Breanna was stunned and completely confused when I’d stormed through her house, yelling at her. Her mouth formed an “O,” and her shoulders shot up to her ears. She put her hands out like she was caught stealing something.
Yeah, stealing Ivy!
She said she had no idea what I was talking about. She pleaded with me over and over again that even if she wasn’t Ivy’s biggest fan, she wouldn’t do something like that to hurt me.
I wanted to believe her. I felt like she was telling the truth but it was the only solution I had for Ivy’s behavior. Ivy had told me she needed time.
She didn’t need time, and neither did I.
We both knew what we felt.
Something wasn’t right.
I left Breanna’s feeling worse than I had after leaving Ivy. I hoped to find an answer, I hoped to find a reason as to what the hell was going on, but Breanna was just as shocked as I was. Before I made it to my truck, she came running down her driveway barefooted.
“I’ll do some recon, okay? Maybe my mom does have something to do with this. I wouldn’t put it past her.”
I clenched my jaw and nodded while turning around and climbing into the driver’s seat. I pinched the bridge of my nose so hard my eyes started to water – at least that’s what I was going with. I wasn’t going to admit that I was about to cry, because I was a man and men don’t cry.
Unless they lose someone like Ivy.
I drove straight home, avoiding going to Ivy’s. I knew she wasn’t there. She would more than likely be staying at Becca’s. Max was sitting on my porch when I rounded my truck and started to walk up the sidewalk.
“You okay?”
I didn’t answer him because I wasn’t okay.
“Becca’s with her now,” he said after my non-response.
That got my attention. “What did she say?”
He stood up, turning to go into my house. I followed him, heart skipping a few beats. “She texted and said she was waiting until Ivy went to sleep and then she was going to call you. I told her I was here, so give her a few and she’ll fill us in.”
Finally. Some fucking hope.
We sat in silence in my kitchen. My leg bouncing up and down, my hands rubbing the back of my neck every few minutes, and then his phone rang.
He answered it quickly and put it on speaker.
Becca’s voice started off in a whisper, “Dawson…”
“What’s going on, Becca…”
Max stood up, holding the phone in his hand, and walked closer to me.
“She asked me to keep her secret, but I did that the first time and nothing good came out of it, so I swear to God, if she stops being my friend after this, you better spend the rest of your life making it up to me.”
“Tell me, Becca,” I pleaded, sounding less desperate than I felt.
My heart fell to the ground, the really hard ground, as she explained the situation. I wanted to kill. I’d never even wanted to hit a woman before, and here I was, pacing my kitchen, trying to hold back my anger before I lost it.
Once Max hung up with Becca, we got to work.
Like I would let Breanna’s mom fucking rule my life and Ivy’s. Was she fucking nuts?
The answer was a big fat yes with a capital Y.
It took a day to get the footage from Mr. Daniels, and it was the longest day of my life. I was lucky that Max had Mr. Daniels’ son in class and that Max was his favorite teacher because Mr. Daniels had been extremely leery on the phone when I’d explained the situation.