Page 86 of Fall With Me

Henry Williams stood there at the steps, talking to an officer. He turned as I approached him, his eyes widening. “Roxy—

“It’s you! Isn’t it? You were in my place while I slept and then you come back, and break in?” My hands balled into fists. It suddenly made so much sense to me. What was happening to me had nothing to do with the other girls. Nothing weird started happening until Henry got out of jail. “How are you getting in my place?”

He shook his head as he backed up, looking between the officer and me. “I swear I had nothing to do with this. I didn’t break into your place. I don’t even know what you’re—”

“You’re a sick fuck!” I shouted. “What is wrong with you? Why—”

“Whoa.” An arm circled my waist, and the next thing I knew, I was facing the street as my dad and brother passed us. Reece spoke in my ear. “You need to calm down, Roxy. We don’t know if he—”

“Who else would do it?” I shouted, wanting to swing my elbow into his stomach again. I couldn’t deal if Reece defended him. To me, it was so obvious. I wiggled around so I was facing Henry again. “Why else would you be here?”

“I came over to talk to you, but when I knocked on your front door, it opened and I saw the inside of your place. I called the police.”

“Oh, that’s such bullshit,” I spat.

“Roxy,” Reece warned softly.

“He did call us,” the officer confirmed. “And he claims he didn’t go all the way in. We also spoke to the gentleman on the porch. He didn’t hear anything suspicious, but had left the house for a few hours.”

It was then when I realized my dad and brother had gone into my place and had returned. Dad came down the steps, his cheeks flushed with anger. “I don’t want her seeing that.”

Now, of course Ihadto see it. “Let me go.” When Reece didn’t, I felt that I was seconds from my head spinning right off,Exorciststyle. “Let me go, Reece. I mean it.”

“Listen to me, honey. Let Reece and me handle this,” Dad reasoned with his hands planted on his hips. “Gordon will take you back to our place or to Reece’s, but you really don’t want to see in there. Not right now.”

“What I want is to be put down and I want to see what happened insidemyplace,” I said, barely in control. “I am not fifteen years old. I’m a freaking adult. Seriously.”

Dad looked away, scrunching his fingers through his hair. Then he turned to my brother, who looked just as furious as I felt, and said something too low for me to hear.

“You’re not going to hit anyone, are you?” Reece asked. “If I let go?”

Henry cast his gaze to the ground while I sneered. “Only if you don’t let me go.”

“Be nice,” he ordered right before he loosened his hold.

I slipped free, stalking around my dad and dodging my brother’s hand as I climbed the steps.

“You might want to wait,” Kip suggested from where he stood in front of the Silvers’ door. He stepped toward me, but stopped when Reece jogged up the porch steps.

I stepped inside my apartment and then came to a complete standstill. My eyes had to be messing with me. There was no way this was my place. No way was my apartment full of police taking pics and dusting for prints.

The TV had been knocked to the floor, the screen shattered in large shards. The coffee table and end stand, both hand painted by me, looked like someone had gone Hulk on them, smashing the secondhand pieces until the legs were broken off. Both the couch and the recliner were flipped upside down. From where I stood, I could see that my small kitchen set was in one piece but also knocked over.

My heart pounded as anger pumped through me. Hands clenched, I headed down the hall. The bedroom was a mess. The comforter and sheets stripped, piled on the floor. All my bottles of lotion and perfume were scattered.

Spinning around, I almost knocked into Reece. He reached for me, but I sidestepped him and walked into my studio.

My heart broke.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, pressing the palm of my hand against my chest as I stared into the room.

Thank God Reece had taken my easel and canvas earlier, along with my paints, because everything else in the room had been utterly destroyed. All of the paintings I’d done, even the ones of Reece I’d hidden in the closet, were torn into unrecognizable shreds. It was like rage had exploded in the room.

I shuddered. “My ... all my stuff.”

“I’m sorry.” Reece came up behind me, wrapping an arm under my chest and drawing me to his front. His other arm came around, securing me against him. “I wish there was something I could say that could make this better for you.”

Part of me wanted to pull away and start kicking stuff. “I don’t understand.”

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