by Claire Raye
I run a hand over my head, exhaling as I realize yet again that all of this is far from over. Ruby must sense my worry, squeezing my hand again as she mouths are you okay? at me. I nod, as I open my mouth to speak, “Thanks, Ed, really appreciate it.”
“Hang tight,” he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “This will be over soon.”
After we hang up, Ruby and I get up, pulling on some clothes and walking out to the kitchen to discover Reid and Sienna standing together as they both watch the coffee brew.
As soon as Sienna sees us, she pulls herself from Reid’s embrace before walking over and pulling first Ruby and then me into her arms. “Are you guys okay?” she asks as she looks from Ruby to me and back again.
We hadn’t spoken much when we finally got back last night, only enough to fill them both in on what had happened. Reid had poured all of us a very generous shot of whiskey and after that, it was like the events of the day had caught up with both me and Ruby and we’d collapsed in bed, exhausted.
“Yeah,” Ruby answers, slipping her arm around my waist as she leans her head on my shoulder.
Reid watches us, a look of concern on his face. “Any word on what’s gonna happen with Keller?”
I fill him in on the phone call with Ed, watching as both of their faces fall when they realize this isn’t over yet.
“I don’t get how the fuck he can possibly get away with any of this,” Sie cries and I know exactly what she means.
“He won’t,” Reid says firmly as he pulls her against him. “The fucking university will fire his ass and he’s gonna end up in jail, just like my asshole father. There’s no way his suit against Caleb will stick. No fucking way.”
I glance at him, a half smile on my face. “I hope you’re right.”
“I am,” he says, giving me a smirk.
Chuckling, I gesture toward the coffee. “Any chance of a cup?” I ask, as Ruby pushes up on her toes and puts her mouth to my ear. “Don’t forget about…” She trails off and when I look down at her, she raises a brow in question. Leaning down, I brush my lips against hers. “I will,” I murmur. “Later, okay?”
After we’ve sat around, drinking our coffee and catching up on the events of last night and what it might all mean, I excuse myself to go and take a shower, knowing I’ve got an appointment with Liz soon. Ruby wanders into the bedroom as I’m getting dressed, watching me as she sits on the end of the bed.
“You want me to come with you?” she asks.
I smile, leaning over to kiss her. “I’m okay, babe,” I say, actually meaning it. “But maybe you should think about talking to someone?” I suggest. “After last night?”
Ruby’s brows shoot up, her eyes wide as her mouth falls open. I chuckle, my fingers under her chin as I tip it up.
“What?” I ask in mock surprise.
“Caleb Parker,” she says, emphasizing her words. “Are you actually suggesting that therapy might be a good thing?”
I burst out laughing now, unable to stop myself as I lean in and kiss her again, deeper this time. “I don’t know,” I murmur, my mouth against hers. “Someone might have told me once that talking about this stuff is a good thing.”
“Oh?” Ruby says, brow raised. “And, is it?”
I grin, pulling her bottom lip between my teeth. “Dunno,” I tease. “I didn’t think so, but that someone can be very persuasive.”
“Can they?” Ruby says, smiling against my mouth.
“Uh huh. And damn fucking sexy too,” I add, kissing her again as I push her back onto the bed and cover her body with mine.
Ruby laughs and it’s fucking music to my ears, even as her hands move to my chest. “Don’t you need to get going?” she asks.
“I can always make time for you,” I murmur, biting her bottom lip.
She lets out a low groan, as her fingers curl into my sweater, pulling me closer before she eases me back. “Go. We can pick this up when you get home.”
I bury my face in her neck, inhaling deeply, her scent both calming me and grounding me. “I love you,” I whisper, my mouth at her ear. “So much.”
Liz greets me with a wide smile that has me wondering if she’s heard about what happened yesterday. I haven’t even checked the news to know if it’s been mentioned, but I guess Ed could have told her. But when I take a seat in my usual chair and she asks me how things are, and I respond with “Have you heard?” her expression tells me she hasn’t.
