Page 91 of Shattered

My throat feels tight when I pull up behind her car and see his house for the first time since that day. I shouldn’t have let her come here alone. Visions of seeing him laying on the ground flash in my mind, and I have to push past them to make myself get out of the car and walk to his house.

Sienna needs me.

Those are the words I keep telling myself as I push the unlocked door open and step inside. The box with the kiddie pool in it is the first thing I see sitting just inside the front door, and I have to suck in a deep breath to hold it together.

“Sienna?” I call out, but only silence greets me.

Every light appears to be on, except for the living room, so I move forward, peeking into what was Jason’s room first. Half-packed boxes are sitting on the bed and floor, but she’s not in here. Bypassing the living room, I head for the kitchen and dining area, but they’re in the same state as his bedroom, and still no Sienna. Panic starts to slither up my spine, tightening its hold on me the higher it gets when I search the rest of the house and still don’t find her.

Finally, I find myself standing in front of the entrance to his dark living room. “Sunflower, baby, are you in here?”

When there’s still no reply, I release a slow breath and step inside, turning on the light. My tense shoulders collapse when I find it empty. It looks like it’s the only room that hasn’t been touched. I can’t say I blame her. I can barely stand being in here, and my eyes keep skipping over the area where his body was lying.

Quickly walking back out to the kitchen, I run my fingers through my hair, turning in a circle while trying to figure out where she could be and what to do. I end up pulling out my phone and bringing up Kate’s name, but just before I hit the call button, a piece of paper sitting on the counter catches my attention.

It’s not a note from Sienna to me like I first thought, but a note showing a date, time, and address for a going away party for a guy named Connor, and it’s in Jason’s handwriting. I wouldn’t think anything of it except for the fact that the party is happening right now, and there is a magnet sitting next to it as if she saw it on the fridge and took it off.

She wouldn’t go to it, would she?

I know she didn’t like most of the people he hung out with in the past, but maybe she knows this person and they’re different.

Either way, she called me for a reason, and I don’t like that she hasn’t responded to me since. I give it another half-hour in case she just went for a walk, but my gut tells me that’s not where she is. She must have taken an Uber there. I grab the piece of paper and rush out the door.

My body is flooded with anxiety as I walk along the sidewalk to the address on the sheet of paper. I had to park farther away because the street was packed with cars. It’s impossible to miss which place it is. People are coming and going from a large, two-story house across the street, and the music can be heard from where I parked.

With a pounding heart, I make my way inside as if I belong there and find myself walking into a full-blown party—and not the good kind. It’s not even that late, yet I have to move through a mass of drunken or high-as-a-kite bodies, the whole time keeping my eyes peeled for Sienna. My stomach twists at the thought of what I might find here.

I scan the area, making my way into different rooms, my heart racing and mind spinning. I pass people sniffing lines off a table, and others passing a bong around. I can also see a few needles lying about. This kind of scene brings nausea to my stomach, and I remember the party I went to with Jason was similar.

I step into a room toward the back of the house, where there are fewer people, some of which are playing pool. I don’t see her at first, but then a flash of blonde hair in my peripheral catches my attention, and I turn to see her sitting on the floor against the wall, wearing a dark gray sweater and black jeans, knees pulled up and staring ahead. I’m rushing to her before I take my next breath and then crouch down in front of her, taking her cheeks in my hands.

“Sunflower.” Red, glassy eyes meet mine, looking zoned out, and my heart stops. “Shit. What did you take?” Anger. Fear. Overwhelming fucking panic starts to claw at my mind, and I shake her face. “What did you fucking take?!”

She reaches up and grips my wrists, blinking a few times. “Nothing. I didn’t take anything.” She focuses on me properly, and her face crumbles, tears coming out with a sob. “I didn’t take anything.”

I release a choked breath and drop my forehead to hers, eyes squeezing shut while I try to pull myself together. “Fuck.” Her grip tightens on my wrists, and she cries harder. I let her while caressing her cheeks with my fingers and keeping pressed close. “You scared me.”

I don’t even register the party going on around us anymore. The music, the people, they don’t exist.

Once her crying quiets, and I don’t feel like my heart is going to beat out of my chest, I lean back. “Let’s get out of here.” I don’t know what she was thinking, coming to a party like this, but I don’t want to discuss it here.

She nods, accepting my offer to help her up. I keep my arm wrapped tight around her and lead her out of the room. Only to run into the worst possible person in the hall, Shane.

“Well, fuck me, pigs must be flying. Never thought I’d see the day where I run into you at a party.” Then, looking at Sienna with his glassy eyes, he adds, “You make her cry again? I offered her something to loosen her up a bit and make her feel better, but she didn’t want it.”

Every single muscle in my body tenses as violent rage fills my insides. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Her brother just died from an overdose, and you think it’s okay to offer her drugs?”

He scoffs, and his face twists as if I’m the fucking idiot here. “Hey, I’m sad about that, too. But the guy couldn’t handle his shit anymore. I gave him less than what he asked for.”

That’s when I lose it.

In a split second, I release Sienna and cock my arm back to punch him right in the jaw. Pain shoots through my knuckles, but I ignore it and hit him again. He’s so stunned at first that he doesn’t make a move to defend himself. I keep laying into him until we’re both on the ground wrestling.

This fucking asshole got his hands on Jason and fed him that shit.

Shane lands only one punch on my face before I’m hauled off him, breathing through gritted teeth. I rein in my fury, not even looking at his bloody face as I take a shocked Sienna’s hand and pull her along with me, more than ready to get out of this place.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

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