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“I feel the same about him.”
“No, babe, you don’t understand,” Clay says softly, holding my gaze. “You brought him back to us.” He places his hand over his heart. “For that you’ll always have my gratitude.”
My nose starts to sting. “You’re going to make me cry.”
“Don’t. If he finds out, he’ll kick my ass,” he says, and I give him a watery smile. “Get some sleep, and I’ll see you for breakfast.”
“Yeah,” I whisper.
I watch him walk up the stairs before I go to my room and once there, I change into a pair of pajamas and grab the book I brought with me. I don’t fall asleep until I get a text from Tucker letting me know he made it to Nashville, but even then, my sleep is restless as I worry about him and Miles.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
tucker
With my back to the wall, I look across the hall at Miles and crick my neck. Four hours ago, Livy’s mother brought her into the ER when she showed up at home distraught after going out with Isabel, Steven, and a group of kids from youth group. The plan was for all of them to go to the movies, and when it was over, Isabel would drop Livy off at her house. But Isabel’s mother called her before the movie over and told her that she would be picking her up and that they had plans to go out to dinner with friends that evening.
Steven volunteered to drop Livy at home when the movie let out. When they left the theater, all the kids who drove separately left, and Steven and Livy got into his car. She claims that on the way to her house, he attempted to touch her.
The first time, he placed his hand on her thigh, she pushed it away, thinking he was joking. Then he did it again and made a comment about how he’d wanted her for a long time. When she pushed his hand away again, she said he got angry and grabbed her between her legs. A fight between the two of them ensued, and he hit her so hard in the head that she believes she blacked out. When she woke up, they were parked somewhere dark, and he was trying to remove her clothes. Somehow, she managed to get out of the car and make a run for it, but he caught her before she could get to help. After raping her, he forced her back into his car and drove around for an hour. She said she thought he was going to kill her.
She promised over and over again that she wouldn’t tell anyone if he just took her home, and eventually he dropped her off.
Her mom just happened to be downstairs waiting for her when she arrived, because she was later than she should have been. And the moment she saw the state her daughter was in, she brought her to the emergency room.
For the first hour, Livy refused to say who hurt her, but her mother knew she had been with Isabel at the movies, so she called Isabel’s mom. After a conversation with her daughter, Isabel’s mother called her back and let her know that Livy had been with Steven and that he was supposed to drop her at home.
When asked by her mom if Steven had been the one to hurt her, the flood gates opened, and Livy told her everything. Including admitting that Kristen told both her and Isabel that Steven raped her. Neither girl believed her. If they had, maybe Kristen would still be here, and Livy wouldn’t have experienced what she did tonight.
When the door to the hospital room opens and the nurse walks out with a box in her hands, I come off the wall, and Miles does the same.
“How is she doing?” I ask, as she closes the door behind herself.
“She’s doing as well as to be expected in this kind of situation.” She passes me a thin white box that is sealed with red tape. “She has a good family who plans on getting her help, so I’m hopeful she will eventually be okay.” She glances between Miles and me. “Are you guys going to pick this kid up tonight?”
“There are officers picking him up as we speak.”
She nods, looking relieved. “If you need anything, let me know.”
“We will,” Miles says quietly before we head out of the hospital.
After dropping the kit off at the crime lab and asking them to expedite due to possible linkage to a murder investigation, we drive across town to the station where Steven is waiting.
The rage I feel when we walk into the interrogation room where he’s waiting with his lawyer is familiar. The thought of a man his size and in his position hurting a young girl is enough to make me sick, and to know he’s using the money of people who attend his uncle’s church to pay for his lawyer is disturbing at best.
