Page 44 of Zero Chance

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He didn’t askfor my address.He knew where I lived.

I remembered the first time Parker showed up at my front door, asking questions.He’d only been eighteen years old, freshly graduated from high school, but he’d seemed so much older and in control of himself.

At the time, I had thought that day had been the worst day of my life.After he had explained to me and my family the reason for his visit and then bluntly asked if Gerald Sprout had done to me what he’d done to others, I’d never felt so small and exposed, so ruined and awful and embarrassed, not in my entire life.

My parents finally knew.They knew what I’d done.What I’d let Sprout do.I had never wanted to die as much as I had that day.I’d wanted it all to go away and disappear.I’d wanted it to end.

Within the month, I’d swallowed a bottle full of pills, and a new life had sprouted from those ashes.

Mom and Dad had put me into therapy, and over time, I’d come to realize Parker showing up at my house, asking if I’d been molested too, had actually freed me, and with the truth out, I could finally work past it.

He’d saved me.

He was still saving me, it seemed.

Shaken over what I’d just done with Keene, I sat in the back seat of Parker’s fancy car and stared up at the stars through his panoramic skylight.In the front, he and Hope were quiet, occasionally glancing at each other in silent communication that only a couple could speak.

What must they think of me now?My stomach tightened with dread, worrying about all the different types of fallout that could arise from this.

I wrung my hands in my lap as we turned down my street, only for Parker to mutter, “What the fuck?”and brake slightly.

Shifting to peer around Hope’s shoulder and out the front windshield, I caught sight of red and blue flashing lights.

“Wait.Are the police atmyhouse?”

“They appear to be,” Parker said in a tight voice.

“Oh God,” I moaned, feeling sick to my stomach.“Do you think he found out and called them?”

Parker huffed out a laugh.“I doubt it,” he said as he pulled to the curb behind one of the two patrol vehicles.“I’m sure the two aren’t even related.So why don’t you sit tight?I’ll go see what?—”

But I’d already thrown open the door and popped out.

“Waverly,” he called in exasperated warning.

Hope jumped out with me, dogging my heels as I headed toward the first officer standing in the driveway and talking into the radio attached to his shoulder.

When he spotted us, he pulled a flashlight from his belt and aimed it at our faces.“Evening, folks,” he greeted calmly.“Either of you Waverly Frank?”

“I am,” I said, suddenly hoping my parents hadn’t been in a car accident or?—

Hope appeared at my side and took my arm in a show of support.“What happened?Is everything okay?”

“We’re just here to make a health check,” the officer explained.“Your parents seemed to think something must be wrong since you weren’t answering your phone.”

I cringed, immediately embarrassed because,of course, that’s what this was about.

“Yeah,” I admitted sheepishly.“I’m sorry.I forgot it at home when I went out this evening.”

“Your mom said she never saw you leave the house on the camera,” the man told me as his flashlight veered to my left.“And who’re you, sir?”

I hadn’t realized Parker had come up to flank my free side until he answered, “Parker Ohrley.”

“He’s my boyfriend,” Hope spoke up quickly.“We were just bringing Waverly home.”

“Home from where?”

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