Chapter Thirty-Four
~Toby’s POV~
“S he’s finally asleep ,” Seth said, coming downstairs from where he’d been with Cadence. We were all at his house while Janice was over at Cadence’s house with her fiancé and kid.
I rubbed at my face, wanting to claw out my eyes. I was beyond exhausted. And at the same time, I felt completely wired. Like I was the one who ran a marathon through the school to avoid a madman. Like I was the one who had to hide in a computer room to avoid him. Or pray the bullet didn’t hit me when the gun had gone off.
But I wasn’t part of any of it. I hadn’t been around. Frankly, I was never around and I was more scared than ever that eventually, she wasn’t going to be safe and she was going to be horribly hurt, and I hadn’t been there to protect her.
I failed with my brother when he fell. I failed with Cadence multiple times at this point when her house had been broken into, when the Ryders ran her and Seth off the road, when she was kidnapped, and nearly assaulted by those fucking boys.
I was never around.
I was useless, like always.
“Toby?” Bryan called out to me.
I jumped and looked at everyone, they were staring at me. “What?” I asked.
Seth sighed. “It’s been a long night. We all need to sleep and time to process everything.”
“What’s there to process?” Paxon asked. “Cadence and Janice were attacked in school with a fucking madman with a gun. And the only reason they’re fine is because the police actually did their job properly for once and were able to react fast enough.”
Paxon had his head against his fist as he rested against the edge of the couch, looking like he was fighting a headache.
We all were at this point.
“I don’t even understand it,” Justin said. “Why Laurens was after them like that. He was desperate at that point.”
“We won’t know anything until they’re able to look into it,” I said. “And we may never really get an answer.”
I didn’t like that thought. We needed answers. Cadence and Janice needed answers. They deserved at least that much with everything that happened to them. They had been hunted.
Paxon sighed and pulled out his phone, frowning at it. He stood up slowly and stretched, arms over his head. “I need to head home.”
“Seriously?” I asked in surprise. “Cadence was in danger and you’re just going to leave like that?”
Paxon frowned at me. “Everyone is here. She’s not alone.” He slowly glanced at all of us. For a moment it looked like he wanted to say something but he stopped and shook his head, changing his mind. He refused to meet our eyes as he said “Me leaving isn’t going to change anything. My dad wants me to come home tonight and it’s late enough. I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow.”
With that, he grabbed his coat, shoved his shoes on and then left us all staring after him.
“What is going on?” I asked, pointing toward Paxon. “That isn’t normal. He isn’t normal.”
Seth rubbed at his jaw, gaze dark as he stared after Paxon. Good. It meant I wasn’t the only one who thought that was weird.
“Maybe something is up with his mom? It’s around the holidays and this is usually when she really pushes to see them.”
I slumped my shoulders and leaned back in the chair. My stomach was in knots. I really hoped Seth was right about that. We didn’t need more questions without answers tonight.