I winced as he said minor, and my back straightened. It was just another reminder of who I was and who she was.
“Please see these people off the school grounds, Cade,” Mr. Smegly told me, his whiny tone trying to sound authoritative. “You have a one-week suspension, Miss Sayer.”
No one said another word as we all filed out of the office and into the hallway. The bell rang for the next class, and students started to file out of the classrooms, but they all kept to the edge of the hallway and toward the lockers as Dad, Ford, Sal, and Aria walked down the middle.
I couldn’t catch what Dad was whispering to Aria, but I didn’t move my gaze off the back of her head. She’d needed me, and I hadn’t been there. I was never there when the people who mattered most needed me.
“She deserved it. The ginger bitch had it coming,” I heard a football player say, his back to us. He wasn’t aware we were here, but we’d all heard him loud and clear. My hands clenched into fists, and I growled so loud I was sure they all heard me.
Ford darted forward and slammed his face against the locker. “What did you say, boy?” We all halted, but I didn’t make a move to stop him. I’d heard what Aria had said in the office. She’d had this from Jasmine since the first day, which meant she no doubt had it from the football players too.
“Hey! Get the fuck off of me!”
“Listen good, boy,” Ford growled. “You think you’re a fuckin’ big shot right now, but all it takes is one person to bring you down.” He let go of him and the football player—Harry—spun around, his fists raised, but he stopped his momentum when he looked up at Ford. “You know what my job is?” Ford didn’t wait for a reply. “I’m DEA, which means I put drug dealers behind bars. You deal drugs, fuckboy?”
“Wh-what? No, sir.”
Ford tilted his head to the side, his gaze roving over him and then the other students watching. “Good.” He backed away a step. “Now excuse me, my family needs medical attention.” Ford brushed his hands off as if he had something on them. “You know Aria, right?” Harry’s gaze flicked over to me, his eyes widening, but there was no way I was going to step in and stop him.
“Ye-es, sir.”
Ford nodded and tutted. “Shame about what happened, but I heard no one saw it.” Ford shrugged. “What did you hear?”
“The…the same?”
Ford grinned and slapped him on the shoulder. “Good for you, boy. I best be going now.” Ford hooked his thumb over his shoulder, moved back to us, and we all started to walk out of the main doors.
“Jesus, Ford,” I whispered to him.
“I only did what I knew you wanted to,” he murmured back, his eyes connecting with mine. “We’ll make sure she’s okay.”
“I’m coming with—”
“No,” Ford said as Dad pushed inside of Sal’s truck with Aria and Sal. “You stay here. You ain’t gonna do anything good if you come with us right now.” His eyes narrowed, and I knew he was only looking out for me, but that didn’t mean I liked it. “I’ll call you later and let you know what happens, yeah?”
I blew out a breath as Dad called out to Ford and threw him his keys. “Meet us at the hospital,” Dad told him.
Ford stepped away from me, and my gaze connected with Aria. I didn’t know what I was expecting as she looked at me, but it wasn’t the emptiness I saw. It knocked me back a step, but as soon as I got my bearings, Sal was screeching out of the lot, taking a piece of me with him.
* * *
ARIA
I shouldn’t have looked at him as we pulled out of the lot. I wasn’t even sure why he was in the office with the principal, and I had no idea why it was Sal who turned up.
“Think you got some explaining to do, Ri,” Sal grunted as he took the highway. We weren’t heading to the diner or the apartment, that much was clear.
“She said something I didn’t like,” I told him, my voice bland and lifeless. I didn’t want to explain to him that her bringing my dad up had made a switch in me flip.
“Yeah?” Sal said, his voice getting deeper. “What would that be?”
“I…” I closed my eyes and winced at the pain radiating in my ribs. I didn’t even realize she’d gotten me in my stomach, but it had all happened so fast. “She talked about my dad.”
The cab in Sal’s truck went silent, and when I opened my eyes, I could barely breathe.
