Page 12 of Degradation
‘You were MIA for hours. Anything could have happened, and you need the means to contact someone in a situation like that. If you need help.’
‘For when youlet me out of the house?’ she spits. ‘You’re right. Anything could have happened to agirl like me.’
I wince. ‘I’m sorry for what those asshole fake cops said.’
I see her jaw tick. ‘They acted like I was…’
My hands tighten on the steering wheel. ‘I know. But I’ll make sure they can never do that again.’
She rolls her eyes as she turns her head to look out the passenger window.
‘I mean it. Why do you think I got their names, Daisy? They’ll be gone by Monday.’
She doesn’t say anything as we turn into the KIP house’s long driveway. The building comes into view a moment later. The lights are still on, but all is quiet. I don’t see anyone around.
As soon as I stop the car, I’m afraid she’s going to bolt, or at least try to. But she doesn’t. She just sits there, staring at the house. She doesn’t even take off the seatbelt.
I want to ask her what happened tonight. I want to hear everything in her words. But I think she’ll clam up and not tell me a thing if I push anymore.
She’s tired and covered in scratches and bruises. She was missing for half the night. Her bare feet look like they need actual medical attention. But I’m not going to subject her to a hospital tonight.
Mav can patch her up.
I’ll just make everything worse. She doesn’t trust me. And why should she?
I get out and walk around the car, opening the door for her. My phone buzzes and I see that, as I suspected, the guys have done what I asked. The route through the house is cleared all the way upstairs. No one’s going to be ogling her when she goes inside. At least we can made sure the night doesn’t get worse for her.
I check my watch and let out a breath. It’s three in the morning. The past few hours have been some of the worst of my life and that’s saying something.
‘Let’s get you upstairs,’ I murmur, but she makes no move to get out of the car.
She just stares at the house.
‘They’ll be dealt with, too’ I vow.
She looks up at me, her face showing nothing.
‘Marcus, Rob, and Pete. I’ll make sure they pay, Daisy. I promise.’
She winces at mypromiseand, somehow, that makes me feel even worse. She doesn’t say anything.
‘Mav and Blake are upstairs. Lu too. Are you coming up, or do you want me to take you somewhere else?’
‘Somewhere else?’
I barely hear her she’s so quiet.
‘A hotel, or something?’ I clarify.
She wrinkles her nose and finally takes off her seatbelt, swinging her legs out of the car slowly and holding onto the door to pull herself up.
I frown as she shuffles toward the door with her bare feet. Her limp is even more pronounced than it was when we left the rent-a-cops’ office. My hands clench into fists as I recall the way they talked about her, the tight cuffs they put on her. But I can’t focus on that now, nor on how much they’re going to suffer for how they handled Daisy tonight.
‘Daisy, stop.’
She freezes and turns to look back at me.
‘Can I...pick you up? I can take you upstairs. You can’t walk all the way up there like that.’
