Collateral Damage (From the Damage)
Page 19
The cell was tiny and dark, much like the one they’d been kept in as kids. At least now, Seth’s cell had a window. But still, it was heartbreaking. “Hey,” she said, her voice coming out in an unsure and cautious whisper.
He didn’t even flinch. “It was you, wasn’t it? You gave Meagan the DVD.”
“Yes.”
“So when you came to see me the other day, it wasn’t to get answers about your past, was it?”
She shook her head, feeling a little ashamed. “No. I was distracting you so Kelly could sneak in and get the video. I told her where to find it.”
Still, he just stared at the wall, not moving, not speaking.
“I had to, Seth. She deserves justice.”
“Justice.” Seth chuckled softly, shaking his head. “There’s no such thing.”
“There can be,” Kendall said. “For some people.”
“And what makes Meagan so damn special?” he snapped. “She already has everything she ever wanted. And she still won’t stop until she puts me in jail.”
“Like you wouldn’t stop?” Kendall asked. “Until she saw you as an equal?”
He cut his gaze to meet hers, striking fear into her heart. “Why are you here? Did you come to gloat? To revel in your victory?
“This isn’t a victory for me, Seth. I don’t like seeing you like this.” She sighed, shaking her head. Wrapping her fingers around one of the cold metal bars that separated them, she lowered her voice so no one else could hear her. “You saved my life. Now, I’m just trying to return the favor.”
“By landing me in jail?”
“By making you face the person you’ve become.”
He laughed at her, quietly. Like she was so mislead, so naïve to have hope.
She waited for him to say something, but he just lowered his forehead to his knees and stayed silent. In the tiny, dark room, he seemed so small, so young and weak.
Turning, she walked away, keeping her head held high. She knew she’d done the right thing.
***
“I can’t imagine how relieved you must’ve felt when you saw Seth arrested,” Daphne said once Meagan had finished the story.
Meagan, smiling from ear-to-ear, nodded. “My lawyer says I have a solid case. Even though they can’t put legal terms on most of what he did, they’ve charged him with stalking and sexual assault. Right now, they’re trying to prove he caused the car accident. So, the battle’s just starting.”
“I’m so proud of you,” Daphne said. “You’ve been really brave.”
“I’m proud of you, too,” Ryder said, speaking up. Instead of his usual place next to Meagan, he sat across the room near Alex, in Kay’s empty seat. “It’s about time the past caught up with him.”
Meagan’s smile didn’t fade, but something in her eyes changed. A hint of forgiveness brewing, maybe?
“Ironically enough,” Ryder said, clearing his throat in a segue that felt forced. “The past’s been catching up to me a lot lately.”
Daphne turned her attention to him in surprise. “You haven’t talked a lot about your past before the shooting happened.”
He nodded, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. Keeping his gaze on the carpet, unable to make eye contact with anyone. “That’s because I’m not proud of what I did. Who I used to be. I was really selfish. I mean, I’m sure we all do things without thinking of how they’ll affect people, right?”
Glancing up, just barely, he saw their faces react, finding the situations in their lives that helped them relate.
Alex thought of Kelly and the way he’d pressured her, and how he’d talked Kay into that overnight trip that changed her life.
Kendall remembered the way Seth had looked behind bars, in that tiny cell.
Kelly wondered how Kendall’s mother had felt after leaving her daughter abandoned at that playground.
Meagan wondered if Ryder was finally going to confess everything.
But Ryder knew none of this, so consumed in his own pain and guilt. He turned his attention back to the carpet, studying the colorful patterned circles. “I was just this lowlife drug dealer who didn’t give a shit about anybody, or anything. I never had anything to lose.”
Until he met Meagan, he thought, wanting so badly to look at her. But he couldn’t or he might break down completely. Instead, he stood up, full of nervous energy. Raking a hand through his hair, he paced a small line down the center of the large area rug. “Some stuff’s happened lately that makes me think of the people on the other end of the deal. Like you.” Gage sat up in surprise when Ryder turned to face him. His eyes, always untrusting and watchful, locked on the nervous, pacing boy in anticipation.
