She touched her dyed red hair, offended. "Well, all right then," she sniffed, walking away from me. She left me alone for the rest of my shift.
When I was getting ready to leave, the manager, Bruce pulled me aside to tell me that he was having cameras installed out back for more security. It made me feel a little better, hearing that he was being proactive.
Jenna was waiting for me in the parking lot. She waved at me, smiling until she saw the expression on my face.
"What is it?" she asked, looking at me warily as I climbed into the passenger side of her car.
"I ran into Andrew last night," I started, trying to keep my hands from shaking.
"Ran into him?" Jenna looked fearful and concerned. She didn't make any move to drive out of the diner parking lot. I didn't blame her.
"He showed up at my work with a couple of his friends. They jumped my co-worker, beat him up, and tried to drag me to Andrew's truck. I got away and ran until I saw someone. They took off."
"Oh my God." Jenna looked ill. She opened her door and lurched out of the car toward the snowy ditch and began to vomit. I winced. I kept forgetting she was pregnant, although I honestly hadn't thought my bit of news would upset her like that. I took a steadying breath—listening to someone throw up was never a pleasant experience.
"Are you okay?" I asked when Jenna had finally stopped vomiting and returned to the car.
"I'm fine," she said, turning to face me. "Okay…so I'm not fine. Not at all."
"Neither am I," I confessed. "Honestly? I'm a little scared. I feel like I'm being hunted."
Jenna nodded, understanding. She looked scared too.
"Has he...has he tried to contact you or anything?" I asked after a moment of silence. Jenna shook her head. "Well, that's good at least."
"What do I do?" she whispered. I wasn't sure if she was asking me or asking herself.
"I think that you do need to press charges. About what he did," I told her gently.
She bit down hard on her lower lip. "I…I can't. If I do that, I have to tell my parents and I'm just not ready yet…" she trailed off, looking ashamed. She wouldn't meet my eyes, and I knew it was because she thought I was angry at her for not coming forward with what I was experiencing. The truth was a part of me was angry. I didn't want to look over my shoulder for the rest of my days. I didn't want to dread leaving work. I didn't want to feel scared and anxious, but I could see the toll that everything had taken on Jenna. I sighed heavily.
"It's alright, Jenna. I just thought you should know…and maybe think about pressing charges. I don't think Andrew's going to go away, or stop what he's doing. There will be more girls, too." I didn't voice my fear: that I would end up one of them. Andrew's interest in me was alarming.
"His dad is the Chief of Police," Jenna reminded me, although her argument was weakening and she knew it. Regardless of who his father is Andrew shouldn't be getting away with the kind of things he was doing.
"So what?" I rolled my eyes. "If you come forward, I'll testify with what I saw. I'll also testify with the two occasions that Andrew's tried to hurt me."
"Two?" Jenna interrupted, surprised.
"Yeah. He chased me when I was walking home from work just after the party. But it was daylight, and I…ran into someone," I said. "Anyway, his dad is going to see the evidence piled against Junior and not be able to do a thing."
"He can still make my life hell, and this baby's," Jenna whispered, eyes on her steering wheel.
"That won't happen," I replied. "I've done some research. No matter what happens, leave him off the birth certificate. He will have no rights to anything, considering how the baby was conceived."
"I don't know, okay!" Jenna looked utterly and completely torn.
"I'm not saying any of this to upset you," I told her. "I hope you know that."
Jenna sighed, looking away. "I know that. It's just…"
"Hard," I finished. "I know that. But trust me, that doesn't go away if you try to forget it."
"How would you know?" Jenna asked accusingly.
It was my turn to look away. "Because it's happened to me. An entire basketball team drugged and raped me. I didn't press charges, and they're still walking free like it hadn't happened."
Jenna opened and closed her mouth, speechless. "Sorry," she said finally. "I hadn't realized."
"It's okay," I quickly said. "That's not the point. The point is I wish I had pressed charges, because guys like that don't deserve to walk free."
Jenna sighed again, wrapping her arms around her body. "I'd…I have to think about it."
