Breakable (Contours of the Heart 2)

I dropped her at the entrance to the hotel. She’d texted her dad that she’d accidentally turned her phone off. He was waiting just inside the lobby, scowling, when we pulled up.

‘Shit,’ I said.

‘I’ll handle it. He deserves whatever he gets from me. Trust me.’ She turned back and leaned to kiss me. ‘Thanks for making this trip way better than I thought it would be. There’s a broody guy in my lit class with a few piercings. I always thought he was kinda creepy, but I may have to give him a shot now.’ She grinned and hopped out.

LUCAS

Sunday evening, I sent the last worksheet to Jacqueline, along with my now-standard message: New worksheet attached, LM. I wanted to say so much more, but what I most wanted to tell her couldn’t be reduced to words.

Near ten p.m., my cell rang. Jacqueline’s face filled the screen – a pic I’d snapped of her on this sofa. She smirked up at me like she had a secret.

We’d not communicated – aside from the self-defence-class interactions yesterday – in over a week. More importantly, she’d never called me before.

When I answered, she said, ‘I need you.’

I stood, dropping my pen and textbook on the sofa next to Francis, and strode to my bedroom. ‘Where are you?’ I shoved my lace-up boots aside and grabbed the Nocona shitkickers I’d had since I was seventeen – the only footwear I bought new in high school.

‘In my room.’

I shoved my feet into the boots and grabbed my hoodie on the way out the door. ‘Be there in ten minutes.’

Her answer, before disconnecting, was a near whisper. ‘Thank you.’

I got into her dorm as easily as I had last time, took the stairs two at a time and thumped softly on her door. A tremor passed through me. I had no idea what waited on the other side of this door, but whatever she needed me to be, I was ready to be it.

She opened the door, but didn’t push it aside. Her eyes filled with tears when she looked up at me.

‘Jacqueline – what –’

‘He did it again, Lucas – and it’s my fault.’

‘WHAT?’

‘Shhh.’ She shook her head, laid a hand on my arm and scanned the empty hallway. I heard voices from inside her room in the same moment she said softly, ‘Another girl. At a party, last night. She’s here. Erin and I don’t know what to do next.’ She swallowed. ‘She’s a freshman. She’s so upset, and scared, and we didn’t know who else to call. I’m sorry.’

I cupped her face in one hand. ‘Don’t ever apologize for calling me for help. I’ll do whatever you need. Will she talk to me?’

She nodded. ‘I think so. Erin’s told her that you teach the self-defence class and you’re campus police. Little white lies, but she’s just so scared …’

‘I understand.’ I took a calming breath and composed my features. ‘What’s her name?’

‘Mindi.’

Jacqueline’s roommate sat on her bed, one arm tightly surrounding a girl who reminded me of Carlie – pale blonde hair, heart-shaped face – every feature small and delicate except for her huge eyes. But I’d never seen Carlie like this.

‘Hi, Mindi. I’m Lucas.’ I approached her slowly.

‘Y-you don’t look like a p-police officer,’ she stuttered, breaths shaky, speech broken from crying.

Lip ring, longish hair, hoodie – I didn’t look like the most trustworthy guy, and I certainly didn’t look official. I squatted in front of her, but not too close. ‘I’m actually a student. But I have a work-study job with the police department.’

She seemed to accept this.

‘So the thing is, we need to get you to the hospital so you can see a counsellor and a doctor, and see about filing a report.’ Her eyes filled with tears, and I continued. ‘You’ll need to be really brave to do that stuff, but Erin and Jacqueline think you can do it, and so do I.’

‘Absolutely,’ Erin said, holding her hand. ‘And I won’t leave you for a minute.’

Mindi sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. ‘Okay.’ Her voice was high-pitched, like a child.

‘Do you have parents nearby?’ I asked, fighting to unclench my jaw. I could have ground glass between my teeth.

She shook her head. ‘They’re in Pennsylvania. But I can’t call them. I can’t.’ Her hysteria escalated with each word. ‘They’ll be so mad that I was drinking –’

‘You don’t have to call them yet,’ I said. ‘But there’s no way they’ll be angry with you.’ I hoped this was true. If this was Carlie, or Jacqueline … best not to go down that path just now. I took another calming breath. ‘You can talk to the counsellor about how to tell them, okay?’

She nodded, mimicking my deep breath with one of her own, shuddering and gripping Erin’s hand.

‘So we should go to the hospital, then, Lucas?’ Erin asked. ‘We can take my car.’

‘Will you be there?’ Mindi asked me then, her voice hoarse. She must have cried for most of the day. I recalled Jacqueline the night of the Halloween party. The tears in her eyes. Her shaking hands. If I knew where that ass**le lived, he’d be dead by the end of the night.

I glanced at Erin and she nodded. ‘If you want,’ I answered. Mindi nodded. Fifteen minutes later, the four of us entered the ER, and I found out how difficult it is to tell.

I fixed my poker expression in place when the details of last night’s party began coming out, before we even left the room. It had been a big deal event – a formal, multi-frat party, with both Buck and Kennedy Moore in attendance – and Jacqueline went. She’s not Greek, so there was no requirement for her to go, no expectations of her presence there.

‘Erin needed me as a buffer with her ex,’ she offered in the backseat on the way, her voice a murmur. I hadn’t asked her why she went.

Once we were alone in the waiting room, I had to know if Buck had approached her. ‘So did he talk to you? Last night?’ I didn’t look at her or tag the question with a name. I was certain she knew who I meant.

‘Yeah. He asked me to dance.’

I sat stock-still and couldn’t look at her. I wasn’t angry with her – I wasn’t. But the thought that she’d put herself that close to him without me there scared the unholy f**k out of me. Finally, I raised my eyes to hers.