“I’ve wanted to tell you this for so long. I’m just a coward, because I know that if I were in your shoes, I would want to kill me.”
His eyes narrowed, but his voice sounded light and detached as he said, “Well, I never liked you, but—”
Ryder interrupted before Gage could finish joking about the situation. “And your instincts were right. You shouldn’t trust me. Because the shooting I always give you hell about…it was my fault.” His voice quivering, he struggled to spit out the rest. “I sold Peyton the gun.”
The room went utterly silent, not a breath, or a scuffle of feet. Everyone waited to see how Gage would react. The only sound in the room was the steady, tick-tock, tick-tock of the second hand on the clock.
“She got the gun from you,” Gage repeated, his voice eerily calm.
“And she hurt people and she got herself killed and it was just this…this horrible nightmare and I can’t help but think that if I’d said no, or not had the stupid gun in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened. That she wouldn’t have…”
“No. She would’ve just taken one from her dad, or went somewhere else. You wouldn’t have stopped her. Nothing would’ve stopped her.”
Ryder was speechless as Gage stood up. He half expected him to start swinging as he walked toward him, but he passed by instead, leaving the hairs on Ryder’s arm standing up as he brushed by. Heading straight for the door, just like he always did.
Ryder turned, calling out, “I’m so sorry. Gage, I’m sorry.”
“Gage, wait.” Daphne stood, turning to the door. “You should stay. Talk about this.”
He turned, throwing his hands in the air. “What’s the point? She’s still going to be gone. And I’m still here.” Turning a raging gaze to Ryder he continued, “And I’m glad you got a chance for your little confession. I hope it helped.”
With that, he walked out, letting the door swing shut behind him.
Standing from her seat, Kelly hurried across the room and pulled open the door, heading after Gage.
Daphne turned to the remaining group members, letting out a breath, focusing on Ryder. She was about to say something when she heard the clock ding at the top of the hour. “We’re out of time,” she whispered, surprised by the noise. It’d flown by so fast.
***
Kelly
***
In the parking lot outside the Youth Center, Kelly searched for Gage’s car. Seeing him, standing by the door of his beat up clunker, she felt her heart fill with compassion.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she hurried over to him. “I know you probably want to be alone, but…I just…” Stopping beside him, she looked at him closely.
With his arms folded on the roof of the car, he leaned his forehead against them, covering his face. So still and quiet, when she’d expected him to be raging. “I know that couldn’t have been…easy for you,” she said slowly, not wanting to be the last straw that made him snap. “I…I can’t imagine…”
“Why do you care?” he asked, his voice muffled.
She hesitated, trying to decode his tone and figure out if he was going to push her away again.
Finally, he straightened his posture and turned to look at her. In the fading sun, she saw tears glint on his cheeks. They were the only sign of emotion on his face, but
they somehow seemed so out of place on him. And she just stared at the glistening streaks from his silvery eyes to his strong jaw, wondering what was going on inside that tortured head.
“Why do you care, Kelly?” his tone cold, he gazed down at her. “You know I’m an asshole. You know how I treated Peyton…how I never really supported her. Hell, I all but loaded the gun myself. Not to mention how I’ve treated you.”
She glanced away and crossed her arms defensively as she tried not to care about the way he’d shut her out.
“So I don’t deserve your comfort,” he said. “Or your attention…or anything else.”
“Gage, you don’t get it,” she said quietly. “It’s not about the way you treated her, or me. I don’t care about any of that because I’ve seen the way you treat Lizzie.”
He looked back up at her, the tears drying, but fresh ones forming in his eyes.
“You shelter her, and you play with her and you love her. She’s your world.” Kelly chuckled softly as her eyes stung with tears. “And you can say I have daddy issues, or baby issues, or whatever. But the truth is, seeing the two of you together…it made me fall in love.” Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she forced herself to look at him. “And I understand if you don’t want me to be a part of it. You’re not really…single. It’s more complicated than that. I get it. But saying that you don’t…deserve me…it’s not a good enough excuse.”
