next to her and looked into her eyes with a light. “You don’t feel sad or depressed?”
“What? No. I feel . . . refreshed. Like I had a really good night’s sleep with no nightmares.”
Tears sprang into Gavin’s eyes and he closed them. When he opened them, Sarah caught her breath at the emotion there.
“All right, then, everyone,” Caden said, “I think we can get out of here.” One by one her visitors left. Except Gavin, who didn’t move.
He leaned over and kissed her forehead.
At the door, Caden pulled Heather into a tight hug. “Thank you.” His whisper drifted to Sarah.
“What’s that all about?” she asked.
Heather smiled through her tears. “I’ll let Gavin bring you up to speed while I go fill out your discharge papers. Just press the button if you need anything.”
She left and Sarah lifted a brow.
Gavin’s phone buzzed and he glanced at the screen. “Well, seems you’ve made an impression on my sister.”
“Really? How?”
“I don’t know, but maybe you can give me some pointers. Come in!”
Sarah jumped. The door opened. Kaylynn stepped inside and shut it behind her. “I hope I’m not imposing.”
“Not at all,” Sarah said. “Have a seat wherever you can find a spot.”
Kaylynn chose the seat under the window. “I know this is kind of weird, but you offered to help.”
“Of course.”
Gavin nodded.
“So, it’s kind of a long story, but I’ll give you the condensed version. And I’ll probably be blunt.”
“Just say it,” Gavin said.
“A professor at my school has been soliciting sex for As.”
Gavin lost his laid-back posture and his feet hit the floor. “I’m sorry, did you just say—”
“Yes, I did. Please don’t make me say it again.”
“Go on.”
She fished into her pocket and pulled out a flash drive. “A friend of mine complied and got her A, but she was devastated. She dropped out and went home. I can’t tell you how angry I was. I didn’t know what to do or how to do it, I just knew I was going to find a way to get the evidence I needed.” She rubbed the flash drive between her thumb and index finger while staring at it. “So, I did.” She lifted her eyes to meet Sarah’s. “When you said you were an investigative journalist, it gave me the idea. I set myself up as bait and he took it.”
Gavin’s gasp nearly sucked all of the oxygen from the room. “You did what?”
“I went to his place and recorded our . . . interaction.”
“You have him on video or audio?” Gavin said.
“Both.”
“Give it to me. I’ll take care of it.” He paused. Looked at Sarah. “I mean, I’ll take care of it if you want me to. I won’t butt in if it’s something you’d rather handle yourself.”
His sister gaped and Sarah had to smother a giggle in spite of the seriousness of the situation.
Kaylynn raised a brow. “Where’d that come from?”
“I’ve been taking lessons on how not to be a dictator. Now do you want me to take care of it or not?”
“Sure. I wanted to do it myself, but he scared me the last time I was there.”
“Did he touch you?” Gavin’s tone had turned lethal.
“No, not at all. But I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t. I left his home, and when I turned around, he was watching me.” She paused and bit her lip, then sighed. “I’m sorry, Gavin. I’ve been so stupid.” She cleared her throat. “I’ve been angry with you.”
“No kidding.”
“But it was more than you, I was mad at myself too. Mostly I was angry with you because you took the choice to handle Mitchell away from me.” She sighed. “I knew he was into some drugs, but I thought it was just occasionally and he never did them around me. I thought he was in love with me and would change. For me. When you caught him with the drugs at Mom and Dad’s, it was a punch in the gut. I hated you for finding them and him for having them and I hated myself for thinking I could convince him to quit. But he obviously wasn’t going to—and I couldn’t make him. It made me sad and angry and spiteful. That night in the professor’s house when I wasn’t sure what he was going to do, I realized that I was wrong. Sometimes you need someone to step in and save you from yourself.” She stood and hugged him. “So . . . thanks.”