Read Online After All by Jolene Betty Perry - Free Book Online Page A

I didn’t care about any of them.

 
    Seven
    Ashley
     
    “Ashley.” Donetta set her files aside as I dragged my feet through the door after lunch.
    Her tone was serious and my heart kicked up a notch. Like this was the moment she knew I didn’t belong here. That I should give up and take my student loans back to Vegas. “Yes?”
    “Sit for a sec?”
    I smoothed down my pants several times before taking one of the chairs opposite her, feeling suddenly out of breath.
    She folded her arms over the top of her file and looked at me like a parent or a counselor. I was suddenly a kid again, overwhelmed, unsure. “I love the passion you feel for this, but it’s not life and death here.”
    “Sometimes it is.” The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them. Because that’s why I was here. The first hit maybe wasn’t life or death, but maybe the next one was, or the next one…
    Her gaze was even. “I don’t need to know your back story, but there’s something motivating you that you’re letting take over. We can’t save everyone. We don’t get to save everyone. That’s okay. Having passion for what you do is a good thing, but letting it take over the way you have is going to backfire.”
    I let out a breath and my shoulders fell as her words soaked in. If I didn’t just get it out, I’d lose my nerve. “I lost my best friend. To suicide. I hate his parents for how they treated him. I hate that their abuse got to be too much for him to take. Even after he left their house. Even when he wasn’t dealing with them anymore. I just…” but I couldn’t keep talking and breathing without crying. All I could see was his lob-sided smile paired with a black eye.
    “They didn’t kill him, Ashley.” Donetta’s voice was barely above a whisper.
    I wasn’t about to argue with her. I’d argued with so many people on this. There was a logical side of me that knew he’d done it. That knew even with perfect parents he might have struggled, but I pushed those thoughts away and saw my bruised up best friend terrified to go home because we were five minutes later than curfew. Or because he knew his dad had a bad day.
    “Why don’t you take the afternoon off?” she suggested. “I’ll mark your hours for a full day.”
    “Okay,” I mumbled as I pushed my way out of her office. I felt hollowed out, like I needed to talk to Josh and completely dismissed from the job I needed to do.
    Donetta had finally learned I had a reason to be there, and also that I maybe wasn’t good enough to do the job. I hated my situation. Hated that I felt like so many people in so many files were just a few hours of work away from me being able to help. To change their lives in some way for the better by protecting them from the people they couldn’t or wouldn’t protect themselves from.
    I closed my eyes as the elevator took me to the ground floor and tried not to think about Josh, or the people in the files or anyone. How was I supposed to make myself worthy of doing the job I’d worked so hard for?
    * * *
    I still felt heavy as I pulled in front of our house and hefted myself out of the car. Then my phone rang. I checked the ID, and froze. My hands shook as the phone continued to ring, but the rest of the world held still.
    Not possible. This should not be possible. Everything in me turned cold as my brain tried to process. A number. A simple phone call shouldn’t make people week in the knees.
    Pricks ran up my spine and I whirled around as if they were somehow calling from just up the street. I squinted in both directions as if they’d appear at any moment. My stomach twisted up and heaved twice before I took a deep enough breath for the world around me to exist again.
    How did they find me? Get this number? They were more than half the reason I moved out of state. The harassment from Josh’s parents had reached ridiculous proportions. Well, it’s more than harassment when you leave an encounter bloody and in the