“Emerson, please.”
I’m still in the Escalade. My hand is still floating over the door handle, but the pain and desperation in Kieran’s voice was enough to give me pause.
“Try to understand,” he begs me. “Knowing what you’ve been through—knowing what guys like Connor have done to you… Knowing what I’ve seen in my own life…”
“What happened to Lindsay wasn’t a result of what she was wearing,” I tell him through clenched teeth. “Neither was what happened to me.”
“I know that. I just get… scared. All I care about is protecting you, Emerson. I can’t even think about anything else anymore. And seeing you up there—thinking about what all those lowlifes were thinking…”
He’s starting to cry, I think—or, at least, to tear up. I can tell from the pain in his eyes and in his voice that he means ev
