James grabs him by the collar of his bloodstained polo shirt and shoves him backward, causing him to trip on the toilet and almost lose his balance. “I saw you staring at her in the lobby. How you ran after her,” he gasps.
“She wanted it, man!” Chester tries to pull James away with both hands, but James doesn’t let go. He’s shaking with anger, and even his wild curls look electrified.
“James,” I say again, but I don’t think he hears me. The shrill sound of the alarm echoes off the walls, filling the entire room. With my heart pounding, I look around and spot the pin at James’ feet. I quickly pick it up and put it back into its slot on the signal device.
The silence seems deafeningly loud. Only now do I notice how much my knees are shaking. How much everything about me is shaking.Oh my God!
I brace myself against the wall with one hand and hear James’s ragged breathing.
“Did he do that at your school, too, Kans? Was he one of those who always tormented you?”
Tears are welling up in my eyes now. Probably because someone finally knows the whole truth. The struggle is over.
I have no idea whether my nod or my distraught expression is enough of an answer for James. He curses and strikes again. There’s an ugly crash, and the door flies open.
I turn, startled. It’s a man from security, neatly dressed in a dark blue uniform and baseball cap. Behind him, the blonde receptionist and another employee push through the door.
“What’s going on here? Miss—are you okay?” the guard asks in a strong Southern accent.
I just stare at him.
“Miss?”
I don’t want this to turn into an internal hotel problem. I don’t want anyone to know at all. I merely want to help River and nothing else. “It’s been taken care of,” I reply weakly.
At that moment, Chester pushes James out of the stall and approaches the officer. “I was attacked,” I hear him say as if through a haze. He seems battered, his neatly blow-dried hair is messy, and there is a butterfly-shaped bloodstain on his blue and white polo shirt.
“Did you set off an alarm?” the guard looks at Chester in disbelief.
“It’s been resolved. Let me through, guard,” Chester demands, his head held high. “My father is waiting for me in the lobby. Dr. Clark Davenport. Also, Senator...”
“Even if Saint Peter was waiting for you, I wouldn’t care.” The security guard, a black man with broad shoulders and alert eyes, looks us over one by one. When his gaze rests on me, his stern expression softens. “I assume you set off the alarm,” he says, pointing to the alarm device on my waistband. On River’s waistband.
“He forced himself on my sister,” James growls before I can nod.
I instinctively press my nails into the palm of my hand and stare at the floor, my cheeks burning.
“It was a misunderstanding. He completely misinterpreted the situation,” I hear Chester explain. “She sent me the wrong signals!”
At that moment, I want to hit him. No, I want to hammer my fists against his face. I jerk my head up. “I didn’t send any signals at all,” I respond quietly but firmly. “And it wasn’t a misunderstanding!”
Chester looks at me in shock, as if he still can’t believe that so many words are coming out of my mouth.
“Sir, I gotta say, there might be some fallout from this,” the security guard says, addressing Chester. “If the young lady presses charges...”
“He attacked me for no reason!” Chester’s face is as red as a tomato, and he looks so outraged, as if he’s honestly been wronged. “Nothing happened here! It was a misunderstanding. What about him? Won’t he be charged with assault?” He points to his face, where swelling has already formed around his bloodshot eye.
“We’ll see.”
Chester purposefully soaks several paper towels in water and presses them against the swollen area under his eye. He glares at James. “Your sister is a slut. She’s been screwing half the school. Everyone knows that! Montgomery can’t open her mouth, but she spreads her legs for everyone. She looked at me in the lobby and nodded toward the bathroom sign. She wanted what she usually wants!”
Silence follows his words.
Everyone stares at me. James stares at me. His hands are clenched. Chester looks at himself in the mirror and dabs his eyebrow with the paper. “It’s not my fault she suddenly changed her mind... I demand to speak to my father. Immediately! And I won’t say another word without my lawyer.”
“He’s lying!” I whisper, choking and clinging to the sink so I don’t fall over.Please, James, don’t believe him!
“Miss, you’re hurt,” I suddenly hear a woman say.
