“This is no one’s fault. He is not a predator. This has all been blown way out of proportion,” Willow insisted, grabbing her purse and digging around for her phone.
Ashlynn’s eyes followed the movement. “What are you doing?”
“I’m getting my phone,” Willow stated as she pulled it out of her bag.
“Who are you calling?” Lauren asked, taking a few steps closer, peering at the phone.
“I’m going to stay with a friend for the night. You guys…I can’t handle this right now.”
As her thumb moved toward the green icon that would eventually connect her to Ethan, Willow saw a shadow approaching, but didn’t connect the dots until Lauren snatched the phone right out of her hand, her eyes wide, the pupils dilated.
“Hey!” Willow objected, grabbing for it.
Lauren jerked it back, still bug-eyed. “You seriously think I’m going to let you call him? Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“I’m going to, if you don’t stop treating me like a 12-year-old,” Willow stated, her eyes widening right back. “Give me my phone.”
“No phone.” Then, before Willow had a chance to react, Lauren grabbed her purse and spun around, heading out of her room.
“What are you doing?” Willow cried, so frustrated that she wanted to scream.
“If you’re going to persist with this insane, self-destructive behavior, then I am going to treat you like a child. From now on, consider yourself fucking Rapunzel, because you are only leaving this house to go to school and come home, and I will be the one driving you.”
“Oh, my god.” Willow grabbed her head in her hands, her body so hot with anger that she half-expected to combust. “You can’t do this!”
“And your counselor,” Lauren added. “Twice a week. Once a week is clearly not helping.”
Spinning around to appeal to Ashlynn, Willow said, “Are you going to say anything to her?”
Ashlynn shrugged helplessly—but she wasn’t helpless, she just wasn’t willing to help.
Helplessness clawed at her insides. “So, I’m a prisoner in my own goddamn house now, is that it?”
“Willow,” Lauren reprimanded, spinning around with her crazy eyes. “Do not use that word.”
“I will use whatever goddamn word I want to use! Maybe you should talk to the counselor about making your daughter, who was held prisoner, a prisoner in her own home! Way to be helpful, Mom, really. I’m blown away by how much sense that makes.”
“I don’t care,” Lauren stated, shaking her head. “I will not stand by and let some pervert take advantage of my daughter. The fact that he already has makes me sick—your father should’ve killed the bastard.”
Heart sinking, Willow said, “That’s a real possibility! I have to call him tomorrow, so I need my phone.”
“You can use the house phone. Under supervision.”
“Fuck this,” Willow yelled, rushing past her mother and down the stairs, aware of their footsteps behind her so she picked up the pace, jerking the door open and not even taking the time to close it behind her.
“Willow!”
Ignoring them, she jogged down the driveway, trying to figure out what the hell she was doing. Without a coat, she couldn’t exactly walk in the frigid night air to the hotel, and it wasn’t close enough that she would feel safe anyway. While she wasn’t as petrified of the night as she had been, she was still afraid, and there was no way she wouldn’t fear every car passing by. By the time she made it to the hotel, however many hours later, she would be a wreck.
No, she didn’t have to go all the way to Ethan’s. She could go to someone’s house and use their phone to call Ethan, or even a taxi service. Of course, she had no money. No clothes.
It didn’t matter, she didn’t need money or clothes. Ethan would have enough to pay the cab, right? He probably wasn’t back from Chicago yet—then she realized he was probably on his way to Chicago. It would probably be a couple of hours before he got back to the hotel, if he even went back to the hotel.
Despair began to catch up with her.
She really was trapped.
Her legs kept moving, she continued running down the road despite the realization, but then she heard a car coming up the road behind her and her insides turned to mush. The sound of Ashlynn calling out the window slowed her heart slightly, but she still felt cornered.