LITMIR.BIZ

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Bullard, the chief of police, arrived to speak to Haley that Judd and Lena got up from where they were sitting and moved toward her.

      “Hey, Haley … how you doin’, honey?” Chief Bullard asked.

      She shrugged, her chin quivering too much to answer.

      “I know this is a rough time for you, but do you think you can talk to me for a bit?”

      She nodded

      Bullard smiled, and then sat down in the seat beside her.

      “I need to ask you some questions about the accident.”

      “Okay,” Haley said, and swiped her hands across her face, wiping away tears and smoothing back the tangles of her hair.

      Bullard waited until she seemed to settle, then said, “I need you to tell me, in your own words, what happened.”

      Suddenly Lena Shore pushed forward and started screaming. The rage in her voice was impossible to mistake.

      “I’ll tell you what happened!” she shrieked. “My slut of a daughter was sneaking around with a damned Brolin. If it wasn’t for her, none of this would have happened.”

      The minute the Brolins heard their name being slurred, they were up in the chief’s face and shouting back at Lena.

      “There’s nothing wrong with our son,” Tom said. “Your daughter is the one who kept chasing after him.”

      Haley shuddered and covered her face with her hands. This nightmare just kept getting worse and worse.

      Chief Bullard stood abruptly and put one hand on Tom Brolin’s chest and the other on Judd Shore’s before they came to blows.

      “Shut up!” he yelled. “Both of you. I’m talking to Haley, and unless you were in one of those cars, I want you all to be quiet.”

      Judd cursed.

      Tom puffed out his chest.

      And in the middle of the melee, Haley slowly stood. Something inside of her had finally come unwound. After all these years, she’d had enough. Suddenly the room went quiet as all eyes turned to her. Her words were angry, her own rage evident as her hands curled into fists as she spoke.

      “Just for the record, Mother, not once during the two years Mack and I have been seeing each other did I ever sneak anywhere. Just because you people have issues with one another, that didn’t mean we did. I love Mack, and he loves me. I don’t know what’s wrong between you and the Brolins, and frankly, I don’t care. You people have wasted eighteen years of my life acting like children. You can hate one another … and you can all hate me … if that’s what’s going to make you happy. I don’t care anymore. I don’t care about anything but knowing Stewart and Mack are okay. After that, you can all go to hell!”

      Her mother’s face had gone from pale to purple, her father’s to a dark, angry red. The Brolins wouldn’t look at her, and her classmates seemed to be in shock.

      At that point, Haley turned around to face Chief Bullard.

      “Mack and I were driving north out of town in his car. We were just listening to music and talking when lights appeared out of nowhere in the rearview mirror. All we knew was someone was coming up behind us too fast. When I thought I recognized Stewart’s car, I called him on my cell phone to be sure. When he answered, he began screaming at us to stop, that Mom had sent him to get me. I told him Mom didn’t run my life, and that we weren’t stopping, and for him to go home.”

      Lena gasped, and before anyone could stop her, she lashed out and slapped Haley’s face so hard her lip split.

      Chief Bullard grabbed Lena, but it was too late. “Ma’am, if you do that again, I will arrest you for assault.”

      “She’s my daughter. I can—”

      Haley pushed herself into Lena’s face. Her voice was soft, but her tone was hard and clipped.

      “I’m of age, Mother, and that’s the last time you’ll ever lay a hand on me, so back off.”

      Lena reeled as if Haley had just slapped her back. The fury in her daughter’s face was so virulent, she didn’t know how to react.

      Bullard decided to let the issue go. “Then what happened?” he prompted.

      Haley turned her back on her mother as if she no longer existed.

      “Instead of going home, Stewart accelerated even more and rammed Mack’s bumper.”

      At that point the Brolins gasped and started shouting at Judd and Lena, blaming them for Stewart’s actions.

      Once again Chief Bullard was forced to intervene. Within seconds, he put out a call for two deputies. They quickly arrived, and with orders from Bullard were told to keep the families apart.

      “Now. If I have to calm you people down one more time, I’ll arrest the whole damn lot of you. Are we clear?”

      They didn’t answer and wouldn’t look at him. Once again, he chose to ignore them.

      “What did Mack do when his car was struck?” he asked Haley.

      She shuddered, remembering their panic. “Mack managed to keep the car on the road. The trouble came when Stewart rammed us the second time, even harder. Mack’s car started to skid sideways, and before he could straighten it out, Stewart hit our car on the driver’s side. I don’t think he meant to, but he was going too fast to stop. After that … we started rolling. I don’t know how many times, because I blacked out. When I came to, we were upside-down and off the road, and Mack was unconscious and bleeding badly. I saw his leg was trapped and tried to get him out, but I couldn’t. Then I couldn’t find my phone to call for help. I managed to unbuckle my seat belt and get out. Then I saw Stewart’s car. He’d hit a tree head-on. When I went to check on him, he was unconscious, too. I found his cell phone, and that’s when I called for help.”

      Lena was sobbing loudly. Chloe was weeping without making a sound. Both men were glaring at Haley as if she’d grown horns.

      “It’s ironic. The bitch causing all the trouble is the only one not to get injured,” Tom snapped.

      Haley flinched but didn’t acknowledge the insult, and then, before any more slurs could be cast, a surgeon suddenly came out of a doorway at the end of the hall and started toward them.

      “Is the Brolin family here?” he asked.

      Haley held her breath as Tom and Chloe and Mack’s sisters crowded forward, all talking at once.

      “Is he alive? How bad was it? Will he be able to walk?”

      “Wait … wait … let me explain what we did,” the doctor said. “First of all, he came through the surgery fine. We were able to stop the bleeding and save his leg. He’ll walk just fine.”

      “Thank the Lord,” Tom muttered.

      “But his athletic career is over,” the doctor added.

      “No … no!” his mother screamed, and leaned against her husband. Tom Brolin glared at Haley, then reached for his wife.

      The doctor began explaining the intricacies of the surgery, how many pins he’d had to put in the leg and the muscle damage, but Haley had phased out. All she could think was that Mack was going to hate her. UCLA wasn’t going to happen. His plans for a career in the NFL had ended before they began.

      She dropped into a chair and covered her face with her hands. She heard Retta’s voice, but not what she was saying. All she could think was, Why, God, why?

      Then she heard her mother cry out. When she looked up, another doctor had appeared in the crowd—the one who had operated on Stewart—and he was saying something to her parents.

      “No!” Lena screamed, and dropped to her knees. “No, no! Not my beautiful boy! If someone had to die, why wasn’t

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