Chapter 32
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
Wells
He was her professor.
He’d even had dinner with our parents.
I sat in horror as Bow told Bru and me about him. The guy had stalked Bow all semester and only kinda stopped after she spent more time with me. He was why she wanted people to see me with her.
I was silent while Bow spoke, dangerously silent. I was sure I appeared calm, but inside a war raged within me only one person related to. He was sitting on her other side.
Bru also remained silent while Bow spoke.
He held her, one arm around her waist while his other hand was on my shoulder.
Bow couldn’t see that hand, the one that gripped into my flesh with a fucking viselike grip.
She didn’t see Bru’s face, his complexion the color of a thousand suns, red. His jaw clenched.
Bow sniffed back tears while she told her story. Bow was lying between us and gripped my shirt. “I’m so stupid. He told me so many things. Made me feel things…”
I held on to Bow to keep from fuming, shaking.
She shook her head. “I was just so lonely.”
She was lonely because of me. It was because of something I did. I blackballed her. Hell, she couldn’t even have friends unless they were a part of our crew. That was something I did, me.
The grip on my shoulder loosened a bit, and I think that was because Bru transferred his attention to Bow. She started crying, and he hugged her into him. He swept back her hair. “Baby,” he murmured.
She was our baby, and I knew I had no right to think of her that way. It was because of me this fucker had access to her. She was vulnerable because of me.
She held Bru’s hand, squeezed it. “I didn’t even want to have sex. I thought I did. He made me think I did.” She sniffed. “I asked to stop at first. I didn’t want it, but he got in my head.”
Something happened to Bow she neither wanted or liked, and that was assault. Point-blank.
Eventually, Bow stopped crying. Eventually, she closed her eyes, and even after she grew quiet, Bru and I didn’t say anything. We just held her. We were doing what she needed in the moment. We stayed present for her.
We’d do anything for her.
The three of us remained like that for a long time, in Bow’s hospital bed.
We only let go when her parents came into the room.
Mrs. Reed immediately went to Bow, and Bru and I gave them both that space.
Mr. Reed was right behind her, as well as the rest of the Legacy families.
That tiny-ass room didn’t stay tiny for long after our parents made some calls.
They got Bow the space she both needed and deserved, and the parents only added to the comfort.
Before they arrived, Bow had asked us to stay silent about the pregnancy to our folks. She wasn’t ready to tell them, and we understood. Bru and I let her be surrounded by love that night, and eventually, all our friends came in to visit her too. Bow had a lot of love. She had a lot of family.
“I lost the baby. I lost her, him.”
Those were the last words Bow said to Bru and me before the parents arrived as she clutched her stomach. She’d been pregnant, but she wasn’t now.
She wasn’t now.
Bru and I looked at each other, a silent exchange shared between us. We had so many silent exchanges, but we kept that shit on lock.
We had to.
Bru and I texted Bow in our group chat before we left the hospital that night. She was physically safe with her family, our families. She was alive, but she wasn’t okay. She might not ever be. She might not be for a long time.
“I lost the baby.”
Bru and I kept our texts with Bow simple.
We told her we were going out for a little bit, but we’d come running if she needed us.
She was good with our families, safe, but, before we actually left the hospital, we asked if it was okay to tell the Legacies about the pregnancy. We’d only tell our friends.
Bow: Yeah, it’s okay.
It’s okay.
Bow: I love you both.
She was our everything which was why we were going to bat for her when she physically couldn’t at the moment. Bru and I were going to take care of the girl we loved.
We all were going to take care of her.