Page 61 of Wallflower No More

Brody squats down in front of me to get in my face, hovering over my legs, I seize what is likely my only opportunity to bring my leg up and make direct contact with his dick. He doubles over and I try to drag myself up again, but Jenson has semi recovered and drags me back down. I start screaming, begging, crying, and praying for someone, anyone to hear me and help me. That only makes the both of them more excited. They are sick fucks. They are going to kill me the same way they did London.

All my thoughts go to Axel and how everyone in his life has left him. I won’t leave him. Nothing can stop me from returning to Axel. I kick my legs forward, almost connecting with Jenson’s chest, but he grabs them instead, yanking me toward him—a sound of victory coming from behind the Ghostface mask. Filled with outrage, I yank his mask off, and slap his cheek with all my strength. It's enough to make his head whip to the other side and for his saliva to fly out of his mouth. He loses his balance and falls backwards on his ass. Seizing the opportunity, I take the heel of my boot and kick him straight in the middle of his face. His nose looks broken, blood drips from it and discoloration begins to form under his eyes.

There is no time to feel relief because only one is down. On shaky legs, I stand and walk toward Brody. My pain is excruciating, but if I don't fight, they will kill me. When I go to kick him, he's able to sweep my feet out from under me. Brody straddles my midsection and backhands me in order to slow down my struggle against him. He takes a syringe from his back pocket and injects me with a clear liquid. In a matter of seconds, my breathing slows, and my eyes become heavy. He takes his mask off and gives me a bone-chilling smile. His eyes are lifeless, like he’s a person who has chosen the dark path without one ounce of remorse. Like the devil himself lurks behind the cold, dark, calculating stare of his eyes. Before drifting off to sleep, I wonder how I never noticed this evil behind Brody’s eyes.

The medicine is strong, but I fight my way in and out of sleep. The first time my eyes awake, I'm in the backseat of a van. The next time, a familiar smell hits me. They've taken me to Sully's Bar. A rope is tied around my throat and is connected to metal cuffs around my hands and ankles. There is no escaping this. A solitary tear slips out of the corner of my eye. A lump forms in my throat when their apparent plan comes to my mind. They are going to kill me here in order to frame Axel. That's the only explanation for bringing me to his bar. Noticing that my eyes are open, Brody comes to stand over me. His grin is so evil and I beat myself up for never noticing this about him. How I ever thought he was beautiful is beyond me. "Wakey wakey, gorgeous."

My skull feels like someone is taking a jackhammer to it, and black dots are in my periphery. "Why are you doing this?" My words are a little muffled because of my jaw, but you can still make out the words.

He leans down. "Because you know too much, and you didn't choose me. Scarlett, I gave you every opportunity. We could have had something special."

My eyes are still heavy from whatever sedative they gave me, but I must keep engaging him in conversation. "Brody, you told me you only saw me as a friend."

He snarls. "Don't fucking turn this on me, bitch."

My body shivers with fear, and nausea rolls in my stomach. "Brody, I'm just confused."

He rubs my cheek with his bloodied hand. Brody is making my head swim with all these mood changes. "Honestly, my feelings for you were strong, but I let my vanity tell you no, Scarlett. Then London told you our dirty little secret, and when you wouldn't agree to be mine, that sealed your fate."

I am grasping at straws because I don't know what direction the conversation should go in that will equal me not dying. Apologizing will leave a sour taste in my mouth, but it's precisely what needs to happen. "Brody, I'm sorry that I didn't choose you."

Brody's body stiffens, while his face remains primarily impassive. However, there is a softness that has formed around his eyes now. "If only it were that simple, Scar. I've promised him."

My nerves rage inside my body. I know who he's talking about, but I ask anyway. "Who, Brody?"

He smiles. "You already know the answer to that."

Unfortunately, I do. "But how can you let him have me when I was supposed to be yours?"

He balls his fists at his side. "It's not something I relish in doing, but a promise is a promise, and I'll get to have you first."

Needing to stall and get more information out of him in case I survive this trap, my stupid self-walked blindly in, I integrate him further. "But you usually just watch."

Brody smiles, showing the one-sided dimple on his face. To think I would have walked a hundred miles to earn one of his boyish smiles. "Very perceptive. Yes, I usually just like to watch. You're different, Scarlett. When he was fucking them, it was you who my mind thought about. Jenson has become my brother, and we will share and then kill you together. It's kind of poetic, don't you think?”

I snort, and before my brain can stop my lips, my snarky reply passes through the gates. "Yeah, if you're Edgar Allen Poe." My mind did not register that it was possibly a bad idea. The coiled tension releases from my body because he's amused and not pissed by my attitude. This is the Brody who was my friend. My heart aches for the memory of who I thought he was, but that was only him on the surface because, on the inside, he's ugly. Violent. Disgusting. A narcissistic sadist. Squirming when he brings out his long knife and lightly scraps it up and down my clothes, I plead, "Please, Brody. No."

The toxic evil glint in his eyes. "Don't worry, Scar, you'll get pleasure before the pain."

The words bring tears to my eyes. Axel says things like that, only the pain and pleasure he gives me is all love. Taking a deep breath, I push thoughts of Axel away. Shutting down and going into survival mode may be the only way I get to see him again. "You could just keep me for yourself, Brody."

He growls at that. Secretly pleased that I don't want Jenson. Hell, I don't want him either, but that thought is best kept to myself. "A deal is a deal, Scarlett."

"So, that's it then? What we could have had is wasted because of a deal?" I bite the insides of my cheeks to keep from crying out, from losing my shit. It's on the brink of happening, and the lies I'm having to spew are making the bile rise faster.

"Maybe we can make an arrangement." He looks up and down my body. I detest the hunger that's in his gaze.

"Brody, you're in charge. I could tell that when you told him to back off me at the school."

He shrugs. "Jenson is the muscles and doesn't think with anything but his dick. He would have gotten caught by now if it wasn't for me." Brody puffs his chest out proudly.

I paste a fake smile on my face instead of a sneer. "Clearly." It’s the only word that my mouth can form.

"Listen, when Jenson gets back, let me handle him. He'll expect a payment, so we'll have to find another girl."

I don’t want another girl to get hurt. "I'm not special enough for you to handle him, Brody? This will be our night."

My fear spikes as the knife he's holding moves toward the rope around my neck, but he doesn't hurt me again. Brody uses his blade to sever it. "He's going to be angry."