Titling his head, she could’ve sworn he looked at her affectionately. Taking all of this in, he was quiet. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft and thick. “You have this…uncanny ability for calling me on my crap,” he said, breaking the tension with a chuckle.
She laughed. “Sometimes you really need it, that’s all.”
His smile fading, he looked down at the ring on his hand. “I guess the only thing left to do is let her go.”
Her breath caught in her throat when he slowly pulled the small gold band off of his finger. Letting out a deep breath of closure, he clutched the ring in his hand and reared his arm back.
“Wait!” Kelly reached out and grabbed Gage’s fist before he could throw the ring. “You should keep that. For Lizzie.”
Looking down at her, his expression moved into one of awe and adoration. Without speaking a word, he curled his arm around her waist and pulled her close. And as he touched his lips to hers, she knew he was finally ready to let her in. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she clung to him as they kissed.
***
Daphne
***
“We’re out of time,” she whispered, surprised by the noise. It’d flown by so fast. “If you want to stay after,” she said to Ryder, trying to recover from the confession, trying to tell them what she needed to say. “We can talk about this some more. But, it’ll have to be tonight, because…”
Giving a nervous laugh, she turned and preoccupied her hands with stuffing her bag with her notes and recorder. “I don’t even know how to say this after what just happened, but you guys should know. Next week, Brett will be hosting the meeting…because I was fired.”
A gasp flowed through the small crowd and they stood from their seats.
“Why?” Meagan asked, leaning against her crutch for balance.
“I crossed some lines when I helped Kay and my boss wasn’t happy. I’m really sorry,” she said, turning her attention to the group and motioned to Ryder. “I guess I was like you and just…didn’t think. I didn’t realize my actions would affect the group. I just wanted to help her.”
“But…where are you going to go?” Alex asked, “Are you still going to be a counselor?”
“Yeah, of course,” Daphne said. “They didn’t take my license. I’m just…unemployed right now. But I don’t want you guys to worry about that. You just focus on your own recoveries.”
“But, how are we supposed to do that without you?” Kelly said. “Maybe there’s someone we can talk to…if we tell them how great you are, maybe they would let it slide. Can’t they just give you a warning?”
“I can’t stop you from trying, and I appreciate the effort but I don’t think it’ll do much good. He seemed pretty sure of his decision.”
“This isn’t fair,” Ryder said. “They shouldn’t be doing this to you.”
“I know it’s an adjustment,” Daphne said, trying to remain strong. “But Brett’s been here from the beginning, and he’s good at his job. You guys will be okay.”
“So this is really happening then,” Meagan said, her voice soft. “This is it?”
“I guess so,” Daphne answered, as silence settled over the group.
With the uncertainty of the future looming overhead, and the clock continuing to tick the time away, nobody moved, not wanting to be the first to take that step, to admit their time together—as they knew it, at least—was over.
It’s not over yet…
For details on Damage Control (coming soon) follow
www.fromthedamagebooks.wordpress.com
Can you relate to Kay, Meagan or Kendall? If you can, you’re not alone. The statistics on victims of sexual assault are shocking, appalling and heartbreaking. But what hurts even worse, is that so many of these wounded people stay silent, never fight for justice, and feel they have no choice but to allow the abuse to continue.
If you need help speaking out, starting the healing process or advocating for other victims, try these organizations:
www.joyfulheartfoundation.org
www.nomore.org
www.rainn.org
www.twloha.com
About the Authors:
Jasmine Denton is the author of eight books for teenagers. While she writes fantasy to soothe her creative side, her true passion is helping people. So she partnered with her twin sister to create a book series geared toward doing just that. From the Damage is the start of an ambitious dream to make the world a better place.
For more information on Jasmine, you can find her on the web.
Twitter: @JasmineLDenton
Blog: jasmineldenton.wordpress.com
Web: JasmineDenton.webs.com
Email: JasmineLDenton@gmail.com
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/JasmineLDenton
Genna Denton is a single mother with a heart of gold. She was the one to first believe in the From the Damage series, and has advocated it since its inception several years ago.
For more information on Genna, you can find her on the web:
Twitter: @GenDen88
Email: GenDen88@gmail.com