So I fill her in on everything that happened. All the details of Keller attacking Ruby, the security camera footage from the lecture hall and our neighbor, the other students who have made similar complaints about him, everything.
“Wow, this certainly changes things,” Liz says when I finally finish, clearly surprised.
I shrug. “Maybe, nothing has happened yet.”
“How are you feeling about it all?”
I give her a smile, because of course this is the one question everyone ever asks me about any of this. “I just want him to go to jail,” I say. “I mean yeah, I’d love the suit to go away, but more than that, I need this guy to go to jail and not be able to do anything like this again. He needs to pay for what he did to Ruby, what he did to all of them.”
Now it’s Liz smiling at me.
“What?” I ask, confused.
“That’s a pretty selfless way to look at this, Caleb.”
I shrug, shuffling in my seat a little. “The guy’s an asshole, he should be in jail.”
Liz nods. “He should, yes,” she says. “But that’s not what I’m interested in right now.”
“What are you interested in?” I ask, not sure where she’s going with all this.
Her smile widens as she puts her notepad and pen on the table between us. “I’m interested in why, after all of this,” she says, waving a hand around the room. “Your main concern is Ruby?”
I give her a look that I’m sure screams, what the fuck, as I ask, “What are you talking about?”
She laughs now, actually fucking laughs.
“What?” I ask again, frustrated.
Liz holds a hand up, shaking her head slightly as she says, “It’s just incredible, Caleb. That you, after everything you’ve been through, everything that’s happened to you, all you can think about right now, is Ruby.”
I exhale, a hard breath leaving my lungs. “I love her.”
Liz’s smile softens. “I know you do, that much is obvious. What I want to know is why you held back this time. Why you didn’t do what you did when you found Professor Keller outside Ruby’s window, and instead you let Ruby—”
“I didn’t want to do that again,” I say. “I don’t want to be that person.”
Liz leans forward now, her eyes meeting mine as she smiles at me and I feel something shift, something weird happens that I don’t know how to understand. “What?”
She lets out a chuckle. “Don’t tell anyone, Caleb,” she says with a wink. “But I think you might be making progress.”
I walk out of my session feeling strangely free. Lighter almost, as though I’ve somehow lifted the weight of everything I’ve carried for the past two years off me. Well not lifted exactly because I know it’s going to take a long fucking time to get rid of this burden. But, shifted maybe, or something like that.
I know this isn’t a quick fix type of thing but for the first time in a long time, I’m starting to feel as though I’m not constantly taking one step forward and then two steps back. Like I’m not some giant fucking punching bag either.
When I get back home, Sie is sitting on the front porch. She smiles as I walk up the steps and join her. “Hey, you okay?”
Sie shoots me a sideways glance that screams seriously and makes me laugh. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?”
“Yeah, I guess,” I tell her.
“Well?” she prompts, knowing I’m not about to volunteer anything because that’s not what we do.
I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I sink
back into the seat. “I’m okay,” I tell her. “I mean, yeah I’m still a fucking mess, but I’m getting there. Slowly.”
“So the therapy helps?” she asks, nudging me.
I glance over and see she’s smirking at me. “It does,” I reply, rolling my eyes. “Maybe you should try it?”
Sienna slides across the bench seat and rests her head on my shoulder. “I’ve thought about it,” she admits. “I mean I talk to Reid, obviously, but it’s…”
She trails off, but I know what she was about to say; it’s not the same. And she’s right. It’s not the same, even if Reid lived through so much of it too.
“My therapist thinks I should talk to you,” I blurt out.
“Really?” Sie asks, lifting her head a little.
I smile, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. “Yeah. She figures we both have a ton of shit we want to talk about but neither of us knows how to.”
Sienna chuckles. “Well, we’ve never exactly been the kind of people who shouted from the rooftop how fucked up our family is.”
“No.”
