Crushed (46 page)

“I did this because he was throwing away his future!” Landon shot at them. “They’re
just kids! They would’ve broken up anyway. I just hurried things along before it was
too late.”

“Too late to get what
you
wanted,” Reece coldly pointed out.
“And the fact that you even think
this is about the ten grand
shows how much of an arrogant ass
hole
you are!”

Landon flew up from his chair and Beth bolted to her feet to step between them.

“I think,” she said as she spoke slowly, “that you should probably go
. I think that maybe the space we had this summer was not quite enough
. You have made some pretty poor choices
over the years. I have forgiven a lot because I wanted to make this marriage work.
But
this
? This is just pushing it too far. And the fact that you don’t even—”

The ringing of Reece’s phone cut her off. “It’s Cleo,” he said as he glared defiantly
at Landon. “Hey,” he said into his phone as he slid off the sofa.
He was already concerned because she was supposed to call when she got to Emma’s.
Only, it was her home phone number that had shown up on his display. “Is everything
okay?”

He had been on his way out of the room,
in search of
some privacy. But when Luci’s frantic voice greeted him, he stopped immediately.

“Luci, calm down,” he told her as he tried to make sense of what she had just said.
“What do you mean Cleo won’t wake up? Is she sleeping?”

“She’s on the floor,” Luci sobbed. “She won’t wake up.”

“What happened? Is she hurt?” His entire body went numb. Beth appeared in front of
him, not interrupting but on full Mom-alert.

Luci started sobbing
harder
.

“Luci, listen to me. This is important. I
s she hurt?” Reece asked again.

“Her face is b-bloody,” Luci wailed. “He pushed her! And he
was going to take me away but then he
threw
me and my
arm
hurts
and then he just
left
!”

“Who, your dad?” Reece demanded.
Luci tended to talk fast and ramble. It was hard enough to follow sometimes when
she wasn’t upset. At the moment, Reece wasn’t
sure what to make of what she’
d just said.
Luci mumbled something that sounded like an agreement. “Call 911 Luci, okay? If you
call from your house they’ll get the address and they get there faster. Do you understand?”

“Okay,” she agreed around another sob.

She’s bleeding and she won’t wake up
? He wanted to ask if she was breathing but he couldn’t force those words from his
mouth. And what the hell had he done to Luci?

“Call them right now. I’m on my way,” he said as he grabbed his keys. He was already
running out
of
the door as he disconnected the call.

“Where am I taking you?” Beth asked as she plucked the keys out of his hand. “To Cleo’s?”

He managed to nod as he jumped into the passenger seat.

Paul did this. He had no doubt. He was furious with himself for leaving her alone.
For letting her talk him into leaving her there because it was just for an hour or
two. She had insisted that if he stayed, he would just make things worse.
She insisted that she’d been in the house alone with him for a year and a half. A
few more hours weren’t that big of a deal. But more than that, she’d been
so sure
he wouldn’t come home.

So
he
had left. He never should’ve left! I
f he’d stayed, he could’ve protected her.

“
That son of a bitch
!” he heard himself yell as he punched the dash in front of him.

“She’ll be okay, Reece.” Beth’s voice was calm, reassuring as she sped out of the
driveway.

“You don’t know that!”

She pursed her lips because she knew he was right.

He didn’t want to say it out loud but what if she was already not alright? He had
no idea how badly she was hurt. He glanced at the clock and then pulled out his phone.

“Who are you calling?” Beth asked.

“Luci.”

“Reece, sweetie, don’t do that. They’re probably keeping her on the phone. We’ll be
there in a few minutes.”

To her credit, while he was completely freaking out, he realized that his mom remained
calm. He could tell she was upset. And she was driving well over the speed limit.
For that, alone, he wanted to thank her.

“Has something like this happened before?” she quietly asked.

“Yes,” he said. His voice was so strained it was almost unrecognizable. “Only I didn’t
know until just the other day.”

As she continued to drive, Reece told her everything that Cleo had admitted to him.
Now was not the time for keeping secrets. And these were not things he had agreed
not to tell.
Someone
needed to know about what Paul had done. He just wished that he would’ve known sooner.
So he could have gotten her help sooner. He desperately hoped that now, it wasn’t
too late.

Beth listened, not interrupting or asking questions, just listened as she drove. Reece
filled Beth in on Paul’s threats to take Luci away. To kick Cleo out and to never
let her see her sister again. And while on some level, he knew his dad wasn’t to blame
for Paul’s behavior, he blamed him for this latest incident anyway.

When he was done, she finally spoke. Her voice was quiet but firm. “She’s going to
be okay, Reece. I promise. I’ll do whatever I can to make sure of it. And Luci, too.
Both of those girls have been through enough.”

By the time he directed her to Cleo’s street, his heart felt like it was mangled inside
of his chest. Everything felt mangled and aching. And he realized that the way he’d
felt that day on the lawn, the last day of school, was nothing compared to what he
felt right then.

Despite the promise his mom had made, he didn’t feel any relief.

“That one,” he said as he pointed to the small white house. They’d made it in record
time but it had felt to him that it had taken forever. He’d expected emergency vehicles
but the street was uncomfortably quiet. The house looked desolate. Maybe they’d already
come and gone? Or maybe…had Paul come back? Had he come back before Luci had a chance
to call anyone?

