Page 13 of Girl Like Me

“And what is so scary about him?” I’m still caught up on the abusive boyfriend, so much that if I don’t keep talking, I’ll force him to turn the car around and go back so I can beat that asshole senseless.

“From what I know, which isn’t much, Echo runs drugs for her uncle and I know that her father would have been furious if he found out she was seeing him.”

With all this new information to take in, I send a group text and tell all the guys to meet at Rory’s in a few hours. His mother is still in the psych hospital, so he should have the house to himself.

Oliver insists on driving me all the way to Rory’s house, I did say I could get a ride but he said it was a good excuse to be away from that horrible auction. He drops me by the gate and after we exchange numbers he speeds away leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. I doubt I would ever be friends with him but it could come in handy to have someone on the inside.

When I walk into the main foyer, I make my way to the stairs and take them two at a time.

“What the hell is this about?” Rory snaps. His drinking has started to get out of control. He looks like he hasn’t even bothered to shower since I left.

“This better be good, Lissa has been on my ass about staying home more.” I understand why she is doing that, she doesn’t trust Levi not to go after JD. Her and Deacon have been managing their shifts so someone is always home with him.

“I saw JD tonight.” That was enough to get their attention, Maximus looks up from his phone, Levi stares at me and Rocky’s mouth hangs open.

“She was at the event.” Rory slurs. That asshole knew she would be, that explains why he wanted to avoid it.

“Did she look okay?” Rocky asks, pacing the room.

“I found out some stuff and I wanted to fill you all in but we need a plan because that world is toxic, and we need to have a conversation with Lissa and Deacon.” I run them through everything Oliver told me, then everything that happened from the moment I walked into that ballroom, to the second I stormed out. Levi looks about ready to burst a blood vessel in his neck when he finds out Mac had been in contact with JD and didn’t tell us. I manage to calm him down with the plan to pay him a visit later tonight. Maximus works his magic on the laptop and has Bristol's social media accounts pulled up in minutes.

We spend the next hour scouring through videos and photos, everything she posted before us. She is a different person than what she was. Everything since she has been back is the girl we know, her eyes are softer and she isn’t trying so hard to uphold an image. It seems her followers are torn, some like the new and improved Bristol and some want the old one back.

Rocky grabs Rory’s keys when we decide to head to Levi’s, he races down stairs telling Rory he isn’t driving tonight.

We make the short trip to Levi’s duplex, luckily Lissa is home because we need some answers. Once we are parked on the side of the road, I glance over my shoulder to find Rory has fallen asleep in the back of my car. Maximus helps me carry him inside and we dump him on the couch because the trip up two flights of stairs with a huge man baby isn’t going to happen.

“What are you boys all doing here?” Lissa asks coming down the stairs dressed in her pyjamas and bunny slippers, it’s hard to take her seriously like this.

“We need some answers Liss before we do something really stupid.” She sighs, but doesn’t seem surprised. She sits on the recliner and tells us all to take a seat. We all sit on the floor thanks to sleeping beauty on the couch.

“Ask away, but be warned there is only so much I can tell you.”

“Do you know who her father is?” I question her.

“Yes and I can’t say much more than that.” She looks at us all but doesn’t budge on any extra information.

“Is she in danger?” Rocky asks. Liss turns to face him, clearly thinking how to answer that question, her delay in answering tells me everything I need to know.

“Right now, no. We are monitoring her very closely and her father knows that.”

“Do you know why JD is so determined to stay with her parents until her memories come back?” Levi asks.

“She thinks it will help Rory’s case, but we need her to get her memories back and being in a familiar environment may speed up the process.”

“Why do you as a police officer need her memories back?”

“She is a witness in an investigation and her memories could lead to a conviction.” she says with a shrug of her shoulders like it’s no big deal.

“Are you serious?” I yell, jumping up from the floor as rage simmers in my bloodstream. “You’re basically making her a sitting duck, if she gets her memories back and they find out her life could be in danger.”

“She won’t tell them if she gets them back, I have already spoken to her about it.” Lissa states fidgeting in her chair.

“So tell me if I’m wrong aunt Liss but she’s seen something she shouldn’t have, her parents locked her away so she was mentally unable to testify, she conveniently loses her memory and Rory helps her escape but someone ends up finding her and she gets beaten for unknown reasons. You know as well as I do that it could’ve been her father, her abusive boyfriend or some drug dealer from the wrong side of the tracks among others but the police think sending her into the wolf’s den to help your cause was the best idea.”

“We really didn’t have a choice, Levi. He is innocent until proven guilty. They had all her paperwork from the hospital, and it was all legit. Their solicitor is a shark, he cleared her to go home with her family.”

“Could she leave if she wanted to? She is seventeen.” Rocky gets up from the floor and starts pacing the room, talking at the same time. “Could they force her to go home if she didn’t want to?”

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