“Hey, hey.” Uncle Brody’s hand flattened on my back and rubbed up and down. “In and out. Take a breath, baby girl.” I shook my head and opened my mouth, about to tell him I couldn’t. I hadn’t been able to take a full breath in what felt like years. “Slowly, do it with me.”
I turned my head and kept my gaze connected to his dark-brown eyes and his features so similar to Cade’s. I didn’t want to admit that calmed me somewhat. I wanted to deny the way Cade made me feel, how his presence in the principal’s office had calmed my racing heart.
But it was the truth.
He’d destroyed everything we had, but it didn’t mean I didn’t need him as much as the air keeping me alive.
Sal took a turn and entered the hospital parking lot, pulling up outside the main doors. “Why didn’t you tell us what was going on?” he asked, moving his head to face me, his voice sounding broken. His brown eyes met mine, and for the first time since I’d known him, I saw the pain echoed inside of them. I’d heard stories of how Sal had grown up. The rumors circulated, especially in towns like ours, but I hadn’t paid them much attention.
However, I was seeing him in another light, and it made me open my mouth and tell him, “There wasn’t any point.”
His frown marred his brow. “Why? You know I would have stepped in and protected you.”
I shrugged. “Snitches get stitches?”
His lips quirked on one side, and he shook his head. “True. Damn, Ri, I hate that she’s been doing that shit with you for years.”
“It is what it is, Sal.” I blinked, trying to keep the building tears at bay. “It would have only gotten worse if I'd told someone. You know that.”
“Don’t mean I gotta like it,” he grunted out. “Far as I’m concerned, she got what she deserved.” A throat cleared behind me a second before the passenger door opened. “What?” Sal asked Brody.
“Nothin’,” Uncle Brody replied and extended his hand to me. “Let’s get you checked out, baby girl.”
I placed my hand inside his large one and let him help me out of the truck. “You coming?” I asked Sal.
“I’m gonna go get your mom and bring her back here.”
My stomach dropped as another car pulled up behind us, then Ford exited. I swallowed at his presence. He’d stuck up for me to Harry, but I couldn’t help blame him for what had happened that morning with Cade. Everything had been fine until he turned up.
We watched Sal pull away and then headed inside. Ford spoke to someone at the front desk, and then we were ushered into a room, not having to wait with all the other people. I had a feeling he was using his badge to get us to jump the line, but I wouldn’t comment on it, not when my ribs were pulsating, and my eye was thumping to match the rhythm of my heart.
Uncle Brody waved at the hospital bed and helped me up onto it before he sat in the chair next to it. Ford took position next to the door, his gaze fixated to a spot above my head. Ten minutes went by, silence surrounding us until the chime of Uncle Brody’s cell went off. He pulled it out of his pocket and murmured something down the line.
He clicked a button on his screen. “You’re on speaker,” he grunted.
“Aria!” Lola’s voice shouted down the line.
“Lola.” A smile lifted the corners of my mouth, and I groaned as the cut in my lip stung.
“Oh my god, what happened, sweetheart?” I opened my mouth to try and tell her, but she didn’t give me the chance. “Brody said you got into a fight and now you’re at the hospital. It was that girl, wasn’t it?”
“I—”
“I knew it! I knew it was her.”
>
“Wait,” Brody intercepted. “What are you talking about, darlin’?”
“Freshmen year,” Lola ground out, and I could imagine the anger on her face. “Remember when Jan was sick, and I took Aria to school for the week? I told you about that girl who pushed her against the wall.”
I blinked, remembering exactly what happened. Jasmine had cornered me in the lot, but I’d forgotten my bag in Lola’s car, and she’d brought it back to me. She’d heard Jasmine calling me names and witnessed her slamming me against the wall.
“It’s no big deal—” I tried to say.
“Yeah, it is, baby girl,” Uncle Brody ground out and stood. “Why didn’t you tell us, Lola?”
“What?” Lola’s voice lowered. “I did tell you, but you told me it was just high school shit.”
