(Complete) Michael Bassett will do anything to protect his daughter even if it means sending her away. Soon he finds his trips east mean more than just seeing his daughter, because with each one he gets closer to the mysterious woman he wants to sav...
Anna cried when her Instagram and snapchat exploded with news of the police coming for Dustin. She felt guilty. She shouldn't have told the truth, but her father had looked so disappointed when she resisted and Jake was so easy to talk to. It was as if he understood how much she cared for Dustin.
Her father was reluctant to leave her alone, but he had to go to work. She convinced him she would be fine. She wanted to be alone except after he left there were posts all over social media and some started to include her name. Somehow half the school started speculating that it was her, and a good number believed she was making it up while others called her names all equivalent to a slut.
She called her father. "Daddy! Everyone is talking about me."
"What?" He barked into the phone.
"They're saying it's me. How do they know?"
"I don't know, but you can't be alone. I'll call your mom."
"No, she'll hate me!"
"She won't but I can try Darlene. There's no one else."
He called her back after about five minutes. "She'll come stay with you tonight. We'll have to work something out. You can't go to school."
"I never want to go back there again." She used to love school but suddenly hated it.
"Maybe I should come home." His voice sounded tired.
"No. I'm okay. You need to work. I like Darlene." She assured him.
Darlene was funny and treated Anna like she was family. Did her father tell her about Dustin and the baby? Probably she decided that he would have given her a reason. Did she know that her mother didn't want her?
Anna wasn't sure that she wanted to have a baby without Dustin. Had she been stupid to think he loved her? She had thought he would marry her and they would be a family. Now everyone was talking about her. Some of her friends were defending her but others weren't. Truthfully she had been ignoring her friends since she started spending all her time in the computer lab and at Dustin's house.
Darlene knocked at the back door and let herself in. Anna noticed she locked the door behind her. No one in Turner locked their door unless their house was empty and half didn't even bother to do that.
"Hey girl! Can I crash to get away from my boys?"
"You don't have to pretend. I know my dad called you to babysit me."
"Well, sounds like I'm too late. You needed a babysitter a month ago." Anna didn't have to wonder what she knew. "This town isn't boring tonight. The cell tower is about to short-circuit. It's buzzing."
"About me! The stupid slut!"
"That's where you're wrong. He's a..." She didn't complete her thought. "... and he used you. It doesn't help that he's a good-looking guy, if you like the pretty boy type. I like a man that's all man and not pretty, myself."
