Chapter Four
I was still locked up in my room. I couldn't face anyone; I hadn't eaten since the date with Eli. There was a strange noise at my door. Then a click, and it swung open.
"Veronica! How did you get in here?" I thought about it, "Never mind I don't care I just wanna be alone."
"Logan called me. He said you weren't eating." She handed me a plate, "It's my favorite dinner to eat when I'm upset." It was a plate full of macaroni and cheese and chicken strips.
"Thanks." I said after deciding if my hunger was worth having a conversation with Veronica.
"Is this about Weevil?" I looked at her shocked.
"No, why would you say that?"
"Logan didn't tell me why you were upset. He just told me you locked yourself in your room after you came home from a date with him."
"What Logan didn't tell you is that he screamed about how I need to stop seeing Eli, and when I tried to walk passed him he grabbed me. I thought he was going to hit me Veronica."
"He's obviously an ass. Take as much time to ignore him as you want, but don't stop eating, and when he calls don't be too upset to talk to Weevil."
"Deal." Her phone beeped and she looked at the text and replied.
"Listen, I gotta go, but if you need anything you can call me."
I walked up to the Mars Investigations door, and walked in. Veronica was sitting at the reception desk.
"This must be official if you wanted to meet me here Weevil."
"I want you to tell me what happened to Emily."
"Like today?"
"Not what I meant, but yeah what happened to her today?"
"Logan called me because she wouldn't come out of her room."
"He called you why?" She waved a lock pick set. "Oh, I see. When we were hanging out she said something that bothered me. Her tattoo was covering scars, and I want to know how they got there."
"I do know that while I was dating Duncan she had a boyfriend at her school, and Logan hated him. He wouldn't say why."
"Sounds familiar." She started typing on the computer in front of her.
"Eli did you know she had a record?"
"So do I. Why does that matter?"
"No, like a real one. That won't go away just because she turns 18." I lifted my eyebrows in shock. "Felonious assault with a deadly weapon."
"What?"
"A baseball bat."
"She told me she got expelled for getting in a fight."
"That was a year ago. She's been in prison since. It says here that her lawyer is still disputing the charges because it was self-defense."
"What did he do?" I asked putting my hands on the desk trying to lean to see the monitor.
"I'll find out. I'm going to call a friend and see if I can get these case files, and a copy of her medical records would be helpful too. It might take me a day or so to get the information. Why don't you call her? She's had a rough day."
"Thanks V." I turned around and walked out the door to my bike. I couldn't believe Emily had a record. I thought it was kinda funny that Logan was keeping her from the big bad biker, but the worst thing on my record was theft. I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. "Hey cupcake, I was wondering if you wanted to get out of the house?"
"Yeah, that would be great."
"I'll be at your house in 10 minutes, is that ok?"
"Yeah. I'll wait outside for you." I drove over to her house, and she was standing out front. Her eyes were puffy, like she had been crying, and added more makeup than usual to cover it up.
"Are you hungry?"
"I could eat." She grabbed my helmet from my hand and got on the back. She wrapped her arms around me tightly. "I know this really good café a few blocks away."
"Ok. I think I passed it on the way here." I drove to the café that Emily wanted to go to, and immediately knew it was going to cost me.
"This place has the best food I swear." She grabbed my hand and led me inside.
"You sure they'll let me in?"
"It's a café not a country club." She laughed. We were seated by a guy that looked at me like he wanted to tell me how to get to the kitchen. She ordered drinks for us, and I picked up the menu. There were no prices, and I knew that was a bad sign. "Get anything you want" she told me.
"What?"
"My dad has a tab here you can get anything you want."
"Babe, I can pay."
"Don't be silly, how many times can you say Aaron Echolls bought you lunch."
"You sure?"
"It's fine." She simled. I shrugged. "Get the veal."
"Why?"
"It's the chef special, and the most expensive thing on the menu." She laughed. The waitress took our order.
"What happened today?"
"What do you mean?"
"I can tell you were crying."
"Shit I thought I looked ok."
"You always look beautiful, but you look sad."
"I got in a fight with Logan."
"Over me?"
"Yeah. He grabbed me, and I freaked out."
"Freaked out?" I suddenly wondered if Logan was ok.
"I started crying. I had a flash back and locked myself in my room. He called Veronica and she picked the lock."
"Flash back to what." She hesitated for a long time. I reached across the small table and held her hand, "it's ok you can tell me." She sighed.
