Page 11 of Shattered

“No. I was leaving anyway. It was getting pretty loud, way more than usual. Chaos still gives me anxiety.”

“I don’t blame you.”

Macy has gone through more devastation than anyone I’ve ever known. We met when she moved to Alton about a year and a half ago. Before she came to us, Macy had been held hostage, raped, and brutally tortured by her stepbrother Colin for days. He shot her in the back and left her to die, but Macy managed to survive and escape. We knew something was up when we met her, but no one could imagine. Eventually, Colin came back for her, abducting her from Gareth’s house while he was at work. We all came together to find her. Gareth got shot during her rescue, but he survived, and Macy got away with some broken fingers and minor injuries.

The story of what happened to her was her darkest secret, and it all came to light during her rescue. After she came home, she needed time to open up. It was hard to listen to, and it made me physicallysick. Neela and Allegra hadn’t moved to town yet, so it was just Juliet and me, and Juliet works away often. Macy and I bonded during that time. She needed me to be strong, and I was there for her when she needed me.

“Do you wanna talk?”

She pauses, her shoulders rising and falling with each deep breath. Eventually, she brings herself back down.

“Sometimes, I close my eyes and still feel him behind me. I can hear him threatening Gareth...”

Her eyes tear up, a deep sadness clawing its way out.

“I had a nightmare last night, the first one in a long time.”

“What was it about?”

Her lip quivers. “A play-by-play of him threatening Gareth.”

I remember every detail she told me about that story, and it gives me chills to think about it. Colin came for Macy while she was alone at Gareth’s house. She fought him off and got to safety, but Colin had her phone and threatened to text Gareth and set a trap to shoot him. Macy asked him to take her and spare Gareth, and he was true to his word. He took her away and left Gareth.

“How hard was it? To open that bathroom door?” I ask.

“The hardest part... But I couldn’t fight him; I never would’ve won. It was hard to wait for just the right moment.”

She’s said those exact words before, and they haunt me every time. To be so terrified, and in so much pain, and to be forced to endure it, knowing there’s no hope of escape... To have to wait for just the right moment...

I don’t know what fucking clock my asshat neighbors are going by, but naturally, I wake up to Macy grabbing my arm as an obnoxious rock song comes blaring through the window, sending us both flying straight up in bed. Once my heart beats again, confirming it didn’t stop, I glance past Macy, who’s stiff as a board and wide-eyed. The clock on my bedside table reads almost one.

“These motherfuckers kept me up last night, and now they’re even louder!”

Furiously, I throw the blankets off me, crawling out of bed to step up to the French window. It’s large and overlooks the house next door and both driveways.

And finally, I see one of my neighbors.

He’s outside, camped out on their back deck in a lounge chair, and I have a clear view of him from the deck lights. He’s slumped in his seat with his feet up and a beer in his hand. He adjusts a large speaker sitting beside him. The guy is large in frame, clean-shaven, with sharp facial features, red hair, and fully tattooed arms. I watch him shout something towards the door, though I can’t hear what he says. Then, the second man steps onto the deck, stopping just outside the door with a beer in his hand, taking my breath away.

Jesus christ…

He’s also tall and built, with a colossal chest and thick tattooed arms. His dark crew cut matches his thick, downturned black brows. He has a huge cut on his cheek, and his eyes are dark and piercing as they move over the deck, taking in the scene of his friend and his sound system. I’ve never met a guy who screams danger as much as this one, even when compared to Turner and Gareth.

And then, he moves.

With my bird’s eye view, I can spot his limp. He favors his right leg, and I see the side of his wince as he steps, walking around his friend and shielding him from seeing, which seems odd to me. They’re either roommates or partners, so why is he hiding a limp from him?

When I don’t move, Macy hurries out of bed and joins me at the window, peeking out beside me, and she sucks in a sharp breath.

“Please keep your doors locked…” she says.

I know why she says that, because she’s broken, and everyone in the world is a threat to her. But I’m not broken. “They don’t scare me.”

“Lila, what’re you gonna do?” Macy asks nervously, grabbing me by the arm. “Lila!”

I shake off her arm, glaring at her. “I’m gonna tell them to fuck right off!”

“Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of!”

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