There was a silent moment and then, “You answered the phone?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Yeah, that sounded ridiculous even to me. “What’s up, David?”

“Have you’ve read any of my emails?” The uppityness that was normally in his tone was absent. Shocking.

“Ah, I read one or two, but I’ve been busy, with college and all.” I stood and nudged my bag under the coffee table. “So…”

David’s sigh was quite audible. “You don’t know anything? Have your parents tried to contact you?”

I snorted. “Um, no. They forgot my birthday.”

“Sorry about that,” he replied, and I could practically see his cringe. “I thought that they might have tried to tell you about what’s been going on here. It sort of has to do with you.”

Walking into the kitchen, I frowned as I grabbed a soda out of the fridge. “How does anything back there have anything to do with me?”

There was a pause and the bomb of all bombs was dropped. “It’s about Blaine Fitzgerald. He’s been arrested.”

The can of soda skipped from my fingers and clanged off the floor. It rolled under the table. I stood there, staring at the fridge. “What?”

“He’s been arrested, Avery. That’s why I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. I thought… I don’t know, I thought you would like to know.”

My legs felt weak, so I turned and clutched the counter with one hand. The room tilted like I was sick again.

“Avery, are you there?”

“Yes,” I said, swallowing. “What happened?”

“It was at the start of summer, but it was kept quiet until about the middle of August, when he was arrested. There was a party being thrown. Some younger kids were there from what I heard,” he explained, and I closed my eyes. “It was a girl you went to school with. I think she was a year younger than you—Molly Simmons.”

I remembered seeing her name in one of his emails and assuming something totally different. “What… did he do?”

David didn’t answer immediately. “He was charged with sexual assault and several other offenses. He goes to trial in June, but has been out on bail. It’s not looking good for him. There’s a lot of evidence. The only reason I know any of this is because his father came to mine to represent his case. My father turned the case down. I want you to know that.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. Thank you for not representing the asshole? I didn’t know what to say at all. I was stunned. I’d always wondered if Blaine had done what he’d done to me to someone else and if my silence would enable him to do it again. I had hoped not—I’d prayed that wouldn’t be the case.

“The girl he… raped contacted your family.”