“Where did you get this?” I hear myself say.
“It doesn’t matter,” she says in the same calm voice that I’m just starting to realize is her way of lulling a person into a false sense of security. “I have no choice but to arrest him. I just wanted you to be prepared.”
Panic kicks in my stomach. “I don’t want to press charges.”
She shakes her head. “This is a criminal case, Blaire. It’s not up to you or me what happens to Caiden now.”
“You can’t do this!” I bolt off the sofa. “I don’t want this!”
“Blaire,” the detective says, holding up her hands to show she’s no threat. “I just need to know the truth so I can help you.”
“I don’t need help.”
Mom is back. “I think you should leave,” she says to Detective Diaz.
“Your daughter wasn’t honest with me when I first asked her about Caiden Brenner,” she says. “I’m just trying to get to the truth.”
Mom looks at me and now that the shock is wearing thinner, I can see the fierceness in her eyes. She turns her sharp gaze back to the detective. “The truth is, she doesn’t want to press charges. I don’t understand why she needs to be dragged through this.”
“If she and Mr. Brenner had been up front about their relationship from the beginning, there’s a chance it wouldn’t have come to this.”
I want to scream at her that we’re in love, but I know, in her eyes, that would only make me look more the na?ve, manipulated little girl.
Mom brushes past us to the door and opens it. “You need to go.”
Detective Diaz splits a glance between us, then nods. “You may hear from the court or Mr. Brenner’s attorney, depending on how he pleads.”
She holds out her hand but Mom doesn’t shake it. She takes the hint and turns for her car.
There’s a long minute where Mom and I just stare at each other, before she closes the distance between us and pulls me into her arms. “Are you okay?”
“No.”
“What can I do?” she asks.
I drop my head onto her shoulder, surprised at how much just this calms the storm in my mind. “I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do.”
“About what?”
We both turn toward Marcus’s voice on the stairs.
He rubs the sleep out of his eyes as he reaches the bottom. “Who were you yelling at?”
Mom looks at me and I nod. Marcus isn’t going to like this, but better he hears it from me.
“I’ve been…seeing someone.”
“And…?” he says, dropping into the sofa.
I sit next to him and Mom takes the armchair. “He’s older.”
Marcus’s face hardens. “How much older?”
“Twenty-five.”
His jaw flexes as his eyes flash. “What did he do?”
I shake my head. “Nothing. He didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Did he touch you?” Marcus grinds out through clenched teeth.
“I love him, Marcus.” I lay a hand on his arm. “He didn’t do anything to me that I didn’t ask him to.”
“So, what’s happening? Who was here?”
“He’s being arrested,” Mom chimes in.
Marcus stands, then sits, then stands again. He looks at me and nods. “Good.” He paces to the kitchen, then back. “Good.”
“It’s not good!” I stand and stare him in the eye. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”
He laughs under his breath. “There’s something seriously sick about a twenty-fucking-five-year-old who thinks screwing around with a sixteen-year-old is okay.”
“I’m seventeen,” I say, “and age doesn’t mean shit! You don’t get to choose who you love, Marcus!”
He paces the room again, his hand fisted into his hair, then grabs his keys from the counter and storms out the front door.
I stare after him until I hear the roar of his engine and the peal of tires out front.
Mom has me in her arms again, and it feels both foreign and familiar. But I’m so thankful for at least one ally—in the place I least expected to find one—that I sink into her and let the tears I’ve been denying myself fall.
But Detective Diaz’s words in my head stop me mid-sob. I have no choice but to arrest him.
I tear out of Mom’s grasp and bolt up the stairs to my room. I grab my phone and dial. I’m afraid he’s not going to pick up. When he does, I let out the breath I was holding.
Chapter 16
Caiden
“They’re coming for you, Caiden!”
My heart turns to molten lead and sinks into the depths of hell at Blaire’s words through the phone.
“It’s okay,” I say automatically. I’ve been preparing for this since Detective Diaz left here three days ago.
“It’s not okay! You need to get away from here. Run!”
I haul a deep breath and try to find myself inside my shell of a body. “I can’t run, Blaire.”