“Where did you spend the afternoon, Angel?”
“You said you wouldn’t do this!” she yelled, shoving West with two hands.
Interested parties looked over, ready to devour any gossip crumbs. In that instant, I took her arm to pull her out of the garden and away from prying eyes, from people who would punish her for being human.
West followed.
The minute we were inside a small garden shed, she ripped out of my hold.
“You promised,” she whispered, eyes locked on West’s leather shoes.
I grabbed West’s collar. “The fuck did you do?” There was an edge slicing my words, slicing me. I was unraveling simply because Snitch was coming undone and I didn’t know why.
West gripped my forearm, fighting with my grip. “I didn’t do shit.”
“It’s front-page news!” Story yelled.
“What is she talking about?” I slammed him against the wall.
“I don’t know!”
Story held up her phone between us, showing a headline.
The Modern Cinderella? Don’t Drop Your Shoe, Just Cry Rape.
Her rape, online, everywhere.
This was it. This is how West dies.
I pressed my forearm into his neck until he sputtered to breathe.
“You…” She grasped her chest like she couldn’t breathe. “This is my fault. I’m a fucking idiot.” Story reached blindly for the doorknob. “I have to get out of here.”
Red cleared from my eyes, and I turned back to Story. “You can’t go out there. I don’t know how this didn’t spread in the morning, but everyone out there knows now.”
She couldn’t leave, not when I didn’t know how to fix this.
Not when I’d never seen her like this.
She threw up her hands. “Hiding in here won’t stop them from knowing.”
West gripped her elbow. “Angel, wait—”
She yanked her elbow free. “Fuck you.”
The door slammed and I immediately opened it to go follow, when West said to my back, “This is all because of you.”
I spun. “Me?”
“It’s your fault I threw down that fucking coin in the first place.”
I ripped a sucker from my suit jacket and shoved it into my mouth so I didn’t beat him into the fucking floor.
“So, you always had issues taking responsibility for your actions then, West?”
He took a step to me. “You taunted me.”
“I didn’t know shit about you and Story.” I took a step to him. “But if I had, you can bet I would have done more than taunt you.”