I Let Her Ruin Herself novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Ride Home

Wyatt drove us home in his old blue pickup without turning on the radio.

The mall was ten minutes behind us before he said anything.

"She knew my name."

"I noticed."

"I never told her."

"I noticed that too."

He glanced over at me and back at the road.

Both his hands were on the wheel, and the scar stood out pale across the left one.

"I'm going to ask you something, and you can say no," he said. "What aren't you telling me?"

The truck rolled through a green light.

I could have said nothing.

I had been saying nothing for eight months, and it had kept me safe.

But Wyatt had put a poster in the back seat with his sister's name on it.

And Savannah had his number.

"Pull over," I said.

He pulled into the empty lot behind the hardware store and put the truck in park.

He turned toward me and waited.

"The attack in January wasn't a stalker," I said. "Dale was Savannah's boyfriend. She planned it."

Wyatt didn't move.

"I went to see him in the county jail. That's why her mother filmed me in the parking lot."

I made myself finish.

"He told me she wanted me to run in first. She wanted me hurt so she'd have a story."

"A story."

"About the friend who got hurt for her. Then she's the survivor. Then people know her name."

Wyatt looked through the windshield at the brick wall for a long time.

"That's insane," he said quietly.

"I know."

"No, I mean it's insane that I believe it."

He rubbed his jaw.

"She looked back at you before she screamed. I stood there and watched her do it."

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