Page 156 of Always: A Legacy Novel

Derik kept an arm around her waist as he guided her through the throng of people and rooms. No one seemed to notice how messed up Catherine suddenly was. A part of her knew something was wrong, but the rest of her just seemed confused.

A short hallway gave her a moment of lucidness.

“That’s not the way to the car,” Catherine heard herself say.

No, it’s a stairwell.

And those were rooms.

A bed.

Blankets that weren’t hers. Sheets that weren’t soft. A body that didn’t listen. A mouth that wouldn’t scream. A hand too tight in her hair. A pillow making it hard to breathe. A boy who didn’t hear no because she couldn’t say it.

Catherine woke up in the morning alone, with dried something on her inner thighs, a soreness way too deep, and her panties on the floor. Her memories were way too hazy, and she couldn’t push through the fog to explain why she was vomiting over the side of an unknown bed, or how she had gotten this way.

And then some of the night before filtered back.

A lot, she suspected, didn’t.

Shame.

It compounded like hard cement to her heart.

Her breath tasted like shame, her tongue burned with it, and her skin crawled with it. She couldn’t escape it.

Shame.

She focused on what she could do, what she knew.

One step … two …

One breath … two …

Trembling hands, vomit in her throat, and ruined panties in her purse.

Alive, here, and unsure.

Unsteady beats of a heart she wasn’t sure was hers.

One step … two …

One breath … two …

Catherine got the hell out of that house, called a cab home, and stayed in a burning hot shower until noon. She only came out of her room to apologize to her parents for not coming home, and took her punishment—one week, no car—with a nod and a promise not to do it again.

She didn’t know what else to do.

“Hey, Catty.”

Catherine turned to ice at her locker, and her hands froze on the book she was stuffing into her bag. Derik looked down at her, grinning in a way she once might have thought was just his cocky nature, but she now thought was predatory.

“Derik,” Catherine mumbled, quickly finishing her task and slamming her locker closed. “I have class, so—”

“Nah, you’re good.”

Catherine needed to get the hell away from this guy.

Now.