Cat
Ronan doesn’t call me back. Of course he doesn’t. I betrayed him, so deeply. I can’t believe it’s come to this; I can’t believe I allowed Adam to ruin the most incredible, perfect thing I’ve ever had. Ronan probably hates me now.
I sit on the edge of my bed, my leg bouncing restlessly as I stare at the black screen of my phone, wishing, willing for it to light up with Ronan’s beautiful face, his green eyes. What have I done? And it does light up, only not with Ronan’s face, but with Vada’s.
She speaks before I do. “Zack, Summer, and I are outside. Open the door!” she tells me simply and hangs up.
My brow creases, but I get up and make my way downstairs. The moment I open the front door, Vada rushes into the house, followed by Summer and Zack, who shuts the door behind him and locks the deadbolt back into place.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“Shane called me and—”
She’s interrupted by an imposing knock on the door.
“Who is it?” Zack calls to whoever is outside.
My heart gives an appreciative little jolt when I hear Steve’s voice. “Steve. Open up, asshole,” he calls to Zack, who unlocks the door to grant Steve entrance. “Shane and Tori are about ten minutes out,” Steve tells Zack, then turns to me and pulls me into his arms, hugging me tightly.
“What are you all doing here?” I ask.
Steve releases me from his hold.
“Shane called,” Vada says. “He said Ran called all frantic and said you were in trouble.”
“Ran rallied the damn troops,” Zack says.
The dam breaks, tears spilling from my eyes at the realization that Ronan didn’t call me back not because he hates me, but because he’s doing whatever he can to make sure I’m safe. Even from thousands of miles away, he’s still protecting me.
“Aww, Kitty .” Vada gently leads me to the living room where I plop down on the couch, surrounded by my closest friends. It takes me forever to get control over my fitful sobs, and by the time I manage to compose myself, Shane and Tori have arrived, looking absolutely bewildered.
“Alright, so, care to fill us in on your little convo with my baby brother?” Steve asks Shane, whose blue eyes are full of urgency yet warmth.
“Uh, well, it was literally a fifteen-second call. He just said was in trouble.” He turns his attention to me. “He said your ex is contacting you again. Ran was worried that your ex is maybe here… in New York?”
“He wouldn’t dare,” Vada says, but I nod.
I take a deep breath, then a second, and fill my friends in on what has occurred since Ronan left. I tell them about the warrant that’s out for Adam’s arrest, Adam’s frequent attempts to contact me, his threats, and my fear that he might want to hurt Ronan.
“I don’t fucking get it,” Shane says, his brow furrowed. “Is this fucker just a glutton for punishment? I thought Ran beat his ass pretty thoroughly.”
“Why don’t you just tell this douche to fuck all the way off?” Vada huffs, her arms crossed in front of her chest. “I mean, if he shows up here you’ll just call the damn cops. That would be awesome! They’re already looking for him. I say ignore the motherfucker and let him come,” she says with a shrug.
I shake my head, knowing full well that there’s no way out. I’m going to have to come clean to my friends. I’m going to have to lay myself bare just like I did to Ronan on the phone earlier.
“So, there’s… Can you guys… I just…” I fish for the right words to tell them about the pictures I sent Adam over the past few months, the ones he took of me when we were still together, the extortion and blackmailing, and what I did to comply with Adam’s demands.
They remain silent, waiting for me to speak.
I take yet another shaky breath, then begin to confess my deepest, darkest secrets.
And to my utter elation, delight—heck, jubilation—they don’t judge. None of them. Shane doesn’t get angry when I tell him about the money—and quickly note that I made sure to pay him back as soon as I could—and Steve doesn’t judge when I come clean about selling the hockey skates. Not even Vada makes so much as a snippy or inappropriate remark, gasping instead at all the right moments. I note expressions of anger, even disgust on the guys’ faces when I tell them about how Adam has taken photos of me without my consent, how he’s been extorting and threatening me.
“God, baby, you ever pull shit like that asshole and I’m going to flat out castrate you, then shove your balls down your throat,” Summer spits at Zack, who looks taken aback.
“You… Wait, you send Zack nudes of you?” I ask Summer, a flicker of relief, even hope, sparking in my chest.
“Of course I do,” Summer says with a duh face.
“I sent Shane a soapy boob pic this morning while I was under the shower.” Tori shrugs.
Shane grins victoriously, nodding. “She did.”
Even Vada chimes in. “Stevie had an album full of nudes I sent him.” She looks at Steve more timidly than I’ve ever witnessed before.
“And I’d cut off my own hands before I ever show them to anyone,” Steve says so sincerely, elation blooms in my chest. Not only are my friends by my side through this, but they’re also completely supportive.
Shane turns his gaze to me. “Let me tell you something, . Any decent guy isn’t going to share nudes, even of his ex. That shit is sacred. Tori sends me pictures or, fuck, if she lets me film us…”—he lets out a low growl, looking at Tori admiringly for a second—“that shit gets put in a special folder, locked away from anyone’s eyes but mine. The shit your ex is doing is fucking disgusting and illegal.”
