Page 23 of Hate So Deep

“He came to find you, Lauren. You don’t remember any of it?” she asks.

“No, I woke up in my room.”

Her sigh echoes through the phone and I grip the damn thing tighter before saying, “How do you know?”

“Because you called him, idiot. The police need to speak to you. I’ll meet you at the station in twenty minutes.”

She hangs up before I can respond and with a groan, I push to my feet and walk to the window.

I hoped that whatever happened would blow over as having nothing to do with Buck but now I can’t ignore it.

I have to retrace my steps starting with the asshole who broke my soul into a million pieces and left me like yesterday’s trash.

The drive to the station is quicker than I would like, and I shiver when I find Mom standing inside the door with a prohibitive stare.

She frowns as she looks me over in my hoodie and jeans but it’s not my fucking fault she gave me no time to get here.

I move to step around her, and she grabs my arm, hissing, “Do you really not rememberanything?”

Bowing my head to hide my clenched jaw, I say, “No.”

When she sets me free, I stagger back and turn away, although I glance at her sideways when she runs her hand down her face before squaring her shoulders.

Once we’re sitting opposite the two detectives, I wrap my fingers in my sleeves and summon the dead ass expression that I’ve come to cultivate.

As a Stark, we’re not allowed to be anything other than perfect little dolls and instinct pushes me back into the role my mother browbeat into me.

“Miss Stark,” the first one says, eyeing me over his glasses. When I nod, he continues, “After searching through your brother’s phone records, we found to our surprise that he communicated with you on the night of the incident.”

Mom snorts and folds her arms, muttering, “It wasn’t an incident. It was attempted murder.”

The detective’s brows flicker but he doesn’t comment as his partner leans forward to say, “This could be an important part of the timeline, Miss Stark. Why didn’t you mention it before?”

Good question and maybe now is the time to confess all but I can’t do that, not with my mom sitting here. Not knowing what will happen if I do.

We may not see eye to eye but she’s still my mom and I need her. She’s the only one I have left.

Buck is gone and Dad has moved on. She’s the last tether holding me to the ground. Without her, I might float away.

“I’m sorry,” I finally say, holding up my hands. “I was drunk. I don’t remember.”

The detectives share a look before the first one holds out his hand and says, “We’ll need to see your phone.”

Simultaneously, the other detective says, “Walk us through what you do remember.”

Once they’ve taken my statement and searched my phone, they leave, while we sit in that fucking room alone together.

The entire time, Mom refuses to look at me and when the first detective finally returns, he says, “If you don’t remember what happened, Miss Stark, why did you delete the history between you and your brother?”

Thoroughly confused, I shake my head but before I can explain that I didn’t, he says, “It’s rather odd wouldn’t you say?”

With no answers, but hell of a lot of suspicion, I’m forced to give the names of the people who saw me that night.

Although I skip over what happened with Dirk because explaining that I fucked him in front of my mom is not an option, I have to give them his name.

People saw me with him. It’s only a matter of time before someone says something.

Once back at home, I circle the drain of my thoughts before sitting on my bed and pulling up social media.

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