[ALL BANNERS ARE MADE BY THE LOVELY @adelinarine. Thank you so much.]
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sunday afternoon Sutton was tirelessly pacing back and forth in her room. Noah was comfortable sitting on her bed while patiently waiting for her to converse about whatever happened the night before. Sutton didn't sleep at all. How could she when she was supposed to keep a rape secret? As soon as she could chase all of the beastly girls out of her house early in the morning, she did.
Sutton raked a hand through her hair, "It's utter diabolical!" she hissed. "No they are utter diabolical!" She paced back and forth, burning out the carpet as she tried to put the next few words in consideration.
"You said your sister was bad?"
Noah nodded.
"She's even worse than you can possible imagine."
Noah had disbelief etched onto his face, "Sutton, what happened?"
She turned towards him, tears blurring her vision, "Alison was raped."
"What?" He sprang up in alarm, stepping towards Sutton.
"Your sister knew and she did nothing!" Sutton said, as the tears started rolling down her cheeks. She couldn't believe that it was a secret. That somebody wouldn't tell anyone. Why didn't Alison say anything? Was she also being blackmailed by Ava? Could she even remember being raped?
"My sister would never..." he trailed off unsure, the fact was that he didn't know his sister well enough. They never got along. He couldn't believe his sister would just keep it quiet. She couldn't have, could she?
Sutton wiped at her nose, "But she did. She saw it going down and she used it to blackmail Dawn."
"Dawn?" He was confused. "Why him?"
"I don't know. He is the one who raped Alison."
Noah shook his head, "That can't be true. Dawn and my sister dated on and off."
"Ciara told me. She said they worked with this reward system, if you behaved well, you get a secret. Something to hold against someone. Your sister shared this with Ciara." Sutton explained, grabbing onto Noah's hands.
"That's awful. If I knew-"
She sighed, "You couldn't have stopped it. I think that's why you're sister is missing. Alice left another note last night."
"She was with you?"
"I think maybe she broke in."
"Could it be one of the girls?"
Sutton shook her head but she wasn't sure, "I don't think so. They were with me the whole time."
Noah nodded, "What was the message?"
"It's a burden to keep their secrets."
"Alice wants you to keep still about the rape?"
"She gave me no choice. I have no proof whatsoever and I can't break their trust. They opened up about Ava and I need to know more."
"At what cost, Sutton?"
"Noah," she threw her hands up into the air, "you asked me to help you. I'm helping you, now."
"It's dangerous."
"I told you I can protect myself, Noah."
He blew out a breath, "Up until when? Until you go missing as well? Don't be a hero, Sutton."
She was appalled, "You need to get out!"
"Sutton-"
"Noah, get the hell out of my house!" she cried a little louder.
"Please don't do thi-"
"Out. I said get out!"
"You heard the lady." Allan said sternly, watching the tears fall down Sutton's face. He wanted to kill Noah but he didn't know what was going on.
"Of course." Noah solemnly said, passing Allan on his way out of the house.
"You okay?"
Sutton shook her head.
"Do you want me to stay?"
"Please go," she whispered. As soon as he left and closed the door, she bursted into tears. She felt bad for chasing Noah away. None of this was his fault. She made a choice to get involved. She could have just ignored him but she didn't. Now, she had to deal with the consequences. She was determined to figure out what happened to Ava. She just needed a good cry session to get over herself.
•
•
•
"Your dad let me in," a voice said as Sutton threw her hair in a ponytail. She fingered the button on her shirt, making sure she looked fine and turned around to face Eli Cambridge.
"Did you leave something behind?" Sutton asked, looking around her room for anything that wasn't hers.
Eli shook her head, "I wanted to talk to you. Your dad said you weren't in a good mood."
Sutton nodded, "Mom stuff, I guess."
Eli nodded like she understood, "I get it. I'm sorry."
Sutton changed the subject, "What did you want to talk about?"
"About Ava."
"What about her?" Sutton sat down on the bed, patting the empty spot next to her.
"I can't really tell the others this because they don't deserve to know. But, Ava and I were the closest. She never used me to gain anything."
