Page 31 of Beauty and the Nerd
Millersburg was a town nearly an hour away from them. It was just slightly smaller than theirs, making her curious why someone from there would want to speak to her.
“I don’t know that I’ll be any help on anything but okay,” she stated. She hadn’t done anything wrong. Whatever was going on couldn’t get her in trouble, so she didn’t have any worries about it.
“I’ll be in my office if you need anything else,” Ms. Bentley said, closing the door behind her as the man held out his hand her way.
“I’m sorry about the timing of this,” he stated, when she was seated. “I wasn’t aware of your accident this weekend until I reached the Cutler Police Department earlier this morning to get some information from the detective there. I’d like to ask you some questions if that’s alright? It’s entirely voluntary to talk with me and if you’d like to have your parents present, I can arrange a time to do this later today.”
“It’s alright, I don’t need them here. I’m feeling fine other than a few bouts of sleepiness here and there.” She looked at the man, wondering what exactly he was here for, especially if he wasn’t asking about the creep that tried to hurt her this weekend. “Can you tell me what this is about?”
“I’m working to gather information to help support an arrest warrant for Carter Donovan,” the detective said, making her eyeswiden in shock. “You’re acquainted with him from what I’ve learnt.”
“We were dating, last semester, until we were involved in a car accident.”
“Where you were injured due to his attempt to force you into performing a sexual act on him?” he asked, and she shut her eyes for a moment, shuddering, recalling it. “Emma, I assure you that whatever you say will stay between us unless you give me permission to share it. I was called to the hospital in Millersburg this weekend for a sixteen-year-old assault victim. She named her assailant as the boy she had been seeing the last two weeks—Carter Donovan. In running his background, the complaint that you filed against him for the accident as well as for spraining your newly healed wrist came up and it can help in getting the arrest warrant issued. He claims he has an alibi and that he wasn’t with the victim when the assault happened. To get DNA to confirm he was in fact the assailant, we need to be able to issue the arrest warrant. What happened to you shows that he has a precedence for violent sexual behavior and should allow us to get that DNA, especially as his alibi is weak—that he was home alone watching a basketball game on TV.”
“What do you need to know?” Emma asked, her heart hurting knowing someone else out there had to deal with Carter in that way. Or from the sound of it, worse.
“I need to know about that night. You said in the complaint that you asked him to take you home because he made sexual overtures that you were not comfortable with, and then in the vehicle, he grabbed you, pulling you towards him when the accident happened, resulting in your injuries. To get a signature on an arrest warrant or order for DNA, I need to know in more detail what happened. If you allow, I can record it and hopefully, not have to ask any follow-up questions later.”
She agreed to it, before telling him the whole story and not the condensed, light version she’d given the police in front of her dad. “We’d been at the lake for hours, probably at least four by the time I demanded Carter take me home. It was no more than twenty, maybe thirty minutes after we’d arrived that he started to try and sway me into sleeping with him. At first, it was just attempting deeper kisses, some attempts at groping, but as the hours went by, it became constant. His hands were always touching me somewhere, his arm over my shoulder, around me, trying to sneak in grabs. When I would tell him to stop, he’d get angry.
“Twice, he’d grabbed me and shoved me against the wall. That was when I knew I needed to get out of there. The last time he grabbed me was enough to leave a bruise on my arm. Even when I told him to take me home, he was still trying to talk me into the bedroom with him. It wasn’t until we were around others, and I demanded to go home that he relented. I thought I’d be safe in the truck, so I didn’t tell my friends what he’d done in the house. I was going to break up with him when I got home, tell him to stay away or I’d tell my dad what he tried. We’d been on the road for maybe ten minutes. He was still furious and then he grabbed me.
“He pushed the seatbelt out of the way so he could pull me towards him. His hand was tight on the back of my neck, forcing me down. His pants were undone, and he shoved my face into his groin, rubbing it against…” Emma stopped, forcing back the absolute disgust that hit, recalling the feel of his hand on her neck, forcing her lips against his skin. “He rubbed my face against his penis, until he had it against my lips. I pushed on his leg with my hands, fighting against his hold on my neck. He let go of the wheel and jerked my head up by the hair, a sick smile on his lips. Then pushed my face back against his penis again, his hold on my neck tightening. The next thing I knew,I was flying forward, my head smashing into the steering wheel, it sent me further upward and I crashed into the dash first with my head and then with my arm as it came down, causing a small break in it. I didn’t even care how much I hurt in that moment because I knew the crash had kept me from anything worse happening with him.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police this when it first happened?” the man asked her after a couple other questions to clarify a couple pieces, and she sighed, not about to admit the duplicity of her relationship with Ben and have anyone call her a liar.
