Page 120 of Losing the Rhythm

“Time to go,” I said softly. “Laura is giving me a ride.”

“Okay,” George said, gently grabbing my arm. The moment I stepped inside the circle everyone created around me, I felt safer. I sighed, letting some of the tension leave my body.

The fear was still there in an angry knot, but at least I was now surrounded by people I knew would never hurt me.

Laura had managed to find an easy spot to pull up to. I got into the back seat, grabbing on to Justin, forcing him in the back with me.

“I’ll see you at the house,” Seth said.

“Okay,” I said.

He closed the door gently. I stared at Seth and Bryan as we pulled away.

“They’ll head to the house,” Justin said softly.

“Okay,” I whispered, curling closer to him. His body heat helped with the coldness that seemed to have taken over my body. Justin protectively wrapped his arm around me and no one said anything for the first half of the drive home.

“I should have been there,” Justin whispered just as I was dozing off.

I squeezed his arm. “Don’t. Don’t think like that. Not right now. Not even later.”

“But you were nearly…” He swallowed hard.

“Yeah.” My eyes watered. I didn’t even want to voice what could have happened to me. “But it didn’t happen, and I’m okay.”

Though I probably needed like twenty therapy sessions for the next few days.

“It’s so fucked,” he said. “That shouldn’t happen. Shit like that shouldn’t happen at all.”

“It happens,” Laura said. “We get calls more often than we like. All we can do is keep helping when we can. And punish those who try to believe repercussions don’t exist in this world.” Her voice had darkened at the end.

I wanted to ask how often calls like that were received, but my stomach tightened and for a moment, I thought I was going to throw up. I was a lucky one. I knew that. Laura did too. Didn’t make what happened any easier to process.

Shuddering from the heavy thoughts, I pushed into Justin more, needing all the warmth I could steal from him.

“Here.” He managed to slip out of his jacket without me moving away from him and wrapped it around me. It smelled just like him. Sighing, I slouched into its warmth. Justin practically pulled me into his lap.

Again, I felt the tears, but I fought against them.

“Who’s at your house?” Laura asked.

I blinked open sleepy eyes and tried to see into the darkness. I spotted the shape of the car and someone standing there.

“Is that your dad?” Justin asked.

“Might be,” I mumbled.

“Want me to stop?” Laura asked.

“I just want a hot bath and shower,” I admitted.

“Then we’ll go to Seth’s.” Laura passed by my house and pulled into Seth’s.

Laura hopped out first and leaned into Justin’s open door. “I’ll go talk to him for you?”

“Please,” I said.

She disappeared as Justin helped me out of the car. I glanced back to see two shadows talking as we headed inside. Bebe began making a racket in his crate the moment the door opened.

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