“Fuck.” Uncle Brody scrubbed his hand down his face. “We should have—”
“Guys,” I held my hands up in the air. “Stop, please. It’s no one’s fault. I dealt with it. I doubt she’ll come at me again.” I blinked and stared at Uncle Brody and then at Ford, who was watching us. I didn’t know what possessed me to ask him, “Right?”
His lips slowly lifted into a grin, and he pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Nah. She won’t say another word to you. Especially since you knocked her out.” I couldn’t help my own lips quirking at his words. “Where’d you learn that anyway?”
“Where do you think?” Lola announced over the line.
“Should have known it was you,” Uncle Brody said, but his tone was light now.
“What? You think I’m not gonna teach my girls how to defend themselves?” My girls. I was one of her girls, whether I wanted to be or not. There were times I felt so alone, but I had a family around me. A family not related by blood but who protected me like I was. “I won’t have my own mistakes repeated. You know that, Brody.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, tears springing to my eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“No, no, no,” Lola murmured. “You don’t have to be sorry for anything, sweetheart.”
“Damn straight,” Ford grunted. “You were defending yourself.”
“But—”
The door swung open, and Uncle Brody snatched his cell off the bed and pressed it to his ear, ending the call. A man in a white lab coat entered and looked around the room.
“Of course it’s you,” he said to Ford.
“What? You not pleased to see me, Doc?”
The doctor grunted and closed the door behind him. “What happened here, Miss”—he looked down at the clipboard he was holding—“Sayer.”
“I got into a fight.”
The doctor’s face didn’t move an inch as he ambled toward me. “Where does it hurt?” I pointed at my ribs and then waved in front of my face. “Got it.” He prodded at my face and checked my eye. “You need an X-ray on that eye to make sure your socket isn’t broken.” He pulled at my lip. “Your lip should heal within a week.” He lifted my T-shirt up, and I realized this dude had no bedside manner at all.
“Ouch!” I gasped a breath as his fingers prodded the left side of my ribs.
“Jesus, Doc, take a little care, yeah?” Ford grunted and pushed off the wall.
The doctor raised his brow and turned his head slowly to face Ford. “Do I tell you how to shoot that gun?” He tilted his head to his belt but didn’t give him the chance to answer. “No. So don’t tell me how to do my job.” He turned back to me. “You need an X-ray here too.” He scribbled something on a piece of paper on his clipboard and pulled it off then handed it to Uncle Brody. “Follow the signs. I’ll come back when I’ve looked at them. A nurse will come and clean your face for you.”
I blinked at the doctor as he exited the room without another word, but as soon as he was gone, the door was flinging open again, and Mom was flying into the room.
“Oh my god! My baby!” She darted toward me, her hands waving in front of me, too scared to touch me. “What happened?”
“I got into a fight.”
Mom’s eyes narrowed. “First day back and you get into a fight? What has gotten into you lately, Aria?”
“I told you what happened, Jan,” Sal said from the doorway. “It wasn’t her fault.”
“I know,” Mom replied to him but didn’t take her gaze off mine, “but it’s not like you to retaliate.” I could see the disappointment on her features, but more importantly, I could see the shadows in her eyes. Shadows that questioned if I was okay—not physically, but mentally. I wasn’t sure what was worse: her being scared of who I was becoming, or me embracing it and not caring what anyone else thought anymore. I was lost in a sea of sorrow and pain with no one in sight to save me.
“I know it’s not,” I told her. “It won’t happen again.”
She stared at me, searching my eyes for something I knew she wouldn’t find because I was shutting down in front of her. I was closing myself off to anything she could find out.
“Okay,” she whispered and stepped forward, taking my hand in hers. “Has a doctor come and seen you yet?”
“Yeah,” Uncle Brody answered for me, his voice gentle now. “She needs to go have some X-rays, and then a nurse is gonna come and clean her up.”
“Okay,” Mom said again. “Okay.” She blew out a deep breath. “I suppose the silver lining is you’re not at school for the next week.”
“Really, Jan?” Sal asked, his voice sounding frustrated. “That all you’re thinking about right now?”
