“Between you and me, Kayla, I’m going to do everything in my power to keep him off the streets. I shouldn’t have said that.” the detective sighs.
“We won’t tell.” I say, a small smile crossing my face for the first time. “What about David?”
“Did David assault you as well?” Detective McLorn asks.
“No, but he raped Lexi! And the other girls!” I say loudly.
“What happened to Lexi is something we’ll have to discuss with her. I can’t bring it up with you.” the detective says. “And you know about the incident that occurred a couple weeks ago?”
“Yeah, Stephanie told me.” I admit.
“All I can confirm is that there was an incident that led to several young men being brought in for questioning. Phones were confiscated, which is how we found the videos and pictures of you.” Detective McLorn explains.
“I-I understand.” I say with a nod.
“Is there anything else, Detective?” Mr. Jacobs asks. “My client is understandably distraught, and we’d like to get her home to relax.”
We end up talking for another fifteen minutes. The detective has some clarifying questions. In addition, the detective makes sure to recommend counseling. She’s happy when I tell her I already have a therapist. Finally, the Dean is called back in. The Dean agrees that I should go home now, rather than finish the rest of the day at school.
“I’m going to go sit with Ms. Davis now.” Mr. Jacobs says.
‘Thank you, Paul.” Daddy says as he shakes our attorney’s hand.
Detective McLorn and Mr. Davis both leave the room. Daddy and I are now stuck in here with the Dean. He has a nasty look on his face, and looks like he wants to say something but is thinking better of it.
“Are you two heading home?” the Dean does ask.
“We’re waiting on Lexi.” Daddy answers. “I’m taking them both home.”
“Fine.” the Dean snaps.
Daddy and I sit in chairs in front of the Dean’s desk, as the man does his best to ignore us. He types on his computer, doing everything in his power to act like he doesn’t care at all about our presence. Asshole. After almost an hour, there’s a knock on the door.
“Come in!” the Dean calls out.
Detective McLorn, Mr. Jacobs, and a terrified looking Lexi walk in. Lexi is staring down at her feet, but slowly looks up upon entering. When she sees us, some of the fear leaves her eyes, and she happily walks over to us. Daddy and I stand up to hug her.
“Here’s my card.” Detective McLorn says, handing each of us a card. “Call me if you think of anything that might be helpful.”
“Thank you.” I mumble weakly.
“Thanks.” Lexi grunts.
“Thank you, Detective.” Daddy says.
“I expect you girls in school tomorrow!” the Dean says.
We don’t respond, but instead leave the room as a group of four. We then exit the school. Daddy thanks Mr. Jacobs for coming, and shakes his hand. Mr. Jacobs then makes his exit, promising to keep us up to date on anything he finds out.
“Are you girls okay to drive home?” Daddy asks.
“Yeah.” I nod. “Yeah, we’re fine.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you back home.” he says, hugging us both.
Daddy heads to his car to drive home, while Lexi and I walk through the parking lot. We’re holding hands the entire time. We finally make it to the car and hop in. Then we start the drive back to our house.
“How did it go?” Lexi asks as we start the drive.
“Keith took a video of my rape.” I answer.
“He did?!” the redhead exclaims.
“Yeah, apparently when he was raping my ass I was screaming for him to stop. He didn’t.” I explain. “I don’t remember screaming. At all.”
“So, they’re charging him?” she wonders.
“They wouldn’t confirm it, but I think so.” I say.
“This is good news, right?” Lexi asks.
“I mean, yes.” I nod. “It’s just, I hate the fact that the entire police department watched me getting raped! And, and, and, what if they play it for a courtroom? I don’t want a jury to see that!”
“I understand.” Lexi says, tears running down her cheeks. “Believe me, I understand.”
“I know you do.” I reply as I reach out and grasp her hand. Lexi laces our fingers, and we continue the drive.
“What happened with you?” I ask Lexi. I’m crying as well.
“Can we wait until we get home?” Lexi pleads. “I have to tell Steven as well, and I don’t want to have to keep going through it. I already have to worry about telling Nicole and the girls.”
“Yeah, no problem!” I agree.
We sit in silence for the rest of the drive, our entwined hands the best comfort we can provide each other. Eventually, we make it home and park the car. Then we head inside. Lexi and I both change into comfortable pajamas and meet Daddy in the main living room. He’s also in comfortable clothing, namely lounge pants and a t-shirt.
Lexi and I look at Daddy as his glance shifts from me to her. Then we girls burst into tears and rush him. Soon, he has a hand on each of our heads, his fingers entwined in our hair as he holds us close. We sob into his chest.
“Shh, it’s okay.” Daddy coos as he kisses the tops of our heads. “I’m here. I’ll always be here.”