“But you can tell me,” she says, her voice quieter. “Just because I wasn’t there, Caleb, it doesn’t mean I don’t want to know.”
I close my eyes at her words, the guilt once again swirling in my stomach. “I know,” I sigh. “Reid said the same thing to me.”
Sie shuffles beside me, turning so she’s sitting sideways on the bench and facing me. “He told me what you said about that night,” she starts. “Don’t be mad, I think he…he…”
I nod, not mad, just sorry I ever had to put those images in his head. “It’s okay, Sienna,” I tell her, my hand resting on her shoulder. “I get that you two talk to each other, you’re a thing, right?” I add in an attempt to lighten the situation.
Sie doesn’t smile, just leans closer as she puts a hand on my cheek. “Yeah, but you and I are a thing too, Caleb,” she whispers. “We’ve been a thing our whole lives.”
I can see her eyes glistening with unshed tears and it breaks my heart a little. “I’m sorry, Sie,” I whisper, pulling her against me. “I wanna talk to you, really. I’m just…I’m afraid.”
“Of what?” she chokes out.
I take a deep breath. “I don’t know, that you’ll see parts of him in me.”
“Caleb,” she whispers. “If he’s in you, then he’s in me too.”
I nod, but don’t say anything.
“That day we left,” Sie says. “Outside the airport when I begged you to come, you wanted to, didn’t you?”
I shove a hand through my hair, squeezing the back of my neck. “Yeah,” I say, the word rough and raw as I force it out.
“I knew you did. I could see it in your eyes,” she continues. “I could tell you were lying when you said you had to stay. That it was better that way.”
“Every day after you left, I wanted to come,” I say, staring out at the quiet street. “Every single day. I mean, I was happy you’d escaped of course, but a part of me—”
“Hated it too,” she whispers.
I nod. “I felt so fucking guilty for that.”
Sie moves her hand to my cheek, turning me so I’m facing her again. “I felt guilty for having left,” she whispers. “I knew what I was leaving you with. I knew it was going to get worse and I, I…”
“Sie,” I whisper, pulling her close as I wrap my arms around her. “We were two dumb teenagers, trying to do what was right. I don’t blame you, okay? Just like I don’t hate you or resent you or whatever thing you’re thinking right now.”
And it’s true, despite what I’ve told Ruby or Liz about that day or the two years that came afterwards. I don’t resent her, not anymore. Because while we were both dealt a shitty hand in life, with an alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, I know that there is nothing I wouldn’t do for my sister. Nothing.
She is my other half, my twin, and I will protect her to the day I die, no matter what it costs me.
“You wanna maybe come and see Liz with me sometime?” I ask, brushing the tears from her cheeks.
She looks up at me, her eyes full of hope now. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
I smile, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead as my phone vibrates with a text message in my pocket. “So would I,” I tell her, meaning it.
I pull my phone from my pocket, feeling relieved that Sie and I have had this chance to talk, knowing that there’s still more to come, but this is at least a start. When I turn the screen, I see a bunch of missed calls that must have come through during my session with Liz and one text.
All from Ed.
Not bothering to listen to the voicemails, I open the text he’s sent, my stomach falling and my heart pounding in my chest as I read the words that fill my screen. I can’t help but smile and turn my phone for Sienna to see.
Ed: 17 charges – assault, rape, stalking, intimidation, bribery, falsifying reports. He’s toast. Call me. ASAP.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ruby
Caleb comes hauling in the front door with Sienna following closely behind. He tosses my car keys on the kitchen table and then grabs me from behind as I’m washing dishes. His arms slip around my waist and he presses his mouth to the side of my neck making me smile. I hear Sienna calling out for Reid, the excitement in her voice as she rushes to her bedroom, obviously excited about something.
This is a different Caleb than the last few weeks. He’s always been deeply affectionate and needing to be near me, but sometimes after a visit with his therapist he can be withdrawn. It’s understandable with how he’s been digging deeply into his past and all the trauma he’s been trying to cope with for the last few years.
