Chapter 14: Lioness

When Natalie’s mom brought me home from the police station, it was already 9 p.m.

“Natalie, go wash up. I’ll pick up your sister.”

“Okay.”

Her eyes were swollen and red from crying. Guilt twisted in my stomach.

Truth is, I wasn’t hurt at all. I even managed to kick the creep hard. But Natalie’s mom blamed herself for not picking me up.

She was still wearing her dirty apron from work, hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, but she stood between me and the world like a wall.

In the fluorescent-lit police station, I noticed the lights flickering, the hum of vending machines, her hands trembling as she signed paperwork. The trauma clung to us, heavy and real.

But when the creep confessed to being a repeat offender, Natalie’s gentle mom suddenly turned into a lioness. Her voice, louder than I’d ever heard, made the whole room go dead silent as she lunged at him, grabbing his hair and dragging him down. She nearly smashed his head with a chair—if the cops hadn’t stopped her, she might have ripped him apart.

She called Natalie’s dad, but all he said was, “Shameful. Just come home.”

I was used to his coldness. But as soon as I stepped through the door, he rushed over and—

His hand cracked across my cheek. For a second, the world spun. And in that moment, I knew—some things, no matter whose life you’re living, hurt just the same.