“I promise,” Lily said, hugging her mother again. Lily knew she would never tire of these hugs. From here on out, she’d mentally record each and every hug and kiss, every single moment of kindness she experienced.
Lily watched her mother disappear down the hall and she realized for the first time since they’d escaped from Rick, she was alone. Only this time it was different. It was so different. Rick was locked up. There was a guard stationed outside her room. She was wearing clean, comfortable clothes. She had food in her belly. Her daughter was safe. She had her life back. It was almost too much to comprehend.
Overwhelmed by her thoughts, Lily leaned back against the pillows. Her eyes slowly fluttered closed. Images of Rick in shackles, lying awake in a dark, dank room with other inmates screaming obscenities consumed her. She imagined the inmates tormenting him the way he’d tormented her.
“You stupid piece of shit.”
“You worthless maggot.”
“You’re no one. No one at all.”
She doubted that the criminals in the county jail could ever match his depravity. As Lily closed her eyes, she felt a wave of sadness wash over her, so profound she couldn’t quite explain it. The emotion was fleeting, almost as if she’d dreamt it. Lily forced the feeling away, letting sleep claim her. Rick was gone and she was free. That’s what she wanted. All she’d ever wanted.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
RICK
Lying on the cold metal cot, his hands cuffed so tightly he was losing circulation, Rick continued replaying the day’s events over and over again, trying to reconcile where he’d gone wrong, how this had happened.
At first when he’d spotted Lily outside his classroom, wearing that ridiculously oversized sweatshirt, her blond hair in a messy braid, he thought it had to be the other one. It couldn’t be his Lily. His baby doll would never break the rules. She’d never violate his trust.
But then she made eye contact and he knew it was Lily. That was his girl, standing in the middle of the hallway, surrounded by police, staring at him with an expression he hadn’t seen in years—one of total defiance. He couldn’t believe her insolence, but there wasn’t time to react. The cops descended upon him, shouting and yelling, bending his arms back, cuffing him as they read him his rights.
A feverish hysteria grew in his classroom, the kids’ excitement building and their iPhone cameras flashing. He noticed students filming videos, which he knew they’d probably already uploaded to various websites, hashtagging and geotagging, sharing them on YouTube channels and Instagram profiles. Within moments, he’d known his undoing would be transmitted to the masses. But all he kept thinking was, How? How could she have deceived him? After all the training, all those hours and days and weeks he’d spent teaching her what she needed to know, making her love him the same way he loved her, she’d done this. Trapped him in public like some pathetic animal, humiliated in front of the world. This betrayal was unbearable. He loved her—truly loved her—and she’d done this to him.
From the first day he saw her, her freshman year, he’d been drawn to her fresh face and sun-kissed blond hair. Her dimples and open smile nearly did him in every time she walked into his classroom. He’d been teaching for almost fifteen years, and his instincts and understanding of his students were exceptional. He could spot the class clowns, the rejects, and the sluts (though it didn’t take a Rhodes scholar to recognize them). He’d had occasional dalliances with students, but he chose carefully. He’d let the girls break things off, pretending to be heartbroken when all along he’d been pulling their strings. They meant nothing. Casual distractions, easing his boredom until he was free to indulge in what he really wanted—a girl of his own to do with as he wished.
He knew that Lily wasn’t the type to engage in an affair with an older married man, much less her teacher. But that knowledge, that innate goodness, only made him want her more. Watching her in class, so inquisitive and bright-eyed, challenging him and her classmates, he’d longed for her to be his. He saw Lily’s kindness, the way she always made time for the outcasts and loners, in spite of her popularity. He’d study her long, tanned, toned legs, sometimes heading to the stadium to observe track practice, hoping to catch another glimpse of her and all her beauty on display. The more he watched her, the more he wanted her. He’d have to control his rage, seething when he’d spot her in the halls draped all over her worthless jock boyfriend. The way she’d look at that kid drove him crazy. Rick deserved to be the one she stared at longingly.