Page 94 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

“Just stay here. Don’t call out.”

I ran into the house and grabbed an ice pack from the freezer, nearly running my dad over on my way back out the door.

“The fuck you doin’ now, boy?”

“Savannah fell.” The lie just popped out of my mouth.

Back in the woods, I cut her free from her bonds and pushed the ice pack against her face. She complained that it was too cold, but I held it against her face anyway. The swelling did go down, but not enough. We could both hear Savannah’s mother calling for her.

“I need to go,” she whispered. “I’ll be in trouble if I don’t answer.”

“You can’t go back yet,” I said. “It still looks...”

“How bad is it?”

It looked pretty bad.I couldn’t answer.

“I’ll tell them I fell.”

“They won’t believe you.” I dug my fingers into my hair, trying not to freak out. Fuck, I was screwed.

“Ben, I have to go.” She backed away from me. Now her father was calling her too.

“Come to my house and pretend to be asleep on the couch.”

“They’d kill me,” she whispered. “I’m not supposed to go to your house.”

“Savannah–”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Ben. It’ll be okay. I tripped and fell on some roots, and you gave me an ice pack.” She smiled, holding the ice pack to her cheek, and ran back through the woods towards the sound of her parents calling.

I slunk back to my house, walking slowly to try to keep my racing heart under control. I was sweating, my hands shaking, all the excitement drained from my body.

Several hours later, the police showed up at our door and brought me down to the station, and booked me for kidnapping, assault, and rape.

Chapter 24

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