“Come on over, BJ. You can bring the sheriff.”
Susanna pulled the phone away from her ear, obviously ending the call as she stuck the device into her pocket.
“Start talking, now.”
* * * *
Michael was angry and concerned. Alexa had called him and Chad, and the
y immediately headed over to Alexa’s place. They had wondered why Alexa was so adamant about staying at her place instead of coming back to their place with them last night. Obviously she was concerned over her sister.
He cringed when he saw Sally’s face. Her lip was swollen and bloody and her cheek badly bruised and her wrist bruised and slightly swollen. She described what Garret and his asshole buddy Keiffer had done to her and to top it off, the surveillance cameras on the building at the bar they were at had recorded everything.
“Are you okay, sweetie?” Michael asked as he caressed her shoulder.
She looked up at him with teary eyes.
“I was stupid to think that Garret liked me. He was so smooth and then Keiffer came. It was terrible. I should have seen the signs.”
“Hey. Don’t you dare take blame for this. Those two assholes took advantage of you. Garret is a smooth talker and just because he’s good-looking and has money doesn’t make him perfect. He’s a fucking loser,” Alexa stated firmly then pulled Sally into a hug again.
“You need to press charges.” Susanna told Sally and Sally shook her head and stared at her wrist.
“I don’t want to bring trouble to Dixie Chix. I don’t think they’ll do anything else. They failed and now I’m on to them. I won’t ever place myself in that type of position again.”
“That’s not the point. They need to be stopped. Men like that cannot get away with this, Sally. Didn’t you hear what the sheriff told you? These men have been in trouble before. They’ve been accused of hurting women,” Monte explained as he stood right next to her. He knelt down and took her good hand into his own.
“You need to think about this. If they had gotten you into their truck, Sally, it could have been worse.”
She was silent a few moments and a tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away.
“I don’t want to. I just want to put it behind me. I don’t want everyone to find out about this. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have been there,” she whispered.
“You can’t put it behind you unless you press charges and ensure that they are punished for what they did to you. They’re not our uncles. This is not the same type of situation. Garret and Keiffer need to be charged, Sally, or they’ll continue to bother you and we won’t be able to do anything about it,” Susanna stated.
“She’s right, Sally. If you let them get away with it, it’s like it never happened. They’ll do it again, to someone else and that someone else may not be able to fight them off as you did,” Alexa told her.
“Fine. I’ll press charges. But it won’t do any good anyway. They’ll be out in a few days, if not a few hours. That’s how the system works.”
She knew that she sounded defeated and negative. Sally felt all screwed up inside and she just wanted to be alone. Obviously, alone was where she belonged. She leaned over and began to write her statement then sign it.
“Things are all set here,” the sheriff said as he shook Michael’s hand and then Chad’s, BJ’s, and Monte’s.
“Does she need to sign anything else?” BJ asked.
“No, I’ll personally take care of this. I know these two. Unfortunately, there have been accusations about them before. But then when it comes down to women pressing charges, the women don’t follow through. I don’t know if he has ways of threatening them or what. But this time, there were witnesses. Plus there are the surveillance tapes, which I have secured and in my possession as evidence. At minimum, I have enough to lock them up and send a little message that this time they were caught. Depending on their lawyer and the judge, I’m not certain how long I can hold them. You know the deal. Plus this little lady is strong and fought hard. With her statement and the evidence, they’re going to jail for a bit at least. I’ll be in touch.”
“Thanks, Fred,” BJ stated, calling the sheriff by his first name.
* * * *
Sally kept the ice on her lip and cheek, and Alexa caressed her hair as they sat on the couch. Ava, Juliet, Paula, and Elise still hadn’t joined them yet.
“Do the others know?” Sally whispered as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Yes. Susanna filled them in,” Alexa whispered.
“I feel so stupid,” Sally stated as more tears rolled down her cheeks. “I wanted, I just wanted…”