Chapter 18
July 2018
Secrets. So many f*****g secrets, and they were finally starting to make sense to me. A large part of me wanted to stay safe in the realm of denial. But the more I thought about it, the more things made sense:
Justin’s downward spiral mental state since our months living with Barry.
How he avoided being alone with our uncle when at all possible.
And—this part brought the four walls of the room closing in, and I struggled to breathe—how he protected me. He threw himself on the fire to save me from being Barry’s victim too.
Not thinking, I picked up the phone handset and dialed the mobile number that Devon had made me memorize. He picked up on the first ring.
“Hayes.”
He sounded all business, and for a moment I considered hanging up, but he must have heard the sm