The three of us move over to the couch and sit down. Daddy’s arms stay around us the entire time. It takes awhile, but we’re eventually all cried out. Daddy kisses both of us on the lips and wipes away our tears with his thumbs as he gazes at us with love.
“I told Lexi about our meeting on the drive home.” I say with a shaky voice.
“That’s good, that’s good.” Daddy nods as he brushes a lock of raven hair behind my ear.
“I hope Keith never gets out of jail!” Lexi says vehemently.
“Agreed.” he sighs. “We can hope.”
“What happened to you, Lexi?” I wonder.
“Well, they called me out of class and stuck me in a room with a detective.” Lexi begins. “The detective asked me a few questions about the party a couple of weeks ago, but obviously I don’t know too much about that.
“They said they called my parents, but my parents said they wanted nothing to do with me. As we were talking, there was a knock on the door and another female detective came in. She said we had to wait for my attorney. I didn’t even know I had an attorney!”
“You do now.” Daddy nods. “Never speak to the police without an attorney present. Even if you’re confident you’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Anyway, Mr. Jacobs came in a little while later and we got started.” Lexi continues. “All the pictures and videos Keith sent to my parents, well, he kept copies.”
“We figured as much.” Daddy sighs.
“Detective McLorn said it’ll be hard to prove rape with those.” the redhead says. “I look out of it in a lot of the pictures and videos, but I never tell anyone to stop. There’s no real way to prove that I didn’t want it.”
“I’m sorry, Lexi.” I say sincerely. Tears forming in my eyes again.
“It’s not your fault.” Lexi sighs. “They kept asking me if I needed a referral to a good rehab facility.”
“Understandable. Keith is currently in jail on drug charges.” Daddy says.
“I’m surprised they didn’t ask me about that.” I add.
“They must have seen you were just drunk in the video. Lexi is more obviously on something hard in the video we saw.” Daddy reasons.
“Maybe.” I bite my lower lip.
“Anyway, they also asked if I needed any help with a place to stay, since my parents don’t want me. I kept insisting I was happy where I was, and even if things didn’t work out with Steven, my brother or sister would take me in.” Lexi tells us. “The detective seemed happy to realize I had a support system.”
“So, it looks like Keith is definitely getting charged for raping Kayla. He’s also still in jail on drug charges, thanks to Jason.” Daddy says. “And we don’t know about David?”
“Hopefully, David gets arrested for raping Stephanie and Kelsey.” I sigh. “Even if they can’t charge anyone with raping Lexi, at least those two will be off the streets.”
“Yeah…” Lexi trails off.
Poor Lexi. She has probably the worst experiences of all of us, and she may never see her rapists charged with assaulting her. Yeah, it’s great that the guys are probably going away, but still, knowing they’ll never have to face consequences for her rapes is infuriating.
“I’m sorry, Lexi.” I say again as I lean over to hug her and peck her lips.
“Thank you.” she mumbles, knowing exactly what I’m talking about.
Daddy wraps his arms around both of us and holds us close. We spend the evening comforting each other. No sex. Tonight is not a good night for that. We don’t even text Nicole and the gang to fill them in on the day’s events. Though, our phones do blow up when Ashley, Hazel, and Marcia learn a few details of the day’s events. At the end of the night, we curl up in the master bedroom and fall asleep.
I wake up Wednesday morning in Daddy and Lexi’s bed. With a yawn, I carefully extricate myself from the pile of limbs. Daddy and Lexi wake up moments later. Then the three of us go through our usual morning routine. Of course, when it’s time to go to school, Lexi and I take separate cars, since I have therapy today.
At school, Hazel is still slightly out of it, but the excitement of everything going on makes it harder to notice. Lexi and I fill the girls in on everything, and Lexi even texts Nicole to make sure her sister is up to speed. The girls are thrilled that Keith and David may soon be facing justice. Next is homeroom, where Stephanie stops me.
“Hi, Kayla!” Stephanie says.
“Hey, Stephanie.” I reply.
“I heard they pulled you out of class yesterday.” she tells me.
“Yeah.” I nod. “I talked to the police.”
“So did I.” Stephanie confirms. “And Kelsey.”
“How are you two doing?” I inquire.
“I’m okay, I guess.” Stephanie sighs. “Kelsey is taking it a lot worse. She won’t even talk to anyone.”
“I’ll be friendly when I see her.” I promise.
“Thanks!” she smiles.
Stephanie and I talk for a few more minutes, then we go our separate ways. A couple classes later, I do run into Kelsey. I smile and wave while greeting her. She gives me a weak smile, but I can tell her heart isn’t in it. I want to talk to her, but she definitely isn’t up to that yet.
I have lunch with the usual gang. I’m happy that Ian is sitting next to me again. He’s still kind of cold, but at least he’s talking to me. Marcia and Shawn are going strong. So are Ashley and Josh. It’s hard to believe that prom is only a few weeks away.
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