“What would you like me to think about, Sal?” Mom asked, turning to face him. “I refuse to wallow in the past.” I wasn’t sure she knew how much her words stung. She’s done an expert job at not living in the past, and I wished I knew how she managed it.
I frowned at her and regretted it as soon as my eye stung. “I don’t understand…”
“We’re moving next Saturday, remember? I told you this morning. At least you’ll have extra time to help pack things away.”
Was she really…did she…I flicked my gaze to Sal, but he was looking down at the floor now, and Uncle Brody was reading the paper the doctor had given him, but Ford shook his head. A muscle ticked in his jaw, and when his eyes met mine, I knew he wasn’t happy. I’d noticed how observant he was, which was probably why he was such a good DEA agent, but it also meant he saw the things everyone else seemed to ignore.
“I can take her to the X-ray,” Ford said and stepped forward. “I’ve been there plenty enough, so I know the way.”
Uncle Brody handed him the piece of paper, and Ford extended his hand to me. “Come on, Tyson.”
My shaky hand reached for his, and then his rough palm connected with mine as he helped me off the bed. The room was silent as we exited, and once we were at the X-ray waiting room, Ford said, “I know what it’s like to have a mom who pretends everything is always okay.” I didn’t acknowledge his words as he sat in the chair beside mine. He stretched his legs out in front of him. “You gotta learn not to be like that. You keep pretending and pushing things down, you’ll eventually explode.”
I turned to face him and stared at the side of his face. Scruff lined his jaw, and his high cheekbones led to his hazel eyes. “I…don’t know what to say to that.”
“Don’t need to say anything. You gotta do you, but don’t think you’re alone.” He met my stare. “Lola and I grew up in the shittiest neighborhood. We fought for our lives every day, but that don’t mean because you got the security of four walls and food in your belly that you’re not fighting too.” He didn’t move his gaze off mine. “You got people who care about you, Tyson. People who will go to bat for you. I know you know that.”
“Cade,” I whispered, knowing exactly who he was talking about.
Ford clipped his head in a nod. “He’ll do anything for you, even risking his freedom.”
“What?” I didn’t understand what he was saying. What did he mean risk his freedom?
“Ahhh, shit. He didn’t tell you, did he?” Ford let his head dro
p back. “Jesus Christ. He told me he ended things with you—”
“Wait.” I placed my hand on his arm. “What are you talking about?”
He rolled his head to the side to meet my stare. “I know about the two of you.” He paused to drive his point home. “I also know he broke up with you because of what I said to him.”
“What”—I licked my lips, feeling a lump form in my throat—“did you say to him?”
“I told him the facts. I told him he’d broken the law. I told him”—Ford sat up straighter—“I told him he’d committed statutory rape.”
My breath stalled in my chest, and I placed my hand over my heart, sure it would evaporate if I didn’t keep it locked inside. “I…”
“Look, I ain’t got nothin’ against you, Tyson. I think you’re cool in that quiet, nerdy way. But shit, you’re seventeen, and he’s twenty-five. He’d be fucked if anyone found out. We’re talking jail and the sex offender registry.”
My breath caught in my throat as everything started to lock into place. He hadn’t wanted to finish things with me. His words in his car were meant to hurt so I’d hate him, but it was all to push me away from him. He was trying to do the right thing, but it didn’t mean I’d forgive him. He should have told me. I’d have understood, but he decided to take it all on his shoulders because…he didn’t think I could handle it.
He didn’t think I could handle it.
Was I just a delicate person on the brink of disaster to him? Is that how he saw me?
“Miss Sayer?” a voice called.
I took one last look at Ford, absorbed all of his words, and then erected my wall so high no one would ever be able to climb it again. Cade may have been protecting himself, but now it was my turn to do the same.
Chapter Fifteen
ARIA
Boxes filled with everything I’d collected in the seventeen years of my life surrounded every surface. My bed was dismantled and ready to be taken to the moving truck. My drawers were empty, my closet bare, and all that was left was the bedside table I kept my secrets in.
Defy Fate: Fated Duet: Book One Page 18