The Bad Boy with a Heart of Gold

✖ Chapter 35 ✖

I set aside the sandwich so I could wring my hands. "I was feeling really low about the whole admissions debacle, and he came over in the middle of the night while everybody was asleep."

"Did you..." she trailed off, but the question was as clear as if she'd finished it.

"No. Kind of, nothing serious," I said, taking a shaky breath. "It was wonderful. I told him he had to sneak out before everybody woke up and he left just shy of five in the morning."

Toni's expression shifted into something darker. "Then he went home, and that's when it happened?"

"It seems like it." I squeezed both of my knees, willing my lungs to grab onto the air. "If only I hadn't told him to leave so early, this wouldn't have happened."

"Stop," Toni commanded with a raised hand. "Don't even go there. This isn't your fault, Rory."

"I feel like it is, though," I said with a small voice.

She put her arm around me and brought me close. "If you'd let him stay longer and our parents caught you together, it'd have been mama who'd have done something we'd all be regretting."

"What if," my voice cracked and I cleared my throat. "What if Jack Logan did that to him because he was with me?"

"Get that out of your head." Toni pulled away from me and grabbed my chin the same way mama did when she was angry at us. Her eyes blazed just the same. "The fact is that Jack Logan is a domestic abuser who has just attempted to murder his son. You are not responsible in one bit for the madness that is in his mind and heart that led him to do something so horrible. Are we clear?"

I hung my head and nodded. Of course she was right, and yet the vulture of my anxiety kept circling. I was unable to shake the guilt. But as I sat next to the most supportive person in my life, it occurred to me that there was something I could do.

"I think I'll go to school tomorrow, after all."

"Good," she was pleased that she'd motivated me, except that she didn't know what for.

Monday arrived and I walked down the hallways, ready to make a scene.

Courtney and Lina flanked me. All I'd told them was that I needed them to have my back. Since they'd picked me up in the morning I'd told them the barebones of my plan and they both agreed that it was solid. It wasn't like I was going to be in severe trouble with the school, anyway.

We stopped on the way so I could knock on Mr. Davies' door. When he opened the door I greeted him with, "We need you to come with us."

His eyebrows went up. "No good morning or please?"

"It's important," was all I said.

Mr. Davies blinked a couple of times but turned around, locked his office door and followed after us. He started to ask questions when he realized we were approaching the Principal's office, but I remained mum. The Principal's assistant tried to block our way, but Mr. Davies told her it was fine, that we were with him. I did thank him for that.

We had to wait a couple of minutes until the Principal finished a phone call, but as soon as he did I said, "Sawyer Logan is innocent."

"Excuse me?"

I took a deep breath.

"The day before the trophy went missing it was still in the glass case, right? And it disappeared in the middle of the night?" I asked, after he nodded I continued. "Well, he couldn't have done it because he spent the whole night with me."

Everybody in the room gasped. Even my friends looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

So what if I was tossing my reputation to the trash? I didn't care. I was the only person who could prove Sawyer's innocence, and ultimately it didn't matter what these two men might think of me. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did nothing, just to spare myself the embarrassment.