept the self-defense argument for their only child.
A witness had come forward, one produced by the Green family.
My world continued to crumble. As the police hauled me out of my mom’s house in handcuffs, I jerked my head to the side when an SUV pulled up behind the squad cars in the drive. Phoenix and Aspen, his pregnant wife, got out.
“What’s going on?”
Alarm laced my brother’s question as Mom flew down the front steps. Her hand shook as she grabbed his forearm. It was the worst fucking day of my life. The tears and helplessness on my mom’s face were etched into my mind.
After everything she’s done for us, this is how I repay her?
