You’re the Reason, стр. 46
“Police!” a voice shouted downstairs.
Screams were accompanied by the shuffling of feet pounding on the floor beneath me. I ignored the noise and twisted the door handle. Locked. I pounded on the door. “Val! Are you in there?”
Nothing.
The noise on the main floor grew louder as people scrambled to exit the house and avoid the police. Ignoring the commotion, I moved to the room across the hall. I turned the handle and it too was locked. I pounded on the door. “Val, if you’re in there, yell!”
I spotted Ryan’s room next door. I hurried to it, twisting the knob and pushing open the door.
I froze. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and a cold chill rushed up my spine.
Val lay on the bed completely naked with Ryan seated beside her, fully clothed.
“Oh, thank God you’re here,” I said to him as I rushed over and threw a blanket from his chair over Valerie. “Someone drugged her.”
He jumped up. “Oh. Yeah. That’s what I thought.”
The pounding of footsteps on the staircase told me it was just a matter of time before the cops made it to us.
“Do you know who did it?” I asked Ryan as I leaned over Valerie to be sure she was breathing. She was.
“No idea.”
“Did you call 9-1-1?”
“Hands where I can see them!”
Ryan spun around with his hands raised.
“Thank God you’re here,” I said, my eyes cutting toward the door. “She’s been drug—” My words were cut off by the sight of Chase, in a black bulletproof vest, with a gun pointed at Ryan. His eyes were on mine and a thousand thoughts played across his face. Seconds felt like hours before he tore his eyes away from mine and spoke into the walkie on his shoulder. “We need a medic sent to the second floor.” He moved toward Ryan. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back.”
“Fuck you,” Ryan spat.
Chase whipped handcuffs off his belt and twisted Ryan around so his chest hit the wall.
“I can’t believe you’re a fucking cop,” Ryan said.
Chase grabbed Ryan’s wrists behind his back and snapped on the cuffs. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do this.”
My eyes shot daggers at Chase. “What are you doing? Valerie was drugged and he helped her.”
He glanced at me over his shoulder. “He’s the biggest dealer on campus.” He spun Ryan away from the wall so he faced the door. “I have a feeling he’s been drugging girls for quite some time.”
My eyes shot to Ryan who kept his eyes down. “Did you do this?”
He didn’t look at me or say anything.
I jumped up and circled in front of him. “DID. YOU. DO. THIS. TO. HER?!?”
He forced his eyes up. They were cold and detached.
I lifted my hand and smacked him across the face, the thwack echoing through the room. I spun around and hurried back to Val, holding her hand and telling her it was gonna be all right as my entire body shook with fear, anger, and confusion.
Two more officers entered the room.
“Take him downstairs,” Chase told them.
The taller officer grabbed Ryan by the arm and marched him out of the room.
“Is the medic on his way?” Chase asked the other officer.
The officer nodded before walking over to Valerie and checking her vitals.
“Is she gonna be okay?” I asked him.
“The EMTs will be here any second,” he said before leaving the room.
“I told you not to be here,” Chase said through gritted teeth, his eyes burning into mine.
“Why? So, you could keep lying to me?”
“You have to know I couldn’t tell you,” he said.
More officers entered the room with two EMTs.
“What happened?” one of the EMTs asked me.
“She was drugged. That’s all I know.”
As they took her vitals, I searched the room for her clothes which were folded on Ryan’s dresser. I’d been in Valerie’s room enough times to know she never folded her clothes. That snake. My eyes welled up as I grabbed the clothes. “I’d like to go with her.”
The EMTs nodded as they moved her onto a stretcher.
I avoided Chase’s gaze as I moved out of the room by Valerie’s side. She needed me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Valerie’s heart monitor beeped monotonously as I sat in the chair beside her hospital bed. She’d been unconscious since we arrived, though the nurses assured me she’d be coming out of it soon. I checked my phone for the time. Three in the morning. And Chase still hadn’t called.
I guess I wasn’t surprised.
Nothing pertaining to him—or Ryan for that matter—could surprise me now.
How had I been so blind?
He hid a major part of his life, and I fell for his deceit—his facade—hook, line, and sinker. He must’ve thought I was so stupid. So naïve. Why hadn’t I believed Madame Rose when she said there were secrets being withheld from me? She even warned me about Chase and I didn’t believe her.
Sitting at Valerie’s bedside had given me time to think. Time to replay every moment with Chase. Every interaction. Every promise he made to me. But none of it added up to anything real. Anything tangible I could grasp onto. It had all been a lie. A grand manipulation to bring down the college drug dealer.
“Sophia?” Valerie whispered.
“Val?” Though her eyes were barely cracked, I leaned in so she could see me. “Are you okay?”
“Thank…you,” she whispered.
“I’m just happy you’re awake. Let me get the nurse.”
“I’m so tired. I just need to sleep.”
“Sleep. I’ll be right here. I promise. You can’t get rid