I have to press my clean hand to my mouth not to vomit up my heart at the insinuation. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to see anyone hurting my baby sister. I want to wake up and have none of this be real.
But that’s not an option. I have to be strong for Emily.
I slide open the back door and step into what looks like a game room, with linoleum floors, a pool table, couches, and a big-screen TV with a gaming system.
There’s a guy on the couch, shirt-less, sprawled in a relaxed pose as he sips his beer. He doesn’t flinch as he looks up at me, his eyes sparkling. “You smell like shit. Don’t sit on my furniture until you get cleaned up.”
“I’ll be leaving as soon as I find my sister. Emily. Have you seen her?”
His smile is lecherous. “Oh, I’ve seen her all right. She’s in the bathroom. Why don’t you come back in an hour or two? She’s not ready to leave.”
I let out a slow breath and force my hands to unclench. I cannot go to prison for punching a child. I cannot go to prison for punching a child.
“You must be Dawson.”
His smile widens. “She’s told you about me.”
“I know you’re a junior in high school, so that makes you what? Sixteen? Seventeen?”
“I was held back a year,” he says. “Kindergarten. I’m seventeen.”
“Do you know what statutory rape is, Dawson?”
He shrugs. “Like a dude hiding in a parking lot to force himself on some woman?”
I shove my hands behind my back to keep from strangling him. “It’s when anyone has any kind of sexual interaction with achildwho’s between the ages of thirteen and fifteen. If you’ve touched Emily, I will call the police.”
He sits up, hands in the air, one still holding a beer can. “I haven’t touched her. But if I did, she’d be thrilled. I don’t rape people.”
“Newsflash, asshole,” I say, at the end of my patience with him. “If the girl is too drunk or high to know what’s going on, it’s rape.”
He lowers his hands, his expression twisting, his eyes going cold. “Every fucking girl at my school would be grateful for the opportunity to wrap her lips around my cock. I’ve never left anyone unsatisfied.”
“Only because they’re too scared to speak up.” I don’t know this for a fact, but I wouldn’t be surprised based on what Ariel said and the way he’s looking at me like he wants to murder me.
“Gentry?” Emily asks as she wobbles into the room from some unknown location, a woman I’ve never seen before standing behind her, her mouth pressed into a grim line.
“Are you responsible for this child?” the woman asks, her brows high.
“She’s my sister. I’m taking her home right now.”
“No, Gentry, you can’t—”
“What were your parents thinking allowing a little girl to attend this party?” the woman asks.
There’s no way in hell I’m telling her I’m Emily’s guardian. I’m not giving her a reason to call CPS. “What are you thinking allowing a bunch of underage drinkers to party on your property?”
The woman’s face goes red and her eyes flash. “They’re responsible kids, and I’m supervising. It’s better than allowing them to sneak around and probably drive drunk. There aren’t supposed to be any children here.”
“They’re all children,” I say, as I back toward the door, wrapping an arm around Emily’s shoulders as she sways. “And no one allowed this child to come here tonight. In fact, she was forbidden to come here, but this child…” I spin to point out Dawson, but of course the sneak has vanished. “Dawson brought her to the party after Emily snuck out of the house.”
“Emily?” the woman says. “What is her last name?”
“We’re leaving now.” I slide the glass door open and drag my sister out into the night.
“I don’t want to go,” Emily says.
“Tough. We’re leaving. Now.”