"That's all I'm asking."
* * *
The remainder of the weekend was both uneventful and intense. Jenna and I hung out at her house until eight o’clock, watching movies and talking about anything but what we'd discussed when I first got into her car. I texted Iain when I was ready to leave, and he met me a few blocks away from Jenna's house so that I wouldn't have to walk. We watched scary movies, just as we had planned. Only I couldn't focus.
I was so tired from the attack on Friday and the heavy conversation with Jenna. Plus, all the anxiety and emotions I was carting around, and I couldn't stop thinking about Lauren. The anniversary of her death had crept up, and I felt exactly how I expected to feel.
Iain tried to get me to talk to him about it, but aside from giving him short answers, I couldn't really spill it all. He understood, not demanding more than I could give.
My exhaustion finally caught up with me, and I slept in, missing my entire first period and half of second period. I rushed to catch the tail end of my second period class. I nearly ran into someone in the hallway, and would have fallen back if two hands hadn't steadied me. I looked up into Jake's face, feeling relieved. For a split second, I had almost feared that it was going to be Andrew or one of his friends. My nerves were still frayed.
"Hey," he said softly.
"Hi." I backed away, looking at him curiously. He dropped his hands to his sides.
"Are you okay?" he demanded. He frowned, studying me carefully, as if checking for bruises.
"I'm fine…why?"
"Ryan," Jake said in a clipped tone, his eyes narrowing slightly. "He's Troy's cousin. I heard what happened. Grapevine is saying that you're saying Andrew did it."
"Andrew and his friends, yes," I replied. "How is Ryan?"
"He's okay. He'll live," Jake told me. He glanced around, making sure that nobody was within earshot of us.
"What is it, Jake? Why are you being so sketchy?" I asked, feeling nervousness bubbling up.
"Andrew," Jake said, glancing around again.
"What about Andrew?" I was beginning to lose my patience.
"There was this one girl a few years back who tried to press charges," Jake answered, giving me a funny look. "She got run out of town."
I frowned. "Jenna hasn't pressed charges yet."
"I'm just saying be careful," Jake said seriously. "The both of you. I want that shit to stop as much as you do, but be careful. There's an old quote: don't cross the Coopers."
"Is the entire town afraid of the Coopers?" I griped. "They're just people."
"You think Andrew is bad?" Jake's tone was sharp. "His old man is five times worse. And he's Chief of Police."
"What does that even mean?" I asked, raising my arms in annoyance. I felt confident that surely any jury or judge would see past this trivial nonsense and toss Andrew were he belonged—on the registered sex offender list—and Andrew's dad, Carl, away in jail for abusing his position of power and apparently covering up all these incidents.
"I hope you don't find out." Jake's voice was serious. I opened my mouth to reply, but we were interrupted.
"Shouldn't you two be in class?" Iain's voice startled me. He was a couple feet away, standing in the hallway and frowning deeply.
"Sorry, Mr. B, on our way now." Jake shrugged, giving him a careless grin. Jake gave me another pointed look that said We'll talk more later, and continued walking do
wn the hall toward the men's bathroom.
I was suddenly aware that the hallway was now completely empty, and Iain was only a few steps away from me. I think he was aware of it too. He took a deep breath and sighed. I felt him reach out and gently touch my arm as I passed him. I shot him a surprised look, then quickly checked that nobody had caught it.
"See you after?" he mouthed. I nodded and kept walking as the bell rang, signaling the end of second period.
I sat through the rest of the day with an icy feeling in the pit of my stomach that felt heavier than the feeling I'd woken up with.
* * *
I had to work after school, but I texted Iain that I would see him after my shift. I walked quickly to work, hugging my arms to my chest—and not just because the early November air bit against my exposed skin. The icy feeling in the pit of my stomach hadn't lessened as the day wore on; it grew even more. I tried to choke back the panic that now came with simply walking to work alone. I kept glancing around, obsessively checking for a blue truck or anyone following me.