“Yeah,” Steve says. “Okay, so what are we going to do about this guy?” He poses his question to Zack and Shane.
“Find him. Kill him,” Shane says so dryly, I actually laugh. “You think I’m joking?” he asks with a smirk.
“Oh, no, not even a little.” I feel a thousand times better already. “Shay, when you talked to Ran… I…” He still hasn’t called me in the hour and a half since he ended our call, since he made sure our friends got to my house to ensure I’m not alone. I know he's hurt, and he has every right to be. Now that I sit here and I’ve come clean, unburdened myself, I can’t for the life of me remember why I didn’t just tell Ronan when Adam first began blackmailing me. At least then the only pictures I would have had to tell Ronan about were the ones Adam took of me during our relationship. That’s certainly more forgivable than what I’ve done since…
Shane gives me a half smile that doesn’t translate to his eyes. “He only told me you’re in trouble, . He didn’t go into any details.”
I sigh deeply.
“Ran loves you, ,” he says. “He’s probably hurt, yeah. I know I’d be if I found out Tori sent pictures to her ex during our relationship, but it’s not like you did it because you were cheating on Ran.”
“Yeah,” Tori says. “You didn’t really have a choice. This guy was extorting you.”
“Ran knows this,” Shane says. “He’s going to sit on this, he’ll think it to death, and he’ll come to the same realization. In fact, I bet he already has.”
“He said he’d call me right back…” I lift my eyes to Shane’s.
“Give him some time,” Steve says.
The front door unlocks and my mom walks in. She startles at the sight of me surrounded by my six friends. “Oh, hi guys!” she says in a chipper tone. “I take it shared the amazing news with you?”
Good god, I had already forgotten about my college acceptance letters.
I shake my head. I know the time has come. I’ve already taken the hardest step by confessing to Ronan and my friends, so I take a steadying breath. “Mom… I need to talk to you…”
It takes another hour to catch my mom up on everything—and I mean everything—that transpired not only over the past eight or nine months, but during the time I dated Adam. She remains surprisingly composed throughout, only occasionally gasping or shifting uncomfortably in her spot next to Vada on the sofa.
The moment I finish, she gets up and pulls me up and into her arms, holding me tightly against her chest. My mom’s warmth, the way she rubs my back, causes me to dissolve into tears once more. It’s as though I’m shedding all the tension, crying all the uncried tears, and releasing all the pain that has been compounding ever since Adam began to mistreat me.
“Okay,” she says when she releases me from her hold. She straightens herself out. “Here is what is going to happen. First, you’re not going anywhere alone again until this… this… this absolute garbage human is finally arrested. Second, I’m going to have to tell your dad—”
“Oh no.” Aside from telling Ronan, the one thing that scares me most is my dad finding out what I’ve done.
“Sorry, Kitty, but there’s no way around it. He has a right to know.”
“God, Mom, he’ll—”
“I’ll handle your father,” she says, but I give her a doubtful look. I can already hear him go off the rails when he finds out his little girl sent dirty pictures to a boy. He’ll be so disappointed; he’ll judge me in the worst possible way. I’ve failed him. “We’ll also call the police. I know they won’t do much if anything based just on Adam’s most recent text message, but I want to make a record. And then—” She turns to Vada and Zack. “Would you two mind getting me in touch with your father?”
I furrow my brow, but Zack immediately pulls his phone out of his back pocket. “Yeah, I was actually thinking we should talk to him.”
Vada nods. “His office prosecutes these things once in a while. You know, the revenge porn stuff.”
“He calls it intimate image abuse,” Zack says, already holding his phone to his ear.
Vada rolls her eyes. “Whatever.”
Zack connects with his dad, then passes his phone to my mom. She speaks with him for a long time. My face burns with embarrassment at the knowledge that my dirty secret is not so secret anymore, that even Zack and Vada’s dad knows about my misdeeds now. I’m so ashamed.
As if Tori can read my mind, she nudges me with her elbow, then whispers, “I have dick pics of Shay. It’s not just a one-way street, you know? You didn’t do anything that not everyone else in this room has done. Heck, I bet even your mom sends nudes to your dad.” She giggles at my face contorting with the thought.
“Eww, Tori,” I grunt, but laugh.
“Well, this is all we can do for now,” my mom huffs when she eventually gets off the phone with Mr. Walker. “He said to screenshot every text Adam sends you from now on and to not respond to Adam’s demands, no matter what.”
“Okay. What if he posts the pictures, though?” I ask with a tremor in my voice.
“Mr. Walker didn’t think he would; he thinks it’s a power move. He said he’s seen this tactic a lot and very few perpetrators follow through.”
I nod. Ronan said something very similar. I just hope they’re right.