"I guess I should before you find out some other way. I had a boyfriend a while back. He was rich, and handsome. We were my school's 'it' couple. He used to hit me. Logan would find bruises on me when I would visit, so Logan invited us to Tijuana. He planned on scaring him away from me. Except he didn't; my ex beat me, but first he beat Logan up and made him watch. When I went back to school he tried to apologize, and blamed Logan. I freaked out and grabbed his baseball bat. I just kept hitting him over and over. The cops were called and I was arrested. I spent a year in jail, but was released on good behavior a few weeks before school started." I was speechless. I squeezed her hand gently. "I know it's a lot of baggage."
"I'm sorry that happened to you. I would never do anything like that."
"I feel safe with you. I don't think you would hurt me at all Eli."
"Is that why you got that tattoo? To cover up the scars?"
"How could you tell there are scars?"
"I have a much better eye than anyone else."
"Yeah that's why." We finished lunch and talked about much nicer things, and when we were done she said, "Thanks for taking me to lunch Eli. I better get back home though. I need to have a conversation with Logan.
"Alright." I hated dropping her off, but she was probably right. Logan was probably beating himself up over it. I drove her home, "Call me if you need anything." We kissed good bye; she gave me a tight hug.
"Alright Eli. I can't wait to see you at school." She smiled at me. Then Veronica called.
"Weevil I have some information you'll wanna see. My contact got me a copy of the case file."
"Ok do you want me to meet you at the office?"
"Sure. I'm here now come by whenever." I drove to the Mars Investigations office. My heart was pounding. I knew the whole story, but I was afraid to see what it looked like in real life. I knew Emily was making it seem less than it was, but how bad was it?
"Hey V." I said as I walked into the office door.
"Weevil this stuff is pretty intense. You sure you wanna see it?"
"She told me what happened. I know what to expect."
"No, I don't think you do." She spread out the file on the coffee table in the reception area. "This," she sets down a stack of photocopied notebook paper, "is a diary detailing her ex's abuse. There's stories of torture, rape, and well other things."
"What other things Veronica?" I choked out the words. I tried to keep my cool trying to imagine how someone could do that to the person I cared so much about.
"Weevil, he shared her."
"What?"
"Like sexually with his friends."
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
"There's more. These," she laid out copies of x-rays, "are x-rays taken at various times throughout their relationship. The major ones correlate to times in her diary where she tried to get away from him. There's a few broken arms, cracked ribs, lesions in her back and thighs," I stopped her there.
"Lesions?"
"He whipped her, the doctor's notes say that she would have been unconscious."
"Anything else?"
"There was the time in Tijuana a week before their final break-up. Logan's testimony says that her ex beat him and cuffed him to the chair, then he raped and tortured Emily while making Logan watch. He left Logan there in the hotel room, and forced Emily to go with him back to school."
"Where is he now?"
"In the hospital."
"For what?"
"When Emily attacked him she attacked him so badly he was put into a coma. There's little hope for his recovery."
"With all this evidence why did she get an assault charge?"
"The prosecution said that she used excessive force, and that she wasn't in any danger at the time of the attack. Aaron fired her lawyer, and hired a new one. This lawyer is appealing the case, and if he wins her record will be expunged."
"What chance does she have?"
"My contact says that she has a pretty good chance. He was surprised she lost the case in the first place." She looked at me suspiciously, "Weevil you're taking this better than I thought. You aren't going to do anything stupid are you?"
"I guess there's nothing I can do. The guy has already been beaten nearly to death. I can't tell her that I know the extent of her suffering."
"But you might understand that Logan might not hate you dating her because you're poor, but because you've already shown him you can be violent."
"Being broke don't help much either."
"No you're right. Just give it time. Eventually he'll grow up…hopefully." I didn't like feeling bad for Logan. I felt sick for Emily. All I wanted to do was take her pain away. Veronica put her hand on my knee, "Weevil I know this is a lot to take in. I'm sorry."
"Why are you sorry?"
"Because I can't imagine how Emily feels. I couldn't imagine how you feel."
"I feel helpless V. Like I can't protect her."
"You can't. Not from her past at least. You can however protect her now, and in the future. Be there for her."
"Thanks V. For everything. Just don't tell anyone that I was here." She made a zipper motion over her lips.
"Logan we need to talk." I said quietly as I walked into the pool house.
"Listen Em. I'm so sorry that I grabbed you. I wasn't thinking."
"I know. I'm sorry I overreacted, but this is about Eli."
"Oh."
"I'm not going to break up with him. I deserve to be happy, and right now he makes me happy."
"You do deserve to be happy Em, but last time I couldn't protect you."
"I don't need protection. I need my brother to not hate me."
"I don't hate you. I hate him."
"Well you need to stop."
"Fine. I won't say anything, but I can't control what the others say."
"I don't care what they say."