Heartbreaker (Unbreakable #1)(83)

“Which pills?” For some reason, I needed more information. Every little detail. Because if I didn’t distract my mind with something, I’d be hunting down some f*cker who liked to drug then rape girls.

Day flipped another page. “Ascendipam. It was the empty medication bottle in her purse.”

The drug she stopped taking after only two pills. So the bottle had twenty-eight pills left.

“Toxicology report confirmed alcohol, Ascendipam, and Rohypnol.”

“Will she be okay?” Sounded like a lot. Organ failure popped to my mind. And I hadn’t seen the doctor yet.

“We’ve been told she should make a full recovery. They pumped her stomach in time.”

“Thank f*ck.” I blew out a hard breath.

“If you see or hear from Trevor, be sure to call us immediately.” Day opened the bottom of the clipboard, pulled out a card, and handed it to me.

I stared at the damn thing, imagining how that meeting would go if Trevor showed his sorry-ass face to me. Sure. I would call them ‘immediately’…right after I beat the shit out of the punk.

“We’ve got the hospital staff monitoring her room,” he continued. “She’s to have no visitors other than you.”

The rest of the time, however many minutes it was, went by in a blur. They didn’t need me to press charges; it was automatic for attempted rape of a minor. But I signed their forms anyway, pressing formal charges. The rage that welled up within me wanted to do so much more than sign pieces of paper.

By the time the officers left the waiting room, two other families had come in. One had a toddler who ran around the room, bumping into everything, my legs included.

I didn’t care. The jolt of the kid pulled me out of a numb haze I’d fallen into.

Exhausted, I got up and went back down the hall. I stood silently in her doorway. Her sleeping body lay in the same position it had when I’d left with the officers. She looked so innocent. She’d almost had that innocence ripped away—nearly her very life.

A heavy pulse beat in my head. Her being there in that bed was my fault. She was my responsibility. While she’d been assaulted, fought for her life, I’d been at some party.

Not just some party. I’d been trying to save Kiki from homelessness.

But I should have been saving my sister from a rapist.

Life wasn’t fair. At times, I felt like a kid myself—with dreams and college—but I’d been shoved into the role of parent. Guess I didn’t get to choose. I’d taken a shot at happiness with all the responsibilities I had and got smacked hard.

Could have been worse. The beeping monitors meant Logan was still alive. She needed me. Now more than ever.

My happiness?

Would have to wait.

A vibration in my back pocket pulled me from my thoughts. I tugged my phone free.

One line from Kiki flashed up on the screen. Six little words came out as an order my exhausted body didn’t think to disobey:

Come over. No matter how late.





Kiki…

“Come on in?” Darren’s voice boomed as he slapped my note onto the worktable.

Anger rolled off him. It snuffed out the cute smartass retort I nearly lobbed back before glancing up. He was in no mood to play.

“I didn’t know what time you’d come by.”

“So you left the door unlocked.”

“You don’t have a key.”

“And you taped an open invitation to every * guy walking down your alley to come in and rape you.”

I swallowed hard, pulse beginning to race. I’d never seen him angry. And he was furious. At me.

Arguing with him seemed asinine. I had no idea what news he’d gotten. And I wanted to support him. Help him any way I could. Which meant taking the force of his anger. We could deal with tiny issues like home security later.

“How’s Logan?”

He whooshed out a harsh breath. “They say she’s going to be okay. She’s out for the night.”

What happened? What I wanted to say, but was afraid to ask.

A small meow sounded from below the worktable. Chipmunky. He’d sensed something was wrong.

Darren stared straight down, presumably at the kitten. But he didn’t move. Didn’t react. Like his ability to respond to any stimulus had gone haywire. Like thinking a note taped to my front door had been a beacon to thugs and rapists.

Then he slumped onto a barstool. His face dropped into his hands.

“She’s going to be okay.” I repeated his news with a soft tone, in case it hadn’t sunk in when he’d uttered it.

Silence followed. The eerie kind when you’re sitting in an enormous warehouse and not even the wind dares vibrate a window.

“She almost killed herself,” he whispered.

Killed herself. The impact of those words hit my chest like a sledgehammer. Had to have crushed him like a wrecking ball.

“Because that * Trevor was going to rape her.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered, shocked. Suddenly the horrendous images of *s and rapists had an explanation. He’d been thrust into the middle of that nightmare.

Fury welled up from my gut too. That Logan had her heart into that * guy. And he’d wanted to use her—to hurt her. So much worse than what I’d gone through. At least mine had been consensual sex.