“Sir, please calm down,” a woman’s voice said from in front of me. I lifted my head to see a female uniformed officer standing a couple of feet to the side, and that was when I spotted her. My angel curled up into a ball, her jeans still halfway down her legs, and her eyes so empty there wasn’t a piece of Elodie left in sight.
“Elodie,” I called, my voice rough and hoarse. I tried to soften it. “Elodie, sweetheart.” No answer. No turn of her head. Not even a jerk of a single muscle. She wasn’t here. She’d gone inside herself. “Please.” I turned to the woman. “Please help her.”
“We will,” she told me, glancing around the room. “The paramedics will help him first—”
“No!” I pulled and finally got out of the other officers' hold and pushed up into a crouching position. “He was fuckin’ raping her!”
The woman’s eyes sparked. “I know,” she said softly. “But he needs more medical attention and—”
“I don’t care!” I jerked up onto my feet, and hands grappled with me again, but I didn’t want to go to the fuck face. I needed to go to Elodie. I needed to bring her back. I needed to—
“Put him in the first car,” a male voice said, and then I was being pulled away from her.
“No.” I tried to dig my feet in, but they were too strong. My strength was waning. I couldn’t fight to get to her. I couldn’t hold her. I couldn’t tell her it would be okay.
“Elodie!” I shouted again, but she still didn’t make a move. She still didn’t look my way. I tried to hook my leg around the doorframe, but it did nothing to help as they dragged me out of there and away from the one person who needed me most.
ELODIE
I didn’t move my gaze from the counter. I didn’t stop staring, not while he was pumping away inside me, invading the only thing I had left, and not even when he disappeared off of me, his weight leaving but his torment staying behind. I thought of happier times, like when I’d placed first in my competition, or when my dad had bought me an ice cream when I was six and I’d dropped it on the ground, so he just went and got me a new one. I thought about Asher and the way he looked into my eyes. I thought about how safe he made me feel. I thought about Jax and everything he’d done for me. I thought about the homework I needed to complete over the next week.
I thought of anything and everything other than what was happening around me. Grunts sounded out and my stomach rolled, but my body was free. I wasn’t being held down anymore. I wasn’t having pieces of me ripped away violently. And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to do much more than curl up into a ball and stare at the counter. The counter where Asher had placed me. The counter where Asher had shown me how much he liked me. The counter where he made me feel special, like I was the only girl in the world he would ever look at or touch.
“Elodie?” a small voice asked from close to me, but I didn’t turn to look at it. I couldn’t break my concentration, because if I did, I was afraid of what would happen. Would I fall apart more than I already had? Would it all be over with no way to come back? Would—
“Elodie?” the voice said again. “I’m Jenette, an officer with the local police department." I heard the squeak of her boots and from the corner of my eye saw her shadow as she crouched next to me. “I’m here to help, okay?” Her voice was soft and gentle, but I knew how quickly someone could turn. In the blink of an eye they were no longer the person you thought they were, and everything would change.
Everything had already changed.
No
thing would be the same again.
I was broken, shattered into tiny pieces, which were impossible to pick up and put back together. That was how I felt, but as I finally slid my gaze to the woman, I couldn’t tell her that. I couldn’t explain to her how even looking at her felt like a task I couldn’t quite do.
“It’s okay," she whispered, but someone walking behind her had me shuffling back and my arms tightening around myself. Was he still here? Had he—
“It’s fine, Elodie. Hey, hey. It’s okay, it’s just another officer.” I opened my mouth, willing words to come out, but it was impossible, so I shook my head, hoping she understood what I was saying. “Give me a second.” She smiled at me, but it was a sad kind of smile, the kind people gave to you to make themselves feel better. The smile wasn’t for me. It was for her.
Her footsteps echoed on the floor, and I placed my ear to the carpet, not able to stop my gaze sliding back to the counter. While I was looking there, I could breathe properly. The air entered my lungs and exited easily, but then more footsteps rang out, and finally the woman—Jenette—was back.
“I’ve sent them all away. It’s just you and me here now.”
I swallowed and rubbed my fingertips back and forth on my arm. The soothing motion helped me concentrate when all I wanted to do was sleep—to escape everything that just happened.
“A…” My voice was raw, a croak of a tone, but I was determined to ask. “Asher?” A sob bubbled up, my emotions taking me over at lightning speed, but I couldn’t let her see them. I couldn’t expose myself even more. “I need Asher.”
“They’re taking him down to county jail.” My gaze snapped to hers. “He assaulted someone and—”
“Knox.” I sniffled, trying with all my might to keep my control, but it was no use. My lips trembled and tears streamed down my face. “He…he…”
The woman nodded. “I know.” She slid her gaze to the side, bit down on her bottom lip, then stared back at me. “We need to get you to the hospital. Is it okay if I take you?”
I inhaled a deep breath and turned my head to look at my open apartment door. The room was completely empty apart from me and Jenette, and although she didn’t make me feel safe in the way Asher did, I thought I’d be okay with her. But I couldn’t get my muscles to work. My body refused to move.
“I…” I closed my eyes, trying to imagine Asher’s face so I’d have the inspiration to get up. Maybe just the thought of him would give me the strength I needed. “I…I’m scared.”
“You’ll be safe with me,” Jenette whispered, and I opened my eyes to look at her. “I promise.” She glanced at my legs, then back at my face. “Let’s get your jeans pulled up and then we can slowly go to my car, okay?” I wanted to tell her it wasn’t okay. None of this was okay. All I needed was for Asher to be beside me. All I wanted was for him to wrap me in his arms and tell me he was there no matter what. All I needed was—