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She must have seen me tearing up like an absolute simp, because she exchanged a glance with Chelsea.
Her friend caught on immediately and began distracting Sally with Rain. I watched my daughter at play, the two of them rolling around in the grass together as Sally tried to teach the pup to shake paws.
Rory came up to where I was standing, my face a mirror of all the emotions inside me.
“Hey. Are you okay?”
I nodded. “More than.” I smiled. “I just... I didn’t expect you two would get along this...”
“No. I get it. You don’t need to tell me.”
I inclined my head in her direction, grateful for how she always read between the lines. That’s when I saw it.
Rory looked tired. She was still beautiful. She’d never not be beautiful. But she was exhausted and had visible dark circles under her eyes.
“How are you, though?” I asked.
How is your heart?
She shrugged. “I’m trying to hold myself together. Did Noah or Benji tell you anything?”
I shook my head. The last few days had gone by so fast. Yesterday marked another revolution across the sun without June. I’d been... caught up.
Not that I didn’t want to know what was going on with Rory.
Being around her made the drudgery of my life less unbearable. Up until now, Sally was the sole little being who gave me sunny days.
Rory could do it too, not just because of the physical intimacy we shared, but in her words and ways.
In how that heart of hers was the most impossibly innocent thing.
“Talk to me, Rory.”
Her face fell.
“It’s... it’s the head of admin affairs at East Harbor. I didn’t think things would move past the threats in his office, but yesterday morning, he sent me a message.”
It was like the floor under me had collapsed and I was in free fall, suspended from nothing but a rope of anger.
No.
Emory Abbot didnotget to touch Aurora.
He did not get to do this. Not again. Never again.
“Show me the message.”
Aurora frowned. She hadn’t been expecting such a harsh reply. I took a second to compose myself.
“I’m sorry, Rory. I’ve just... could you please show me the message?”
She nodded and handed her phone to me. I looked down at the words.
They were disgusting. The way he’d written them in bold for added drama, the luridness of his style, everything.
Why do you keep me waiting, my little wildcat?
I wanted to run to East Harbor and pummel the shit out of that man. I wanted to catch him alone in a street somewhere and beat him with bricks.