He jumped out of his vehicle before Beth had a chance to put it in park. His feet
pounded down the sidewalk and he could hear his mom right behind him. His phone, still
in his hand, began to ring as he reached the front door.

He glanced at it, realizing the call was coming from Cleo’s home phone. From inside
the house. Instead of answering, he let himself in the front door.

Chapter 26

“It’ll stop soon,” she said.

“No, Cleo, I don’t think it will,” Reece argued. “I think it’s going to need stitches.”
He
could barely stand to look at her.
And yet, he wanted nothing more than to hold onto her.
Her lips were trembling, her whole body was shakin
g. Her skin
was pale. She had tried to wash away the blood but her face was still streaked with
it. The washcloth she was holding to her head was going to need to be traded for a
new one. One that wasn’t drenched in her blood.

The phone call had been from Luci. Cleo had woken up when Luci had ended her call
with Reece. She had insisted she would be okay. But she had a gash on her head that
was bleeding terribly. When Cleo had stood, she’d had such an intense feeling of vertigo,
she’d nearly toppled again. Luci had followed her to the bathroom, watching as Cleo
found a washcloth to hold to her forehead. By the time Luci remembered she’d called
Reece, he’d been in the driveway.

“I don’t want stitches,” Cleo said.

“I don’t want you to be so stubborn,” Reece tossed back at her. “But I think we’re
both out of luck.”

“Everyone knows that cuts on the head bleed a lot,” she argued.

“That’s exactly why I think it should be stitched up. To make it stop!” he argued
back.

When Paul flung her, she’d hit the corner of the door frame, the sharp edge. She’d
hit hard enough that it knocked her out. But she’d also ended up with the large gash
on the side of her forehead.

“Do you have any idea how scared I was?” Reece asked as he knelt down in front of
her. They were in her bathroom. She was, again, sitting on the closed toilet
seat
. Only today, it was Reece trying to tend to her instead of Luci. He
handed
her a clean washcloth and grimaced when she pulled away the bloody one.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize Luci had called you. Then by the time she remembered,
you were here,” Cleo explained.

He had rushed in and Luci had met him in the hallway. She was still sobbing but pointed
to the bathroom. The wave of relief that had immediately washed over him had faded
slightly when he’d caught sight of he
r. S
he was awake but she was a long way from being okay.

He shook his head
as he rested his hands on her hips
. “
I’m glad Luci called me. But
I never should have left you here alone. I shouldn’t have on Thursday, either. It
was just plain stupid.”

“Thursday he was still working,” Cleo argued. “Today…I just didn’t think he’d come
home. I thought it would be better if you were gone.” She could tell he was about
to protest but she cut him off.
“Where did Luci go?”

“She’s in the other room with my mom,” he said unapologetically.

“Your mom is here?” Cleo asked. Her head was throbbing and her aches from earlier
in the week had sprung to life again. If she moved at all, an intense wave of nausea
hit. She wanted nothing more than to go to bed. She was pretty certain Reece wasn’t
going to let her do that.

“Cleo,” Beth said from the doorway. “Reece is right. It looks like you need stitches.
And I think Luci needs to see the doctor, too.”

“Luci?” Cleo asked as she tried to bounce to her feet. She became instantly dizzy
and Reece grabbed hold of her and sat her back down. “What’s wrong with her?”

Cleo realized she had been so out of sorts herself, she hadn’t realized Luci was hurt.
Luci had been crying. But Cleo had just assumed she was still scared. That she’d been
shaken up by what had happened. She felt awful for
not realizing something was wrong.

Beth moved further into the cramped bathroom. “I think she may have a dislocated elbow.
She thinks it happened when Paul pulled her away from you. I need to get both of you
to the emergency room.” She paused. “Reece said you were coming home to pack your
bags?
So you could go to your friend Emma’s
? Did you have a chance to do that?” Cleo nodded and then grimaced because even that
small movement sent bolts of pain shooting through her head. More tears burned her
eyes. She didn’t want anyone to see her this way. Not Reece and definitely not his
mom. “Where are they?” Beth quietly asked.

“In my bedroom,” Cleo whispered.

“Reece, go load them up, please. Then if you could come back in to help Cleo, I’ll
get Luci, okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Reece said as he gave Cleo’s hand a squeeze. “I’ll be right back.”

The moment he was gone, Beth took his place and knelt down in front of Cleo.

“I am
so
sorry about all of this,” she said. “I’m sorry Landon involved you and Paul in a
private matter. And I am so sorry that Paul has taken this out on you. But,” she said
as she took a deep breath, “I don’t want you to worry about anything right now. Reece
has filled me in on what’s been happening. If it’s okay with you, once I get you and
Luci in to see a doctor, I’d like to give Patty a call. I used to sit with her sometimes
when Reece and Ethan were both in baseball a few years ago. Is that okay with you?
Can I call Patty?”

Cleo slowly, carefully, nodded, not trusting her voice. She felt tears sliding down
her cheeks.

Beth wiped them away.

“Cleo, since you were knocked out, I would guess you have a concussion
. You look completely miserable.
” Beth’s voice was full of concern. Cleo could see the same concern splashed across
her face.  “But I don’t want
you to worry about anything. I would like to stay
with you and Luci the entire time, if you’re okay with that.”