Chapter 34
Sloane
When I pulled up to Lisa’s, my mom and dad were already crossing the yard to meet me. I didn’t even try to disguise the pain and exhaustion written all over my face from the past twenty-four hours.
I was tired and scared. Dom and Cami had tried several times to mollify the fears that crept into my thoughts, and when I thought it was starting to work, I could hear Stu’s voice in the back of my mind, warning me about what had yet to come.
Initially, I thought I understood the power he held over me. That maybe the worst he could do was have someone tail me or mess with Rhys instead of me. I never thought that he was capable of planting a truckload of drugs on Rhys and even more inside our apartment.
If he was capable of doing all of that, who knew what he could do while Rhys was in his custody?
I climbed out of the driver’s seat, my mother immediately wrapping me in a hug. “Oh, sweetheart. Cami told us everything. I’m so sorry.”
I wanted to be done crying, but it just wouldn’t stop. All the emotions I felt, combined with the lack of sleep, were leaving the logical side of my brain fuzzy, while the emotional side was front and present.
Her arms tightened around me as I sobbed into her shoulder, my dad moving to the car to help Rookie climb out. God, I loved them. They always knew what I needed.
My dad whispered that he was taking Rookie inside, but my mom’s arms stayed tight around me. Like she knew if she let go a second too soon, I’d unravel completely onto the gravel driveway.
“We are going to figure this out. You — my fierce, strong, smart, capable daughter — you are going to figure this out. Don’t you doubt it for one second.
I have seen you accomplish so many things during your time as a lawyer for people you didn’t know.
I know that you will not sleep until he’s back home.
I know what you are capable of, Sloane Taylor.
And this...? A power trip from a sleazy cop? This is a walk in the park.”
She paused, pulling away and lifting her hands to frame my face.
“You take a second and let yourself feel everything that you need to feel. Don’t you dare think that that makes you weak, either.
But after you feel it, lock it up. Get that lawyer brain churning again and get him home. Just like I know you can.”
My lip quivered as I stared at her. “I love him, Mom,” I whimpered, my voice breaking. I could see the pain play out on her face, shifting quickly between something that looked almost as hopeless as I felt, then back to the impenetrable fa?ade she was projecting for me.
Here she was telling me it was okay to break down and feel bad while holding it together for me. Of course, she was hurting. Rhys had been in her life for just as long as I had; she loved him like a son.
But she was a mother after all. Making sure I was okay was her main priority, so I knew she would keep it together until I was out of sight, even if her glassy eyes gave away the emotion she was concealing.
“I know you do. Even when you didn’t know, I knew.” She smiled sweetly, her thumbs wiping at my cheeks but failing to keep up with the downpour. “Let’s go inside, come on.”
She reached down to take my hand in hers, squeezing it gently before pulling me with her toward Lisa’s.
And now I had to tell them everything. I owed Lisa that at least. Her son was in jail because of me.
I dated Stu. I provoked him. And Rhys got caught in the crossfire.
My feet seemed to drag against the ground as we made our way inside, as if sandbags were strapped to my shoes, weighing them down and growing heavier with each step.
I didn’t want to tell them. I didn’t want to admit that I wasn’t this strong, capable woman like they thought I was.
The opinions my family and the Armstrongs had of me were important. It made me sick to my stomach thinking about the possibility of that changing because of Stu.
Lisa stood at the door, her face blotchy and red, her eyes bloodshot and teary. Never in my twenty-nine years of life had I seen her like this.
She was broken.
Because of me.
I wanted to run and hug her, but simultaneously bolt in the opposite direction. How could she not hate me right now?
Her son was locked up, and his reputation ruined.
Because of me.
As I made my way to the door, Jim stepped up beside Lisa, stoic and unreadable for the most part. If it weren’t for the faint flush in his skin, I would’ve thought he was untouched by the reality of what was happening.
But it occurred to me that he was putting on the same fa?ade for Lisa that my mom had put on for me.
Guilt twisted my insides, my mother’s grip on my hand tightening like she knew I was one wrong look away from packing my bags and moving to Mexico. The two of us came to stop just a couple of feet from Rhys’s parents, my chest tightening around my lungs as I fought for a full breath.
It felt like I was hyperventilating.
Up until now, I’d avoided meeting their eyes, shifting my gaze from the ground to the chipping paint on the doorframe, but now I didn’t have a choice.