“What’s up?” I ask, turning in his arms so I’m facing him. He’s smiling when I look up at him, beaming actually and in his eyes, I see relief and peace and a relaxation that hasn’t been there since he arrived in California. “What’s going on?” I now ask, feeling the excitement pushing up into my throat and out in my words.
“I just got off the phone with Ed and it’s good news, Ruby. There’s no way Keller is getting off. He’s been charged with at least ten felonies and a bunch of misdemeanors.”
I have no idea if he’s done speaking, but I don’t care. I can’t hold my excitement in, cutting him off as I start talking immediately. Unable to hold still, I move away from him, bouncing on my toes, practically jumping out of my skin with excitement.
“So does this mean the civil suit is gone? How long will he be in prison? Did Ed call Meagan and Kate? Oh my god, Caleb! We did this! Who would have thought two college students could take down a serial rapist?” The smile on my face is so big my cheeks begin to sting, and I suddenly want to clap my hands and dance in our kitchen.
“It was all you, Ruby. You pushed me, you researched and fought for me when I just wanted to lay down and die.” He pulls me tightly against him, lifting me off the ground and swinging me around. I’m laughing, deep belly laughs that pull from within me and it’s been so long since I’ve felt this free, this validated and confident.
“I wouldn’t take it that far. We did this together because I knew all along you weren’t guilty of anything but protecting me.” I smile up at him, my hand resting on his cheek.
“And I knew all along that guy was a fucking creep. Turns out it was way worse than I could’ve ever imagined,” Caleb says, biting out his words, still holding onto his hatred for Professor Keller.
“So you never answered my questions...” I move away from him, leaning against the counter behind me and he does the same on the island behind him.
“As for Meagan and Kate, I don’t know if Ed called them. I imagine he did, but you may want to follow up with them and see how they’re doing. I know a great therapist if they need her number.” He winks at me and I giggle a little. I love how playful he is despite everything.
“And the civil suit?” I roll my hand to get him moving along. Every question I asked is important, but what fully affects us is the
civil suit.
“Well, it hasn’t been formally dropped, but Ed filed a motion to have it dropped based on all the new information that has come to light. Also, Keller’s big-wig lawyers quit on him, so I can’t imagine that’s any good for him.”
Caleb chuckles at the last part, and I know he’s thinking about how Keller had all this coming. He should’ve never pushed it this far because it all came back to bite him in the ass big time. It was only a matter of time before Keller fucked up and people stopped staying quiet.
“Do you think there are other girls?” I ask, and even though I’m excited this is all coming to a close for us, there are other people whose life has been uprooted by all this. My heart breaks for them and the battle they’ve been fighting alone.
“There are. Ed looked into a few things and found two settlements that went through several years back when Keller was a professor at a private university in Michigan. The details were all sealed, but I’m guessing that won’t be the case much longer.”
“I hope for their sake, they get the closure they need. A settlement isn’t closure.”
“No, it isn’t.” Caleb nods in agreement and I see him processing it all. This has to be exciting but also overwhelming. He’s spent so much time doubting himself, doubting that what he did was right. But more than that, he worried he’d never recover from this. The money, his reputation, his life, all of it felt so far out of his reach.
“I’m gonna take a quick shower and then I gotta get over to the bar. There are a couple of deliveries coming in and I guess I should show my worth with this whole bar being up for sale thing.” He shrugs and starts to walk away, but I reach out and grab his hand, pulling him back.
“I’m going to bring it up again, and as always, it’s just a suggestion. Have you talked with Reid and Sie about buying the bar? Without the civil suit, you have some money to invest in it now.”
He pauses, smirking at me and rolling his eyes, but nothing about it is condescending or dismissive. He loves how optimistic I am about everything and I hope it’s rubbing off on him. He regards me with a quiet glance, his blue eyes shining just a little.
