I open my mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. My voice abandons me, leaving me mute and defenseless.Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
He steps even closer, his presence overwhelming. “You’re fucking up soccer for me,” he growls, circling me like a predator closing in on its prey. “You’re messing with my future.”
Every fiber of my being screams at me to run, to cry out for help, but I’m paralyzed. My fear has taken hold of me, rendering me powerless. All I can think about is when he and the others shoved me to my knees. How he shoved his cock into my mouth while Austin held my arms behind my back. How he violated me.
“Hey! Back the hell up,” a woman bites out, and both Parker and I jerk in her direction. One of the team swimmers climbs out of the pool and approaches us, tearing her goggles and swim cap from her head.
“Are you deaf or some shit?” she snaps, her gaze trained on Parker. “Or are you just an asshole? I told you to back off. No girl wants you up in her personal space like this.”
Parker scowls, but doesn’t bother giving her his attention. “Walk away. This doesn’t concern you.”
She scoffs, “Pass,” and moves closer until she’s standing so close that if she takes one more step, she’ll be smack dab between us. Her proximity forces him to pay attention to her now. “Back the fuck off, or we’re going to have a problem.” Her voice is even. Sure. She doesn’t have to raise it to get her point across. You can hear the threat in her tone, or at least, I do.
My breathing becomes ragged. She shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know what Parker will do, but I can’t imagine it’ll be anything good.
With exaggerated slowness, Parker turns his face toward her. “Who the hell?—”
Everything happens so fast. One second, Parker is towering over me. We’re near the edge of the pool but a safe enough distance away that no one is going to accidentally fall in. Then the next second, he’s tipping over the edge, exhaling a harsh note of surprise.
The girl shoves him hard and fast, seemingly out of nowhere.
Parker loses his balance and his body careens over the ledge, colliding with the surface of the pool at an awkward angle. The water sucks him under and rushes over his head.
Holy shit! I stand there frozen and wide-eyed, watching the water lap over him. Did she just?—
I turn to look at her.
She stares down at the water, a satisfied smirk on her face.
Oh no. This is bad. Really bad.
Parker resurfaces and sputters out an angry curse. “You fucking bitch. You’re going to pay for that.”
He struggles in the water, his heavy clothes making it difficult to stay afloat as he swims toward us.
The girl folds her arms over her chest and glares at him, her expression lethal. “I told you to back off. You’re the one who didn’t listen.” She turns her attention to me. “I don’t like having to repeat myself, and men can be so fucking stupid sometimes.”
My mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. I have no idea what to say to that. Panic has stolen my words. What was she thinking? Parker is going to retaliate. Guys like him always do.
“You alright, there?” she asks, stepping closer to me. She waves a hand in front of my face.
My eyes flick between her and Parker. He’s already hoisting himself out of the pool. His clothes are plastered to his body, wet hair dripping down his face. Shit, shit, shit. His jaw is tight. Nostrils flared. I’ve never been confronted by him before. It’s always been Austin going out of his way to fuck with me. Parker Benson and Gregory Chambers—the other guys involved that night—they’ve always given me a wide berth. I sort of assumed they were just happy to get away with what they did to me and weren’t going to chance it.
Austin doesn’t work that way. He gets off on putting me in my place. On making me relive the fear and humiliation. I didn’t think Parker was like that.
I guess I was wrong. I don’t know why I ever could have thought that way. Parker was always sort of out of sight, out of mind. But that was stupid of me. He’s always been a threat. Always been dangerous. They all are.
Something must have happened.
Think, Cecilia. Think.
He said I was ruining soccer for him, but what does that even mean? I stopped going to Gabriel’s practices. I’ve never been to any of their games.
I’m not bothering anyone.
Fuck. The expression on his face is murderous as he climbs to his feet and makes a beeline right for me. Again.
We need to get out of here.