I rushed into the diner and quickly changed into my uniform, grateful for the warmth. Danielle was already working, greeting people with a large grin on her face. I wondered if she had heard about Ryan yet. When she turned away from her customer, the look on her face told me that yes, she had. Her pretty, easy smile was replaced with a look of gnawing worry as she approached me. She put a gentle, tiny hand on my arm and examined me with her green eyes.
"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice soft so as to not draw attention to us. I nodded, trying to find my brave face and put it on. All I could find were images from Friday night and the fresh memory of the panic I'd felt, the panic I still felt.
"Ryan is—"
"Doing better," Danielle assured me. "Once I heard, I visited him at the hospital. He's supposed to be released today. He'll be off work for a week."
"Oh," I said, surprised. I hadn't expected Danielle would know more than me. I looked at her, curious. "You visited him?"
She blushed, her cheeks glowing pink under her pretty freckles, and laughed uneasily. "Yeah, I did. I needed to see him. Make sure he was okay."
I nodded, accepting her answer as it was, and headed to the back to change into my uniform.
I tried to loosen up, to not let that icy feeling completely turn me into a rigid robot. It was hard to slip into my diner girl role, and it took some time, but I did so about an hour after my shift started.
It was fairly busy for a Monday night, but I still had plenty of time to do some side work alongside Danielle while she chatted animatedly about her Saturday night and taking Liam trick-or-treating for the first time.
As Danielle was finishing up the tale about how Liam had started bawling his eyes out after a scary wolf gave him Halloween candy, the diner door chimed as it was pushed open. A gust of cold wind rustled my hair, and I distractedly turned to see who'd come in.
It was Andrew Cooper and an older man that looked remarkably like him, dressed in his police uniform with his Chief of Police badge proudly displaced. I froze, petrified, as they made their way over to my section. Danielle had fallen silent and stiff beside me as she watched my reaction.
"What's wrong?" Danielle asked, her voice full of concern. She tenderly touched my arm and looked at me with her wide green eyes. I realized that she had no idea that one of the people who had jumped Ryan was Andrew.
"It's…nothing," I muttered, swallowing hard. I wanted to tell her, but I wanted to avoid a scene at the diner, too. Other customers were eating. I grabbed some menus and headed over to their table, forcing myself to appear calm and composed as my stomach rolled with nerves and disgust.
"Good evening," I said, too formally to be friendly. "What can I get you to start?" I gave myself major kudos for my voice not shaking or wavering. I sounded self-assured and polite.
"We'll both get coffees to start," the man—Carl Cooper—said as he eyed me with keen interest.
I nodded, walking off to get the coffee, my head spinning with Jake's warnings. I brought them their coffees with a forced smile on my face, much to Andrew's delight. I met both their stares with one of my own, not breaking eye contact until they did first. I wanted to appear unafraid and determined, not like a scared little mouse that would bend at their will. Because I wouldn't.
"I'll be back soon to take your orders," I told them, heading off to the kitchen window to grab plates for some of my other tables. I forced myself to be professional, even though I wanted more than anything to leap across the table and claw Andrew's eyes out. That would knock the sly smile and cocky expression off his face. But I knew I couldn't do that.
When I came back to take their orders, they were ready.
"I'll have the steak and potatoes," Carl said, closing the menu and setting it down.
"I'll have the double burger with fries." Andrew grinned, eyeing me with a disgusting glint in his eyes as he shoved his menu out of the way. I wrote down their orders, took their menus and headed back to the counter where Danielle was watching me with a very concerned look on her face.
"What's going on?" she whispered.
I took a steadying breath and reached inside my bag, leaning down behind the counter to quickly text Iain. I had to let him know that I would be late getting to him. There was no way I wanted to chance walking to his house after this encounter. I clicked send with shaky hands, peering up at Danielle. She was still watching me with an overly concerned look on her face, and sadness too.
"It's…nothing," I said again. I wanted to tell her, I did. "I just don't feel very well. I'll be fine."
