Page 37 of Trophy

When Allison came into Rob’s house—drenched and shivering—she saw what was wrong with Cali.

The girl had been roughed up pretty badly. Her hair was tangled around her face, and her shirt was torn at the neckline. Her cheekbone was scarily red, her eye already starting to swell shut. And she was holding one of her forearms against her chest, like it hurt to move it.

She was huddled on Rob’s couch, tearstains on her cheeks.

Allison ran over to her immediately, crouching down beside the couch. “Oh my God!” she gasped. “What happened?”

“You’re all wet,” Cali said weakly, a very faint smile on her lips.

Allison made a choking sound and reached over to push the girl’s hair back from her eyes. Then she turned and looked over her shoulder at Rob, who was approaching with a couple of towels in his hands.

He offered one to Allison. “It was that… boyfriend of hers. I think she’s got a sprained wrist and might have a cracked rib.”

“Oh my God!” Allison quickly dried her face and hands. “We should take her to the emergency room.”

“I was going to,” Rob said, his voice still hoarse, although he looked a little more normal than he had out in the rain. “But I called Dee, and she said she was coming right over, and she’d take her herself.”

Allison felt kind of sick at this piece of news. “Are you okay for now?” she asked Cali softly. “Can you wait?”

“Yeah. Everything hurts, but I think it’s going to for a while. I’ll wait for Mom.”

Allison’s chest ached as she smoothed the girl’s hair again and rose to her feet. “I’m going to get you some ice for that eye while we wait.”

Rob walked with her into the kitchen, meeting her eyes when she stopped near the refrigerator. “I know,” he said, very softly so Cali wouldn’t hear. “I should have just taken her right away. But she’s only fifteen, and she’s not my daughter. I don’t actually have any rights where she’s concerned.”

“I know you don’t. You did the only thing you could. Is Dee in any… fit state to deal with this?”

Rob gave a half shrug. “I hope so. She sounded okay when we talked. She hadn’t been drinking, at least.”

“Well, that’s good.” Allison reached up to cup his cheek, since his face was so strained and the shadows under his eyes so dark. “Are you okay, baby?”

He leaned into her hand for a moment before he gently removed it, kissing her palm softly. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I want to kill that boy. You have to stop me from going to find him.”

Allison sucked in a quick breath. She understood the sentiment, and she hoped Rob wasn’t being literal, but she didn’t really know what to say. She just reached over to take his hand in hers and held it as she opened the freezer to get an ice pack from where she knew Rob kept them.

They returned to the living room, and Allison positioned the ice pack on Cali’s eye, and after a few minutes she asked the girl what had happened.

It was a simple story. Cali had gone over to her boyfriend’s house to hang out, and they’d gotten into a fight about him taking money from her, after which Cali had told him they were broken up.

The boy wasn’t all right with her breaking up with him, and he’d taken his anger out on her.

“Have you called the sheriff’s office?” Allison asked, looking between Cali and Rob.

When Cali didn’t answer, Rob murmured, “I wanted to, but she said no.”

“They won’t do anything to him. He’s only sixteen, and he just hit me a few times.”

“It’s against the law to do that. They may not do much this time, but if you don’t report it, then it won’t be on his record if he does it again.

” Allison was hard-pressed to keep her voice calm, but she managed to do it.

“Promise me that at the emergency room you’ll ask them to call the sheriff.

They’ll want to talk to you about it and see what he did to you. ”

“He’ll be so mad.” Cali’s voice was very small.

“So he’s mad,” Allison said.

“I’m not going to let him touch you again,” Rob said, an edge of warning in his tone that she knew he was trying to stifle.

Cali looked from one to the other and finally nodded.

Allison was relieved—partly because Cali wasn’t acting like a long-term battered woman. She didn’t think the girl had been hit by this guy before today. Hopefully she could get over it without lasting emotional damage.

Before she could reply, there was a loud, insistent knocking on the door, and Rob went to open it to Dee, who came in wet from the rain and in a state of dramatics about her baby getting hurt.

