“I’ll draw you a new one then.”
“A new one. Okay. We’ll make a new one.”
“Tell me the rest, sugar,” he urged. He needed to hear it and she needed to get it out.
“The rest.” She drew in a deep breath. “I thought he was going to rape me. There was nothing I could do. And then I heard this cry. And then a thump. Bobby’s eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped on top of me. I was hysterical. I didn’t know what was happening. I looked up and saw Brad’s face.”
“Your brother?” His voice was hoarse.
“Yes. He knew I went to the pond on Saturdays and he’d come looking for me. He wanted money for-for something. He heard me scream. Saw what was happening and he picked up this big branch and hit Bobby over the head. He was pale, shaking and his terror helped me pull myself together. We got Bobby off me and then we just ran.” She shook her head. “We didn’t even stop to see if he was alive. We just took off.”
“Good,” he said fiercely. “He didn’t deserve any care. But how does this have anything to do with my grandfather?”
And why would she have left town with Bobby if he’d nearly raped her? Although he already knew the answer to that. She wouldn’t.
Yeah. Fuck him.
“We raced until we got back to our place. Mom wasn’t there. Sylvie wouldn’t be home until the next day. Brad wasn’t in a good way. . .I made him a hot chocolate. I told him he did the right thing over and over. He crashed in bed and then I. . .I lost it. I showered for a long time. Until the water went cold. And I cried. A lot. I was about to climb into bed even though I didn’t think I would sleep and I was wishing for once that Mom was home, there was this knock on the door.” She tensed. “It was your grandfather.”
He braced. “And?”
“I thought maybe someone found Bobby. Maybe he was dead. Maybe Brad killed him. I was shaking as I opened the door. He was so calm. So cold. He told me that he wanted me gone. Out of town. Out of your life. Bobby. . .Bobby wasn’t dead. But your grandfather had found him. He knew he was there. He sent him.”
“He sent him?” He couldn’t process what she was telling him.
She ran a shaking hand over her face. “He had these photos. I. . .I swear I fought him, Jed. I did. I didn’t want him. . .”
“Baby, hush, I know you didn’t.” His frozen state melted at the fear in her voice.
“But the photos. . .some of them looked like I was participating. I don’t know how he even had the photos.”
“They set it up,” he whispered.
“Yeah,” she whispered back. “Took me a long while to figure that out. Not until we were gone from that town. Not until I could think of that night without having a panic attack. I don’t know if he took the photos himself—”
“No way. He had lackeys for that shit. Somehow, he got Bobby to attack you, but to pin you in such a way it didn’t look like you were fighting. Must have had someone in the bushes, taking photos.”
“They. . .they weren’t the worst of the photos.”
“What?”
“They’d also taken photos of Brad hitting Bobby. Then of us fleeing the scene. You grandfather, he said it didn’t look good for me, but it really didn’t look good for Brad. That Bobby had a concussion, was in the hospital and that the sheriff was ready to take a statement. The sheriff who was really good friends with your grandfather.”
He’d arranged the whole thing. Jed couldn’t believe any of this. It felt like this was a dream. A story she was telling about something that had happened to someone else.
Not his girl.
“He said that both of us would be arrested. Brad for assault. Me for fleeing the scene. And for theft.”
“What fucking theft?”
“I asked him that, and he pulled out Bobby’s wallet. Said that Bobby could give a statement where I lured him out to the pond and came on to him then my brother hit him and we stole his wallet. That the photos of Brad hitting Bobby would be sent anonymously to the sheriff. But if I did what I was told, Bobby would tell everyone he had no idea who hit him.”
“That fucking asshole.”
“I said I would tell the truth. That Bobby attacked me. He asked me who I thought everyone would believe? The son from one of the most respected families in the county? Or the criminal daughter of the town whore.”
“Criminal? You fucking stole once to feed your brother and sister.”