“A few reasons. My dad’s protective, especially when it comes to me and boys. If he knew what happened, especially on top of me being hurt in an accident, then he would have done something stupid. I didn’t want him to go to jail so I said I didn’t remember what happened, pretended I didn’t know anyone other than my mom. It also kept Carter from trying anything else. I was scared when he saw me in the hospital just after I woke up, worried what he might do if I told anyone the truth. He just looked so angry, pissed at me, and I wasn’t up to any sort of altercation or argument with as much as my head hurt at that moment. Every time I saw him, he was still angry, and I just wanted to find a way to get him away from me for good.
“The week when I was first back at school, he kept trying to touch me and I finally had to admit that I remembered in order to break it off with him. He didn’t want me to be the one to be seen as ending it and attempted to make me look bad in front of everyone by saying he wanted a girlfriend that wasn’t stuck up,” she added pulling a nod from him. “When we were at the mall, he was furious to see me with my new boyfriend, even if he didn’t know he was my boyfriend at the time. Carter used to bully Ben physically in junior high and early high school, and he still verbally tries to bully him. He grabbed me at the mall that day and I kneed him in the groin trying to get him to let me go.He sprained my wrist and almost reseparated the spot that’d just healed.”
“Would you be willing to testify to what happened the night of the accident and at the mall if needed?” the detective asked, making her heart race with a bit of worry.
“Yes,” she told him, certain she wouldn’t have to. If Carter really did assault the other girl, and she suspected he had with what he’d done to her, he surely wouldn’t risk a trial if there was proof, especially not if there was DNA.
“Thank you. If you sign this statement that says we met today, and you are the individual on the recording, that should be enough for now. If I need anything else, I’ll call and have the police department here schedule something. For now,” he warned after she’d signed the statement, the office secretary notarizing it for him, “do not let Carter know we’ve spoken. You were right to be worried about what he’d do after the accident. Based on what we’ve gathered, it seems he’s an extremely angry individual and someone who’s already assaulted one will do it again, especially if he’s worried you may talk. The police department will be making regular trips by your house to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. If you’re out by yourself and you see Carter, do not engage him in any way. Get somewhere public or back to your vehicle and call the police immediately. Don’t take any risks and don’t confront him.”
“I’ve had two concussions in the past three months that have sidelined my life, Detective. I’m not about to risk anything else happening now. I’m not even allowed to drive thanks to this newest concussion and some swelling it’s caused, so I won’t be anywhere alone. My boyfriend won’t begin to let something happen to me, and since the others now know that Carter tried to assault me, they’re not letting him near me here at school as well. I’m not about to go seek him out,” she said, giving him a half-smile before he left, letting her head to her next class.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Ben asked, catching her in the hallway between sixth and seventh period. He turned her towards him as she stood at her locker, her shoulders tense, seeing Carter moving down the hallway laughing as he shoved some freshman into a wall.
“Nothing we can talk about here,” she said, kissing his cheek before she grabbed her books for the last two hours of the day.
Ben took them, guiding them down to their seventh period class they had together this semester. He settled into the seat next to her turning her way when their teacher handed out assignments rather than lecture due to losing her voice. “Do you want to talk about it now? Or I can take you home, say you’re too shaky to handle the rest of the hour and next?”
It wasn’t really a lie. She was tired, yes, but learning what Carter did to another girl had her shaking inside and she wouldn’t say no to getting away from him sooner.
“Come on,” Ben said softly, helping her up from the seat, stopping them at their teacher who nodded giving her a sympathetic smile before letting them head to the office to sign out for the day.
“Take her straight home, Ben,” Ms. Bentley said, not arguing in the least and Emma suspected the woman was well aware what the accusations against Carter were, why the detective had talked to her.
“Okay, what’s going on, Em? That was entirely too easy to sign out, even with the school knowing you’re not to overdo it, they still generally check with parents first. Add in Ms. Bentley telling me to take you straight home…something happened,” Ben said as he drove her home. “What has you so spooked?”
“Ms. Bentley wasn’t the one that wanted to see me. She was just relaying me to a detective from Millersburg who was here asking questions about Carter,” she explained, telling him what had happened after making him swear he wouldn’t tell anyoneabout it. “They’re supposed to have police driving by to keep an eye out for anything in case Carter learns they talked to me,” she added when he pulled into the driveway behind where her car sat in the garage. Her parents would be able to get theirs parked fine no matter how long Ben stayed.
“Good, I’m not leaving your side while we’re out, baby. I won’t let anything hurt you,” he promised guiding her inside and up to her room. She changed into something comfy, moving back into the space seeing Ben sitting at her desk, going through her social media pages on her laptop to check on mentions of Carter. She’d told him he could months ago since he didn’t have one of his own. There was nothing to hide from Ben. He knew everything about her—well, almost everything.
“Ben…” The softness of his name drew his attention to her, and he pulled her down onto his lap, his eyes studying her tense face in wonder.
