Page 26 of Unraveled

“Shouldn’t this one leave, too?” Brian’s cold, calculative voice came from behind me.

Tucker stiffened.

“I didn’t think it would hurt to let them have a moment. You’ve been wasting enough time yourself. Give Miss Donovan her turn, Mr. Hernandez.”

“Does it hurt?” Tucker asked, ignoring them.

“Some,” I admitted, my voice quivering. I leaned into him, not caring that I felt weak in his arms. Just needing him to hold me.

“Why don’t you sit down, princess?”

“No, this is perfect here.” I clung to him, burying my face further into his chest to drink in his smell and his presence.

“Izzy, come on. You need to sit.” Tucker lowered me back to my chair. “I’m right here.” He pulled up a seat beside mine, holding my hands in one of his as he squeezed my knee with the other. My chest swelled with his attention. How he knew I needed him.

“Mr. Pierce, you can’t stay. You’re going to have to leave,” Mr. Hiller finally said.

“Can’t,” he replied.

I hiccupped a laugh. God, I loved him.

“Of course, you can,” the principal argued.

“Okay, then. Won’t,” he corrected. I almost winced, not wanting him to get into trouble.

Pulling one of my hands free, I placed it over his cheek. “It’s okay, whiskey. I’ve got this. Go before you get in trouble.”

He tensed. Hesitant.

“Please. We’ll have plenty of time together tonight for you to chase any new demons away,” I whispered.

He dropped his head and then sighed, defeated before standing. “Tonight.” He squeezed my hand once more before locking eyes with my mom. “Take care of this.” Every bit of warning was there in his gaze if she failed.

Chapter 10

ISABEL

I sighed when Tucker left the room, knowing it was time to get back to the reality of the situation. Carefully wiping my damp eyes with my fingertips, I looked around. “I’m sorry about the disruptions, everyone. Ms. Lane, can we go ahead now?”

“I think that’s best,” she replied, opening the file to read.

We all listened in silence as the incidents were read aloud, except for a couple of muffled reactions to some of the more extreme encounters. There were a few times where I’d been asked to clarify things, like some specifics of some of the conversations Zane and I had had. Which was a bit awkward. Zane could get pretty detailed lately with how he wanted tohelpme.

And the whole time, Zane just sat there. Completely silent. I could say that much for him. He didn’t interrupt once. I hoped it was because he knew it wouldn’t do him any good to deny it, not after today with having witnesses and cameras, but I also had to remember that his parents were lawyers. He would know mostly when and when not to talk.

When we finally finished going through everything, I sagged back in my chair. Just recounting everything was exhausting. But it was all out in the open now. Our families knew everything. Now, we could get things settled and move on.

“Well…” Mr. Hiller said through a sigh as he linked his fingers across his wide belly. “There’s a lot to consider here. I wish a lot of this had been brought to my attention sooner.” He glanced at Ms. Lane.

“That was me,” I interrupted. “My condition for confiding everything with Ms. Lane was that she had to keep it between us. Unless she felt I was in real trouble.”

“I had to respect her choice. She was eighteen when she first brought this to me,” Ms. Lane added, her voice an apology. Whether it was for my mom or her boss, I wasn’t sure.

“That aside,” Mr. Hiller said with a stern expression. “There’s a lot that allegedly went on between these two. And I say allegedly because we do not have proof of it all.” He looked at me, something in the way he did telling me he believed me. He looked at Zane next. “Do you have anything to say about any of this, Mr. Hernandez?”

Zane’s mouth didn’t budge.

“No, he doesn’t,” his dad replied for him. “It’s all hearsay. Have none of you noticed that in every one of these incidents these two are alone? How do we know that Miss Donovan’s version is the truth? How do we know that she isn’t just an angry teen trying to get back at her ex over a bad breakup?”

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