Only the better half of it

3 - Red Desert

Caiden's POV

"So...are we going to arrest him or something?" Cassy's voice brought me back to my senses. "I don't know. I think we should build the case and arrest him once the family is ready to bring him to court. For now we're just keep a close eye on him." Cassy nodded in return. When we where called to the hospital, I thought we would have to deal with a murder thing, or a robbery that backfired or something like that. Definitly not a rape. We informed us before we entered the room of what happened but not in details. When I first saw Lily, the first thing I saw was her sad and broken expression. When she told us the details of what happened, something in me switched and that's why I was so brutally forward with my words. I couldn't help it though, rapists made my blood boil. Ever since I learnt that my father raped my mum and didn't even go to jail for it, I made it my mission that all the rapists would face the consequances of their action. I saw so many victims enduring so much things after the incident, that I was mad each time. Lily's case touched me a bit more as she went through this because of her boyfriend, which is even worse. When you're harm and destroyed by someone that should care and protect you, the feeling is even worse.

I came back to myself when I heard Cassy call my name. "Caiden? Are you okay?" I nodded and asked her what was going on. "We need to get back to the police station, we have a meeting with the boss and a few other officers." I nodded again before turning on the car, driving back to the station.

Lily's POV

I was packing my bags when a knock was heard on my bedroom door. "Hey L, how are you?" Nick's voice made me smile. "I've felt better, but you're here now at least." I continued to pack some of my sketch books. I didn't want to pack my whole room but I still tried to take as much of me as I could. I opened my closet, going through my stuff before deciding on some clothes I absolutely wanted to bring with me. Most oh these were black, but I still had a few items more colourful, such as my navy blue hoodie, well Nick's one but he was kind enough to let me keep it. He gave it to me one time, I was drunk out of my mind and I had called him to pick me up. I was only wearing some light strapless shirt so obviously, when he picked me up, I was a shivering mess and he insisted I'd put on his hoodie, threatening me that I'd probably die of hipothermia. Of course I didn't want that to happen, so I put on this navy blue hoodie that I adored so much now.

"I see you still have it then?" Nick's voice brought me back to the present stuation. I was confused at first but as I saw that he was grinning at the hoodie, heat made its way to my cheeks. I nodded and looked at it a bit more before setting it beside my other stuff in the suitecase. When I looked back up, our eyes met and the question that fell from his lips made me frown. "Are you going to tell me why you are leaving like that? I mean it could be only a sudden holiday trip or something, but I'm somehow certain it's not that." I sighed, evaluating if I should tell him now or when I'm already away. After a little internly debate, I spoke again, only able to focuse on his horried face. "Yesterday, when you were probably worried out of your mind, Reese drag me to one of Emily's 'party', like always, and he-" My words were cut by a small sob that left my mouth. "Hey, hey, hey! Hun it's fine, you can tell me later okay-" Just listnening to his worried words made me feel sick. I couldn't keep this from him. He's my best friend, my everything. Keeping this from him only makes me feel worse. So I just blurted out the words like I did with my mum. "H-he raped me-e." My words were partly muffled by my sniffles, but once the words were out, Josh's knuckles turned red from how tight he was clenching them. His face grew angrier by the seconds and his jaw clenched the whole time.

"How dare he lays a single fucking finger on you?! I told you to not get with him!!" His outburst made me flinch, not expecting him to react like that, or not this violently anyway. His gaze softened when it met mine, seeing how tears were threatening to fall out of my eyes. He slowly got up from my bed and slowly made his way to me. He engulfed me into a tight hug, letting his tears run down my bare shoulders.