"It's him, isn't it?" Danielle whispered, crouching down so she was level with me. I nodded, looking at her for a reaction. "I was afraid so. My friend had an…encounter with him a few months ago."
I stood up quickly, making sure I brought up more napkins from under the cash cubby. Danielle followed suit, and we began folding napkins in relative silence until the kitchen bell dinged, alerting us an order was up.
I walked over to the order window, grabbing the two plates that waited for me, and walked back to the last table on earth I wanted to serve.
"Enjoy," I said, my forced smile now gone.
"Oh, I'm sure we will." Andrew's voice was full of unspoken innuendo. I met his leering gaze with a challenging one of my own, my chin held high. I couldn't think of a single thing to say, but I was hoping the look of ice I sent him would say all that I couldn't. I turned around and headed back to the cash counter.
Danielle was serving a few of her customers their orders, so I was alone at the counter folding napkins for a few minutes. I kept glancing in the Coopers' direction, catching Andrew staring at me with open intent. I inwardly shivered.
The diner bell chimed again, and another customer walked in. I looked over, quickly schooling the shock on my face as Iain made his way to my section, to a table in the back corner where he could easily see the cash counter and the Coopers' table. He didn't spare me a glance, and had his briefcase with him. He sat down, organizing some papers out of his briefcase. He looked at me then, well out of the Coopers' line of sight.
I grabbed a menu for him, knowing full well that Carl and Andrew were still watching. I walked over to Iain's table and handed him the menu. "What can I get for you this evening?" I asked, my voice softer. I was grateful he was there, but a fear welled up in the bottom of my stomach. I sent him a look that clearly said, what are you doing here?
"I'd just like some coffee today, please," Iain said, giving me a look that said, as if I would leave you alone with these two. It was bittersweet how easily we could read each other's secret looks.
I nodded, heading over to grab him a coffee, still chewing over Jake's warning and the fact that Andrew didn't seem to be scared or worried that I'd seen him last night and named him as one of the people who had jumped Ryan and me.
I didn't know what their intentions were by coming into the diner and staring at me the whole time while they ate, but the feeling in my
gut told me it wasn't good.
The Coopers stayed entirely too long for my liking, eating their meals and their desserts painfully slow. Iain kept his eyes on them the entire time—and me as well. He noted every look Andrew gave me, every leer and unspoken innuendo, with his jaw set as he drank his coffee.
Finally, Andrew and Carl paid for their bill and left. They tipped me nearly twenty dollars, which I immediately wanted to give to Danielle.
"Keep it," she told me, shivering.
"You said something earlier,” I said. “About your friend?" I was finally able to ask now that they'd gone.
"Yeah." Danielle sighed. "Rachel. She went to a party with a couple of our mutual friends—I didn't go, of course. But she went. He was there. She had just one drink and ended up alone with him."
"I can imagine the rest." I frowned, feeling sick.
She nodded sadly. "Yeah, it was vile. She—she was really hurt during it. Bleeding and…" Danielle took a deep breath.
"Would Rachel want to press charges?" I asked hopefully. Maybe if I got more of Andrew's victims to speak up, it would be an open-and-shut thing.
"Rachel can't," Danielle said sadly. "She's dead. She killed herself."
"Oh my god." My jaw dropped. "I'm so sorry, Danielle. I had no idea!"
"It's not your fault," Danielle assured me, her green eyes full of sadness as she glanced toward the door. The look behind her expression made it obvious whose fault it had been. My lips froze around telling her that Andrew had also jumped Ryan, the look on her face melting my words.
* * *
Iain waited until my shift was almost over to leave and sent me a text saying he'd be in the parking lot waiting to drive me home. I knew he didn't want me walking anywhere alone.
Danielle was in a quiet, sad, reserved mood that I'd never seen her in before. She was so distracted with her thoughts that she didn't even notice Iain's presence, nor did she comment on his good looks and the way he looked at me. I felt sick, knowing the cause of her turmoil. I knew the pain of losing a friend all too well.
Collide Series Box Set Page 9
