“But it wasn’t,” I whisper, and go to touch his arm. He leans away from my touch, which sends a searing pain through my chest.
“Don’t shut me out, Jared. Obviously he is a sick man. There was nothing you could have done differently,” I try to explain, but he just shakes his head back and forth.
“You don’t understand. I need to protect you, but I can’t because you’re too fucking distracting!” I flinch at his choice of words.
“Didn’t you even think there was something off about him? Come on, Erica. He wanted you and then you let him take you to a party! What the fuck did you think would happen?” he shouts and tears start to cascade down my face.
“If he even laid a finger on you…” He pauses.
“Grady, get that motherfucker and put him out of his misery,” he orders.
“Take care of your friend; Matt will be here soon.”
“So that’s it? We are done because you think you failed? This isn’t your fault, it’s mine! I came here with him. I am the one responsible for this!” I cry.
“Stop.” Shannon’s voice cracks behind us. “This is no one’s fault but mine. I led him on and when it started to go too far I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t.” She shivers while Sean holds her close. She is fully dressed now, with mascara running down her horrified face.
“Baby, stop; you can’t put the blame on yourself. You told him to stop and he didn’t listen.” Sean’s voice is full of agony and pain.
Jared and Grady disappear suddenly. I’m not sure where he is now but I know he’s angry with me and he has every right to be. I just can’t believe I didn’t see the evil lurking inside Jayden. I wonder how many girls he’s done that to and, if so, how many times has he gotten away with it?
The next few hours go by in a blur. Sean and I have been waiting at the hospital while Shannon is getting looked over.
Sean’s eyes are red from holding back his own tears. I have seen a different side to him now that Shannon has been hurt. Who knows how far Jayden would have gone if we hadn’t walked in when we did.
“What if we didn’t get there in time? He could have killed her,” he rasps.
“Hey.” I nudge his knee and he looks up at me.
“She’s going to be okay, and she has you to help her through this.” He looks at me, confused.
“I thought you hated me,” he says.
“I don’t hate you, Sean. But I need you to promise me you will never let her down again, because if you do I will personally kick you in the balls.” He gives me a soft smile.
“I promise I won’t ever betray her or let anything ever happen to her again.”
Pleased with his answer, I turn towards my phone. No missed calls or texts. Jared is shutting me out. He did in fact tellBeefcake to accompany me, but he has stayed at a safe distance for the time being.
Minutes later the doctor comes into the waiting room.
“Shannon is ready for one visitor,” the doctor says to us.
Sean whips his head towards me with pleading eyes.
“Go ahead.” He sighs in relief and pretty much runs to the room. I smile at the thought of those two working it out finally, but unfortunately under horrific circumstances.
The drive home feels wrong, like I should be going to Jared’s and not back to my dorm. I want to call him so badly and beg him to talk to me. He seems like he’s really under pressure. I wonder what exactly he’s doing. Is he working on finding Antonio? Is he safe? How did they ‘take care’ of Jayden?
“Matt, I want to go to the bar,” I demand, and he shakes his head no.
“Prez wants you home.”
“I don’t give a shit what he wants. You are taking me now or I’ll drive there myself.” He sighs, knowing he can’t win this one.
When we pull up to the bar I get a sickening feeling, like I’m not going to like what I see.
“Erica, wait!” Matt shouts, but I’m already in the bar and what I see has me stumbling back.