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“We’ll see,” Maya answers before hanging up on me.
“Fuck!” I yell, throwing my phone onto the passenger seat.
Where else could she be?
Then it dawns on me… her mother. Grabbing my phone from the seat, I call the only person I can.
I have to call four times before my dad’s slurred voice finally comes through the receiver. “What do you want?”
“I need something, and you are not going to like it, but you will give it to me, anyway.”
“Like I said, what do you want?”
“I need Vicky Delaney’s address, and I need it now.”
“Why the fuck do you need to know where she lives and why do you think I would give that to you?”
“Because you fucking owe me!”
“Owe you?” Dad scoffs.
“Yes, you owe me for all the shit I do for you, for keeping things going at home while you are drunk of your ass all fucking day. For taking care of your daughter! You do remember that we are your kids and not the other way around or did you fry your brain enough to forget?”
“Who the fuck do you think you are talking to, boy?”
“A deadbeat dad who is going to give me Vicky’s address, or I’m going to ask the council to go ahead and offer me your seat.”
“You wouldn’t fucking dare!” My dad is seething. “They would never!”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you are going to pay for this!” And then the line goes dead.
I sigh heavily, wiping my palms down my face while I wait for my dad to send me the address. My phone bings with a text message a few minutes later. I unlock my phone and quickly type the address into my GPS and put the car in drive.
I arrive at the address my father gave me and immediately spot Wren’s car. My blood boils when I take in the condition of the beat-up vehicle. All the windows are smashed in, and all four tires are slashed. This must have happened here, which means whoever is behind this knows where Wren is staying right now. The thought enrages me.
Getting out of my truck, I lock the door behind me and make my way to the apartment. Impatiently, I push my finger onto the doorbell a few times and wait for someone to open. A few seconds later, the lock disengages and the door flies open. Wren appears on the other side. Her hair is uncombed, dark circles rest under her eyes, and she is wearing her pajamas. She looks tired and beaten down.
I open my mouth to say something but before I can form the words, she speaks. “You won, Briggs. I’m dropping out of school. You can call off your friends. You finally broke me. You won,” she repeats.
Instead of answering her right away, I shove her out of the way and walk into the small apartment. “I didn’t send the notes, and I didn’t do that to your car,” I say once inside.
“No, you didn’t, but your friends did,” she accuses, and I know she is probably right.
Wren crosses her arms in front of her chest, looking at the open door like she expects me to leave. I kick the door shut with my foot and take a step toward her. “I don’t know who is threatening you, but I will find out.”
Wren shakes her head. “I just can’t do this anymore. I just want this to stop so I’m dropping out of school,” she says, her voice sounding as defeated as she looks.
“You don’t have to drop out.”
She looks at me confused. “Isn’t that what you wanted? Wasn’t that the whole reason for you tormenting me? So I would leave school?”
“Yes,” I admit. “But that was before.”
“Before what?”
“Before I didn’t want you to leave anymore.” I don’t even know where these words are coming from. All I know is that they are true. I don’t want her going anywhere.
