The house is already packed, filled with the team and anyone who heard about the party.
“Come on. I’ll show you my room,” I tell her as I steer her away from the chaos and up to some privacy.
The world seems to fall away as I close my bedroom door behind us.
I spin her in place, slide my hands around her hips, and pick her up, and her legs hook around my waist. “I missed you.”
“You saw me this morning,” she says with a mocking tone and a smirk on her lips.
I shrug, tossing her up in my arms just to make her squeal. “It’s never enough.”
She stares into my eyes, and without a word, she leans in and kisses me.
My Becca, she’s beautiful, strong, independent, and she chooses to love me.
Since the day I met Becca Chambers, I’ve been waiting for this, for exactly what we have right now. She is the reason I wake up in the morning, the reason I smile. She is my laugh and my cry. She is my passion and my anger. My past, present, and future.
We were never an easy pair. We fought, and we yelled, and we battled until we finally came out on the other side together.
She’s made me happier than I’ve ever been. She’s made me scream at the top of my lungs. But I wouldn’t change a thing about our wicked love.
THIRTY-TWO
Becca
Four Weeks Later
“Cade, when is Stella going to be here?” I clink my knife against my glass of champagne.
We are celebrating many things tonight, but most importantly, the development of Austin’s case.
He smiles at the mention of her. “Any minute now. She was out with her mom.”
Shortly after Cal’s opening football game, we got news of the first of Austin’s victims stepping forward. Unfortunately, the statute of limitations had run out for the first victim. But we hoped that she would help inspire another victim, if there was one.
It didn’t take long.
A week after the first girl came forward, another victim was brave enough to step into the light. This time, we got lucky. He had never seen Austin’s face. He was ambushed from behind at a hockey party at Austin’s house and shoved into a bedroom.
The victim had semen left inside him that they were able to swab during the rape kit.
Everyone seemed shocked to find that the second victim was a male. Austin didn’t rape for sex or pleasure. Austin raped for power. It didn’t matter that his victim was male or female. He just needed to feel their helplessness.
And thanks to this fearless guy for coming forward, the police were able to get a warrant for Austin’s DNA to compare to the rape kit. All because Stella along with the other female victim, Katy, and the male victim, Leo, were all brave enough to tell their story.
I made it easy for the cops to find him as he was already in jail for trespassing, breaking and entering, and assault with a deadly weapon.
The case is going to trial, so we’re in for a long process, but we’re ready. We know he might not go away for a long time, but Stella said she’d never felt freer than she did after our Instagram live.
“Thank you, guys, for coming tonight.” I look around the table at Cade, Brooke, Rose, Sophie, and my Cal. “Hopefully, Stella gets here soon.”
I invited everyone over for a housewarming party. I moved in about a week ago, saying good-bye to hotel living.
I also sold my parents’ old house and donated exactly half of the money to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in honor of my father and the other half to the American Cancer Society in honor of my mother.
When I had visited the house for the last time, Cal came with me. I walked every inch, taking one last stroll down memory lane with my parents.
And I couldn’t stop thinking about what Cal had done.
