Page 93 of A Lesson in Obedience
I heard a phone buzz and Corrin cursed under her breath. She took it out and looked at the screen. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that it was her mom.
She hit ignore, giving me her attention again. “Riley, we have to go. We have to go now.”
“Mari–Marianne.”
“Marianne? Your friend? What about her?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but forming words was hard. I frantically licked my lips and tried again. “H-he kill–” My voice cracked and I took a deep breath, staring right at Teresa’s body. “He killed her. Right in front of me. So much blood and I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t save my dad. I wanted to save you guys.” I closed my eyes and tears doubled over, sliding down my cheeks. “Does this make me a bad person?” I blinked over to her and Corrin was looking back at me, her eyes glassy as if she wanted to cry herself.
She tentatively touched my head. “No, Riley. I’m so sorry about Marianne. I—I know you cared about her, but that man killed her for no reason. You did this out of self-defense. You are not the bad guy.”
I nodded, towards the ground. “W-we have to call the p-police.”
She hummed. “Okay, we can do that from the car. We need to go back to the hotel and clean you up. I need to clean up Jade as well.”
“N-no, w-we need to d-do it now.” I heard the vibration in my voice.
“Riley. No. We need to get you away from here. This is all too much for you right now” She let her fingers touch my wet cheek. “We will call. I promise. Please come with me.”
I moved almost robotically when I started to get up. My mouthopened but all that came out were sobs and Corrin grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into her. She spoke into my hair. “I’m so sorry any of this happened to you.”
I felt immobile when they got me into the car, buckling my seatbelt. Jade kept telling Corrin she was fine as she put pressure on her arm, blood trickling down past her elbow. Her face gave it away that she was in pain, but she didn’t speak about it. Corrin gripped the steering wheel tightly, then adjusted her glasses on her face and shook her shoulders before putting the car in reverse.
I let out shallow breaths, tears continuing to move down my face. The house got further away and with one hand Corrin grabbed her phone and dialed 911. I looked out the window, trying not to scream. I could have passed out at this very moment, but I was terrified that I would be back in that room with a man who claimed to want me to have all the power in the world, but now I’d used that power for…this.
Shakily, I took my phone out and dialed the one person I wanted to talk to right now.
He answered almost instantly, but I couldn’t speak when I heard his voice. The smooth sound of it, the comforting tone, it made me want to cry even harder.
“R-river, can y-you please….” I started, but it was so difficult to get my words out. I noticed Corrin had hung up the phone and I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I-I don’t know w-what I d-did. R-river please. I n-need you.”
34
Riley
PRESENT
Iheard Jade hiss from the other side of the door. Before I’d closed myself in the bathroom, I saw her sitting on the edge of the bed, her arm covered in bloody lines. I knew Corrin would heal her wound as painful as it might be, but what I did couldn’t be fixed and I didn’t deserve that anyway.
We’d stumbled into the hotel lobby, the front desk attendant remembering us and immediately yelling at Corrin. They scolded her about noise complaints from our room, the continuous barking and how if we didn’t get our shit together they would kick us out and charge for any damages caused. Even in pain, Jade moved in front of us and growled at the attendant, saying in the most lethal voice I’d ever heard to leave us the fuck alone.
The attendant audibly gulped and motioned for us to go ahead.
Beau threw himself in my arms when we’d gotten into the room and he’d definitely made a mess of the beds and deep claw markswere on the other side of the door. Pillows were thrown everywhere, and the mattresses were askew. It almost looked as if he’d created track marks into the carpet. He was at my feet now, while I sat on the bathroom floor, leaning against the tub.
I felt like my heart was going to explode from my chest and I kept flexing my fingers out and creating fists as if I had no feeling in them. Beau put his head on my knee, sighing.
Are you going to tell me what happened?
I shook my head.No.
I’m a good listener.
A tiny smile escaped my lips.I know. I just don’t want to say things out loud right now. Can you understand that?
He blinked at me, his ears twitching.I understand.He got up and walked over to me, nudging his face against my shoulder.I was so scared.
I reached up and scratched under his chin. “I don’t like scaring you. I just need to figure out how to breathe normally right now. I just feel like everything was going okay and then…”
