burst out way louder than I intended. Several students walking by stopped to give me and Vernon questioning looks. “No way he tried to kill himself. He wouldn’t see Ollie again if he succeeded, and that’s the only thing he’s ever cared about.”
“He took a full bottle of pills and chased it with stupidly expensive cognac.” Vernon shook his head again and shifted his backpack straps on his shoulders. “Instead of putting him through a full jury trial where he would plead temporary insanity and likely win, the prosecutor in charge of the case agreed to send Sawyer to a state psychiatric facility for long-term treatment. He’s on a permanent suicide watch and has to undergo intensive therapy sessions. He won’t get out for at least a decade. It’s impossible that he followed Ollie here and highly unlikely he paid for someone to bring her back.”
I dragged a hand over my face and exhaled slowly. “I can’t believe this. How is it possible he went from the boogeyman to being harmless in the blink of an eye?” And how come I hadn’t heard a word about what was going on back at home? It wasn’t like I checked in on anyone from my past, but it seemed like something as huge as this should be on my radar. “I can’t tell if this is good news or bad news, if I’m honest.”
And what about Ollie?
Was she just so traumatized from the past that it was all in her head that someone was after her? Had she simply been afraid of Sawyer for so long that she didn’t know he was no longer a shadow lurking over her every move?
I was confused and pissed off by this new information. I hated the feeling of certainty slipping away as the unknown once again overtook everything.
Vernon sounded sympathetic as he told me, “I dunno either. I think you tell Ollie what’s going on and let her figure out how she feels first, and then we just follow her lead. If she’s relieved he’s locked away and it can’t be him, then we follow suit. If she seems even more freaked out and is still worried about someone trying to make her go back, we go from there. The priority is making sure she knows she’s safe no matter what.”
I lifted a finger to my lips and made a shushing sound as a familiar head of curly blond hair separated from the other students and made its way in our direction.
Ollie gave a little finger wave that Vernon returned. Low, under his breath, he muttered, “We’re keeping her. She’s one of us now. We can’t let anyone hurt her anymore, even if the culprit is Ollie herself.”
I nodded in agreement and reached out an arm to pull her close when she was within touching distance. She fit against my side like she was custom-made to be there.
“You’re so far away from the technology building, Vernon. What’s going on? Are you okay?” Her dark eyes were full of curiosity. She made a startled sound when Vernon suddenly lunged toward her and wrapped her up in a hug so that she was trapped between him and me.
“Everything is going to be fine. I promise.” Vernon let her go and flipped his hair out of his eyes with a sassy toss of his head. “You fill Ollie in. I’m going to find Harlen and give him a rundown. I haven’t been over to the athletic department in a long time. I should be better about checking up on him and making sure his teammates are treating him well.”
Ollie watched him slip away with a bemused expression on her face, then turned to look at me with a million questions in her eyes.
“Let’s talk when we get back to the house.” It wouldn’t change anything if I unloaded everything on her right now. She still had classes to get through this afternoon. Her world was about to go topsy-turvy. It was better she heard about all the changes when she was somewhere safe and could process them. I still felt a little like I’d been sucker-punched, so it would serve no purpose for both of us to feel that way.
She leaned more heavily into my side and lifted a hand to hold my jaw. She turned my face so we were looking at each other. One day I was going to figure out all the secrets she kept hidden in those dark eyes.