Christian (The Mitchell/Healy Family #3)(35)
Author: Jennifer Foor

He covered his face with his hands and rubbed it. I turned to my mom, watching her wiping away a fresh set of tears.

“You need to worry about Addy. I’m goin’ to recover from this. She needs your attention. All I require is a quiet place to rest, and a break from school. I don’t want to talk about what happened, and I surely don’t want the whole family findin’ out. They already think I’m weak, and this only verifies those accusations.”

“You’re not weak,” Noah said loudly.

“It doesn’t matter. Don’t you all see that I just want to forget?”

My mother led my father into another room, followed by my aunt and uncle. That left Noah and Ethan in the dining room with me. Noah sat down across from me, while Ethan leaned against the door frame. “You’re not weak,” Noah repeated.

“Thank you. I keep thinkin’ about what else I could have done. If I’d only kicked him, or poked his eyes out. I keep rehashin’ it, as if it makes a damn bit of difference.”

“You know dad’s not goin’ to stop until that asshole is behind bars?”

“Yeah, I know. I just hope that mom changes his mind.”

“If you were my daughter nothin’ would make me stop fightin’ for justice. You have to look at it that way.”

I kept quiet after my brother’s assumption. It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything else to say, I just didn’t have the energy to keep going on and on about it. I knew where he stood, and from the look on Ethan’s face I could tell he agreed. That left me the minority.

When my parents came back in the room they didn’t sit down. My father crossed his arms as he spoke. “We’re goin’ to the hospital, Christian. We know you’re scared, but it’s for the best. As far as this ranch is concerned, I don’t care about the publicity. Nothin’s more important than my family, not even this ground we live on. You can fight me on this, but at the end of the day we’ve got your best interest at heart. I need you to get well, and this is the first step in makin’ that happen. Your mother and I will be by your side the whole time, and if you want your friend Ethan along, he’s more than welcome. This ain’t a punishment; it’s the path to resolution.”

Knowing that I couldn’t cross this man, I looked away from him, settled on the fact there was no other way.

Then I knew what I had to do.

I got up and excused myself to go to the bathroom, taking my purse with me; and in a matter of seconds after closing the door, I’d text Ethan to meet me at his car. He’d fight me, but we were getting out of there before I was taken to hospital and treated like a lab rat. The idea of a stranger touching me was making me ill.

I darted for the front door a few seconds later, seeing Ethan in the driver’s seat. I could hear someone calling my name, but ran as fast I could. “Floor it. I’ll tell you how to get out of here without using the front gates.” My dad was probably already on the phone getting them to lock down the main entrance to the ranch. It was a good thing I knew my way around. My mom’s parents had built a little house on the outskirts of the property, and they had their own entrance from an adjacent road. We made it down the dirt entrance in no time, arriving on a country highway where I knew we were in the clear.

“Do you mind tellin’ me why I feel like a damn criminal?”

“Goin’ there was a mistake, Ethan. I can’t let them take me to a hospital. I won’t be like the girl we met last night. I can’t let myself.”

“Chris, you need help.”

“No. I just need some time to get over it. My attack was nothin’ like those other women. They had it so much worse. I can handle this on my own. As much as I appreciate your two-cents, I’d appreciate it if you let me make the decisions from now on.” I was adamant to be in charge, because no one knew me better than I knew myself.

After a few minutes of driving I finally answer my phone. My mother was on the other end begging me to reconsider.

“Honey, we’re just worried about you. You need help.”

“Mom, I have to do this on my own. I feel terrible for involvin’ you. I never wanted you and dad to look at me as the victim. I couldn’t sit there anymore.”

“Come home, Christian. We can talk about all of this after we know you’re safe.”

“I am safe. Ethan will protect me. I’m stayin’ with him for a while until I can figure out everything.” That was a lie. I knew I wasn’t returning to school. Hiding out at Ethan’s was only temporary. There was a lot more than dropping out of school that I needed to worry about.

“I hope you change your mind, sweetie. We’re here, and you know you’re welcome to come home. If you don’t want to stay with us, Gram has plenty of room. You can recover on the ranch, where we know you’ll be safe.”

“I need time, mom. I’ll call you soon, I promise.”

When we hung up I clenched the phone in my hand, staring down at it, as if it somehow held answers I desperately needed. I’d walked away from my family, leaving me pretty much alone to fend for myself. I longed for resolution; my dad was right about that. Only I wasn’t sure how to go about getting it without making it a media frenzy. I refused to be the talk of the town.

I already knew I was the laughing stock at my old house. When the whole campus found out the news they’d come after me for attacking their beloved popular role model. It made me cringe.

There had to be another way out of this mess, and I just needed time to figure it all out.

Chapter 22

Ethan

I thought that going to her parents was the best decision. They could help guide their daughter to the healing that she needed.

Chris had other plans.

As much as I wanted to keep my promise to her, I knew that being her safety net wasn’t without regret. Her parents were going to hate me for sneaking her out of their house. It was only a matter of time before they were knocking at my door. It didn’t take a genius to guess that they’d already contacted my parents to obtain my address on campus.

I didn’t say much in the car on the ride back to my place. Chris wouldn’t have liked to hear my opinion. As much as I understood that this was her problem, I also knew that she had the best family I’d ever known. She had to know that.

Once we were inside of my apartment she headed back to my bedroom, closing the door behind her. I don’t think she meant for it to be rude, but I took offense since it was my neck I was sticking out for her. Still, I let her have some time to herself, to maybe realize she’d made a mistake.