Page 111 of Caught Up

“But he’s like this now,” Greg said. “He’sbeenlike this for years. And he isn’t going to get any better if nothing changes.”

Mom darted her glance among me, Alec, and Greg.

“He was about to release me,” I said. Not because I was defending my father but because I couldn’t bear to see the look of abject misery on my mother’s face, like the last of her hope was fading away. “When I said ‘Dad’ he seemed to come back to himself and realize what he was doing.”

“You should still go to teach him a lesson,” a low voice said. We turned to see Stefan standing nearby, a bag slung over his shoulder. “We all should.”

With that, he left, and for some reason, I had a feeling that none of us were going to see him for a long, long time.

Mom met my eyes. “You go first. He could wake up, and if you’re still here, he might find a way to make everything worse than it already is.”

“Are you sure?” I said.

“Yes. I’ll be fine.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks and shook her head. “I’ve dealt with worse shite than this before.”

“Go,” Alec said.

Not needing to be told again, I grabbed Lauren’s hand and led her out of the room, feeling her fingers tremble in my grip. Or maybe it was mine that were shaking.

“Are you okay?” Lauren asked as we neared the front door.

I paused just long enough to pull her into a hug. “Yeah, you?”

“I think so?”

A grin tugged at my lips. “Thanks for saving my ass. It was hot. Maybe Iaminto taser play.”

She shook her head, tugging me down for a quick, hard kiss. “What can I say? My savior kink took over.”

We walked outside and found Josh and Aly near the far bushes, Josh bent over at the waist, Aly rubbing his back.

“He okay?” I called.

“Yeah,” she said, heading our way. “He’s justdry-heavingnow.”

I eyed Josh’s back, wondering what in the fuck had happened to him that the smell of burning flesh made him puke. And then I recalled who his father was and immediately decided I didn’t want to know.

“I can’t fucking believe that piece of shit,” Aly said, glaring back toward the house. She turned, clutching Lauren’s face, taking in her ruined dress. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Lauren said.

Aly released her and rounded on me. “Come here.”

I opened my mouth to tell her I was fine, too—his hands had only been on me for a few seconds—but she was already moving, tipping my head back so she could check me over, suddenly all business.

“Does this hurt?” she asked.

“No.”

“How about this?”

“No.”

She poked and prodded until I finally pulled away. “He didn’t really hurt me, I was just...”

Lauren threaded her fingers through mine. “Shocked?”

I looked down at her and nodded.

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