Blood pours from his nose that is surely broken now. I kick and punch until my dad pulls me away from him.
“Kyle. Stop. That’s enough,” he shouts, clutching me by the tops of my arms.
I pant rough, jagged breaths as I look down at him, bloody and broken.
I turn my attention to Cassie, who’s curled up on the sofa, her shirt torn, the button of her jeans undone, her hair matted.
I sit down next to her and pull her into me. “Are you alright? You’re safe, you’re safe.”
She clutches my shirt and nods. “I’m... I'm okay,” she replies breathlessly.
The sound of sirens wail in the distance, growing nearer, growing loud as they come to a halt on the street below.
“You did it, Cassie, we did it. He’s going away for a long time.”
For the first time since I found out the truth, knowing he’s going to be off the streets and probably going down for a long, long time once they connect him with the other cases, I can finally breathe again.
Chapter 47
Hayley
“Cassie helped you?”
“Yeah she was great, played it perfectly, couldn’t have got him without her.”
“Is that when you two… you know, were together?” I avert my gaze, ashamed of my jealously at thinking of him with Cassie, even after everything I’ve just heard.
“We were never really together, we slept together a few times, that’s all.”
I nod slowly. “So what happened then?”
“We waited for the police to show up and they took him away and we gave our statements to the police. They searched his apartment and they found photos of some of the girls he’d abused, plastered all over his bedroom wall, they were able to identify some of them.”
A sense of dread seeps into my bones. He took photos.
Oh my God. What if one of them was of me?
He takes my hands in his and brings his lips to my forehead.
“Along with the photos, they found a number of items, necklaces, rings, bracelets... underwear, items he took from some of his victims... the fucker kept them like keepsakes.” His lips pull tight over his teeth in anger.
A memory pops into my head.
I had one just like this.
“The Rubik’s cube.”
“What?”
“I used to have a Rubik’s cube, it used to sit on top of my dresser, Payn saw it that day and picked it up. Anyway, I lost it, I assumed I’d moved it somewhere, I looked and looked but it never showed up. He must have taken it.”
He squeezes my hands comfortingly.
“So, was he sentenced?”
“They managed to find the women that the items belonged to, for some of them, it was over fifteen years ago. When it came to trial, some of the women testified, Cassie, my dad and I included, one of the girls was fourteen when it happened. He lied his way through it of course, never admitted to any of it, but the evidence against him was too strong.” He takes my face in the palm of his hand rubbing his thumb over my cheek. “He got life, Hayley. He’s never coming out of prison.”
I whimper. A tear escapes and trickles down my face in relief, and happiness. I’m happy that he’s gone, that he’s being punished, that he can’t hurt any more girls.
Kyle catches the stray tear with his thumb. “He was charged with one count of assault and attempted rape and seventeen counts of rape, though there’s probably more. All of the cases in that file were closed with him being sent down, including my mother's.”
I reach up and wrap my arms around Kyle, my face buried against his shoulder. “No more secrets.”
“No more secrets,” he agrees. “I can’t promise I won’t fuck up again, I probably will knowing me, but I swear, I will never lie to you again, ever."
I lift my head and press my lips to his. “I love you.”
“And I love you.”
Chapter 48
Hayley
Kyle and I are in the car, on our way back to his apartment after I met him for lunch after work. I reach my hand across the center console, placing my hand on top of his that’s resting on the shifter.
“I need to talk to Aaron, I’ve asked him to meet me.”
Kyle’s eyes flick to mine, his face hardening. “Why?”
“Because even after everything that went down, he’s still one of my best friends. We’ve been friends too long for it to end how it did.”
"I don't like it Hayley, I don't trust him."
"But you trust me, right?" I ask.
"Of course I do."
"Then there's no problem, you don't have anything to worry about."
He sighs. “You’re too good, you know, that’s why I love you,” he says, lacing our fingers together. “I don’t like it, but I get it. When are you meeting him?”
“I’m going to see him tomorrow.”
“Will you be alright?”
I nod.
He smiles down at me. “Okay.” He brings our entwined hands up to his mouth and kisses my fingers.
I'm sat in our usual booth at Terry’s, nervously tapping away at the table with my fingertips.
I have no idea how this is going to go, I can only hope he'll hear me out.
The door swings open and Aaron walks in, spotting me immediately. He heads towards me, his poker face on point. I can’t tell how he’s feeling or what he's thinking.
“Hey,” I say, offering him a smile.
He slides into the booth across from me, his elbows resting on the table. “Hi,” he replies awkwardly, a faint, short smile touching his lips.
“How are you?”
“Good, I guess. You?”
“I’m okay.”
We sit in an uncomfortable silence for what feels like eternity, not really knowing what to say to each other. In all the years we’ve been friends, we've not once fell out this badly before, we’ve always made up the next day, but not this time. I haven’t seen him in over three weeks, it’s the longest I’ve ever gone without speaking to him, and I hate