My eyes slowly lifted to meet Lisa’s, the green in her eyes identical to Rhys’s, and my heart ached.
I could see fresh tears form on her waterline, her bottom lip quivering. I waited for the explosion, my body tensing.
“Come here, honey.” Her voice shook as she raised her arms.
I stared at her, shock and confusion painted on my features. “Wh–what?” I stammered. She wanted to hug me. Lisa wanted to hug me. Why?
She sniffed while the grip my mother had on my hand released and moved to my back, nudging me forward. “What do you mean?”
“You– You’re not– Aren’t you mad at me?”
Lisa reared back like she’d been slapped. “Why the hell would I be mad at you, Sloane?”
“Because, this is– it’s all my fault,” I answered quietly, my gaze falling to the ground again.
“Did you set him up?”
“No! Lisa, I would never!”
“Did you know this was going to happen?”
I swallowed, shaking my head. “No, of course not.”
She quirked an eyebrow in a similar way to Rhys. “Then how the hell is it your fault?”
I stared at her, then glanced at Jim, shame flooding my body. I needed to tell them. And my parents. They needed to know about Stu.
I swallowed again, trying to loosen the tension lining my throat while wiping a couple of tears from my cheeks. “Can we go inside? We all need to talk.”
The four parents exchanged a worried glance before Jim stepped aside, giving my parents and me room to enter the house.
Sure, maybe no one was mad yet, but they would be after they found out I was the reason this was happening.
I stepped through the threshold, making my way to the living room and sitting on her beige couch. I slouched back into the fluffy material, waiting patiently for everybody to settle in.
Lisa eyed me curiously. “Are you okay? You look like you’re going to puke.”
Honestly, I might. The sick-to-my-stomach feeling I’d had since last night still hadn’t gone away, and I knew it was here to stay until Rhys was home. “I’m okay, I’ve just– It’s been a long night.”
My mother sat next to me on the couch, Lisa taking her place in the recliner to my left. Jim stood next to the fireplace, his arms crossed over his chest, while he leaned against the mantel. My father sat perched against the arm of the couch, mirroring the same hardened expression as Jim.
Sometimes it was easy to forget that he and Jim were just as close as my mom and Lisa.
“Whenever you’re ready, sweetheart.” My mother patted my knee, smiling softly as she looked over at me.
I hated the uneasy tension that hung in the air. It was so evident that I wasn’t the only one who felt it.
This was it. The moment I confessed to everyone what really happened with Stu. How he controlled and manipulated me. The lying, the gaslighting. The way he put his hands on me.
They were all going to know.
I took a deep breath, wringing my hands in my lap. “I need you guys to promise you won’t think of me any differently.” My eyes swept over every solemn face in the room, a soft nod from each of them confirming that they had promised.
“I need to talk about Stu...”
Over the next thirty minutes, I went into heavy detail about my relationship with Stu.
I started with the date that Zoey set up for us, then explained the small things.
How I didn’t even notice it was happening.
I didn’t see the red flags as they presented themselves because they were so subtle, and he was so doting and chivalrous in the beginning.
I told them it was easy to talk myself out of any anger or confusion about him keeping me home or away from other people, because the fact that he wanted me all to himself was sweet at the time. Not dangerous.
I told them about the stalking, about how he blocked a ton of numbers from my phone.
I almost stopped when I finally looked up from my hands and saw the faces of the people around me.
My mother was on the verge of sobbing, Lisa’s face was red and stained with tears as she cried behind her hand.
Jim still stood by the mantel, his jaw set with a kind of anger I didn’t think he was capable of possessing.
My father left the room after I admitted that Stu had put his hands on me.
After several deep breaths, I told them about running into Stu the night before and how I had provoked him. Not once, but twice. And now Rhys was in jail. Drugs were planted on him and in my apartment. And I was lost.
Utterly and completely lost.
I’d gone through most of my life with answers to everything.
But I didn’t know what to do.
I didn’t know where the drugs came from, I didn’t know how they got into Rhys’s pocket, or how they got into our apartment. I didn’t know how to get him home.
Lost.
Once I’d finished recapping everything, I wiped a couple of tears from my face and convinced myself to look up again.
My mother blinked away her tears, swallowing several times before she cleared her throat. She scooted closer to me, placing her hands over mine. “I can’t keep my promise, Sloane.”