The woman would always annoy Allison. She was never going to like her. But Dee seemed focused and sober tonight, and she was at least acting like she was concerned about Cali, so Allison didn’t feel like they were sending the girl off to her doom.

Dee didn’t stay long. Rob helped Cali into the passenger seat of Dee’s car, and if Dee said anything to him, Allison didn’t hear what it was. Then Dee and Cali were driving off, and Allison and Rob were left alone in his house, both of them still wet from the rain.

“I told Cali to text me when she’s all done and they’ve gotten home,” he said.

“Good. Poor thing. The whole thing is awful. Do you think she’s actually going to report it?”

“I don’t know. I hope so. I’m going to talk to the sheriff tomorrow either way.” He was rubbing his wet hair. “I didn’t tell Cali, but I’ve already called Mitch. Someone will be paying that boy a visit.”

“Good.” Allison let out a breath. “That sounds like all you can do, then.” She looked up at him, her heart so full she could barely swallow over the pressure. “So you didn’t really need me, then.”

“Yes, I did,” he rasped, reaching out and pulling her into his arms. “I needed you. I need you, Allison. So much.”

She squeezed him with both arms, believing him since his whole body was confirming his words.

“Please don’t leave me,” he mumbled against her hair.

“I won’t.” She felt like she might say more—like she might try to explain some of the revelations she’d had this evening, but the only sound she could make was a sudden loud shiver.

Rob released her and looked down at her, his eyes full of emotion she couldn’t possibly mistake. “You’re freezing. Let me find you something to wear.”

“You need to change too. You’re just as wet as I am—plus you don’t have a shirt on.”

They both went into his bedroom and found clean shirts and sweatpants to wear. Even with a drawstring, they would barely stay up on Allison, but they were better than her soaked leggings.

She was towel-drying her hair as best she could when Rob sat down on the side of the bed. He didn’t speak. Just watched her.

She put down the towel. “Are you okay, Rob?”

He half nodded, half shook his head.

She went over to sit beside him, wrapping her arms around him.

He made a hoarse sound and kind of collapsed onto the bed, pulling her with him. The position wasn’t entirely comfortable, so after a minute Allison said, “Maybe we should get under the covers.”

Rob moved immediately, and soon he’d pulled her into his arms beneath the sheets and comforter. She burrowed against him, finally feeling warm and dry and comfortable. Finally feeling loved and trusted and needed.

Rob held her tightly, almost too tightly, and the tension in his body felt so urgent that it worried her. “Rob,” she asked after a several minutes. “Are you okay?”

It took a little while for Rob to answer. “I haven’t been okay at all without you.”

“I’m here now.”

“And you’ll stay?”

“I’ll stay.”

They still had other things to say to each other, but this seemed to be enough for the moment.

Allison held onto him until his body finally started to relax.

She wondered if he would pull away from her then and try to get some sleep, but he didn’t.

He started to stroke her hair and back, and it was the sweetest thing.

After a couple of hours Rob’s phone buzzed with a text. He reached to check it. “She’s home. Feeling better after the drugs they gave her. She reported it to the sheriff’s office. Dee’s still there with her.”

“Good. Good. That sounds like it went as well as it could have.”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe you should try to get some sleep,” she said, stroking his chest over his T-shirt. “It doesn’t look like you’ve gotten much for a while.”

“I haven’t.”

“I can’t believe you cleaned your house.”

He paused before he answered. “I didn’t think you’d noticed.”

“Of course I did.”

“It was the only thing I could think of to do. I couldn’t do anything else.”

“Well, you can sleep now. Everything is okay.”

“Is it okay with you too?” He’d lifted his head to peer at her face in the darkened room.

She gave him a trembly smile. “I really think it is.”

This was apparently the right thing to say. He smiled back and drew her into his arms once more.

Allison felt better now. Relaxed. Safe. Treasured in Rob’s arms but also really needed.

She felt good about him and about herself for the first time in a really long time—and she felt nothing at all like a trophy.