Things Change

Chapter Seventeen

***Kayleigh***

As I stood frozen in place, I felt like I was watching a movie or witnessing the events of someone else's life, right before my eyes. It was all too hectic, too crazy to be happening to me. The howl of the squad cars' sirens and the pandemonium of the paramedics, officers, and detectives' voices created a deafening hubbub. My eyes scanned the scene, but they never found what they were searching for.

"Beau!"

I spun around hopefully and my eyes locked with eyes, but they weren't the hazel ones that I wanted to see.

Cory rushed towards me. "Kayleigh," He repeated. "Oh, thank god you're alright! You can't imagine how glad I was to hear your voice. I was so scared. I came out of the gas station and you were just gone." He held me close, but I pulled away.

"Where's—" I was interrupted by a female police officer.

"Kayleigh?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Come with me," She smiled as she flashed her badge. "I'm Officer Meredith Sanchez."

"Do you know where—"

"Now, don't worry about that, sweetheart." She said. "He's never going to hurt you again."

"But—"

"Come with me." She repeated as she nudged me into a wheelchair and began to cart me towards a large swarm of people. I looked over my shoulder, but Cory had disappeared. I was soon ushered into the crowd and then, swept into the back of the ambulance. The paramedics all talked at once, rattling off random medical lingo as they inspected the bruises and cuts on my face. Suddenly, I was being instructed to buckle up in one of the padded benches.

"Excuse me," I told a tall dark-skinned guy who smelled of peppermint and looked like a young Usher. "Where's Beau?"

"Pardon?" He asked as he knelt down so that he could clearly hear what I was saying, but by that time, some of the personnel had cleared the yard and I could clearly see the front door of the large, brick, upper middle class home we'd been locked away in.

Beau was being led out of the house by two officers who had him in handcuffs. I felt my heart shatter in a million pieces.

"Beau!" I screamed as I stood up off the bench and ran over to the back of the truck. "BEAU!"

He obviously couldn't hear me over all of the commotion because he didn't even look my way as the officers had him to duck into a squad car.

Tears poured down my cheeks. "Beau," I whimpered.

"Miss Williams, we're going to have to ask you to sit down." The handsome Usher-look-alike said. I caught a glimpse of his name-tag and I realized his name was Alonzo.

"Alonzo?" I spoke.

He nodded.

"Am I going to see him again?"

"Who? The guy who hurt you?" He asked. "No. He's never going to bother you again."

"No, I—"

The driver barked out some instructions that interrupted me.

"Miss Williams, you're going to have to sit down now, okay?" He said. "We're going to take you to the hospital."

I turned to look for Beau again, but just like Cory, he was gone. As I sat down, I felt very alone in the world. I was happy that Beau was alive, but, still, all the life had been drained out of me. Beau was on his way to jail. Why? Because he'd protected me. He'd tried to defend ME. Colby was either dead or on his way to jail, too. Why? Because I didn't know how to break off the relationship before it ever got this bad. It was all MY fault. All of this was happening because of ME.