"Do you know where she is or why you think she's in trouble?"
Eli shook her head, "Not this time. Sometimes Ava didn't go off to Peru or Iceland. Sometimes she just stayed in my basement."
"And no one knew?"
"I promised not to tell."
Sutton realised that Eli was being used, just not as vindictive as Ava used the others. What kind of person was she?
"Why did she stay with you?"
"She was scared."
"Of her parents?"
Eli shook her head again, "It's true that she hated them but she was scared of someone else. She never told me but she said this person knew everything."
Alice.
"Who do you think she could have been talking about?"
"Maybe her boyfriend, Dawn. They were on and off. And, Dawn cheated on her with multiple girls. I saw her threaten him once."
"Threaten? Where?"
"She was sleeping over at my house. They were outside, fighting. She told him if he didn't do this something for her, she was going to tell the police about something he did."
The rape.
"What did you think she wanted?"
"Probably a hiding place. I don't know. Her parents cut off her allowance. She had no money. I think she was desperate."
"When's the last time you saw her? Was she weird?"
Eli nodded, "She didn't speak much and that wasn't really Ava's style. She loved being center of attention but the day before she left felt like a breeze. None of us had to watch our backs. She seemed..." she thought of a good word, "distracted."
"Where do you think she is?"
"I don't know. I'm scared. What if something happened to her?"
Sutton didn't know how to reassure her, she could barely reassure herself, "She'll turn up. She's Ava Whitlock, isn't she?"
Eli smiled, "Yes. I hope so."
Hope breeds internal misery.
Ava's phone vibrated. She groaned and picked it up. She already knew who it was from. She had one new PM from Alice.
You can't save everyone - Alice.
'Well, I can certainly try,' she responded back knowing that Alice wasn't going to reply.
"Everything okay?"
She nodded with a smile, "Just making dinner plans with Noah." Speaking of which, she needed to apologise to him. And, she did promise him a mystery-free date.
"Oh yay! Can I help?" Eli asked, excitedly.
"Of course."
She texted a message to Noah.
BabySut: Hi, meet me at the park at six tonight. Promise it will be worth your time.
•
•
•
Candles lit the park area around where Sutton and Eli had thrown a blanket and a bunch of old decorative pillows on the grass. A bottle of non-alcoholic champagne stood in a ice bucket with fancy sandwiches and sushi next to it. She didn't know why she reacted the way she did with Noah. She was just angry that he didn't want her to get hurt but he enlisted her help in the first place. She had two new secrets to deal with. One that could possibly ruin her and the other one that didn't help much in finding Ava. She never wanted to get entangled in this mystery. She wanted another drama-free year. She didn't even have time left to mourn her mother. The thought saddened her. This week was going to be awful.
"Sutton," Noah mumbled her name from behind her. She turned around and shared a half smile.
"You came..." she was ecstatic.
"I just wanted to apologi-"
She shook her head, "No, it was wrong of me to chase you away. I'm sorry. And, I promised a mystery-free date. So let's just forget about everything else."
He nodded with a grin, "I'd like that."
"Are you going to kiss me now?" she asked, raising an expecting eyebrow.
A small tint covered his cheeks, "As you wish, love."
He stepped closer to her. His fingertips coming up to brush the side of her cheek. His left hand slipped to the back of her head as he slowly pulled her closer to him. He slowly leaned in, nudging her head back and softly touched his lips with her. It was slow and sweet. They didn't need to rush their first kiss. His lips felt like honey against hers and all she wanted to do was lose herself in his scent. Both of his hands were now in her hair as she clutched onto his waist. Definitely the best kiss by far. She didn't want to kiss anyone else ever again. It would never compare.
They parted both needing oxygen in their system.
"I can't wait to marry you."
"Noah!" she cried, heat and color spreading over her cheeks.
He only threw his head back in laughter. She sat down on the blanket and he plopped next to her. His hand was already reaching for a sandwich.
"Thank you."
"For what?" Sutton asked while chewing a piece of bread.
"For everything you are."