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CHAPTERTWENTY
KYLER
I feltlike I was going to throw up again.
Ian and I were sitting on the couch in my living room, waiting for my mom to get home from work. I couldn’t stop my knee from bouncing and I was on the verge of another round of tears.
But honestly, how the hell was I supposed to handle the fact that there was a freaking video out there of the most horrifying night of my life? All things considered, I felt like I was holding it together pretty well.
“Baby, come here,” Ian said softly.
Needing no more instruction, I got up and sat on his lap. He pulled me close and held my trembling legs still, resting his chin on my head.
“I’m right here, Ky,” he reminded me. “No matter what happens. And if your mom is anything other than one hundred percent supportive, I’ll take you and Cosette home with me for a little while. My dad and Maya won’t mind once we tell them what’s going on.”
“What about Serge?” I asked. “Cosette’s never been around dogs before.”
I knew it was stupid, but Sergio was a huge dog and Cosette was a mini lop bunny. I was scared of him hurting her.
“We’ll keep Cosette in my room with us and keep him out,” he chuckled. “Do you really think I’d let anything happen to her? I love her almost as much as I love you.”
“I’m scared, Ian,” I admitted. “She believed all the rumors about me. Everything everyone said online. Who’s to say she won’t think I’m lying now?”
“She’s never seen your scars?”
“No,” I sniffled. “I haven’t worn anything that shows my stomach since then, and I always close my door when I change.”
“So show her. That’s pretty much indisputable evidence, as far as I’m concerned,” he sighed, kissing my head. “I love you, Ky. You know that, right?”
“I know,” I said, cracking a little bit of a smile. “I love you too. More than I knew I could love another person.”
He tilted my chin up and gave me a real kiss, and that was when I heard the door unlock. My mom walked in and immediately looked at the two of us on the couch with a glare.
“So now you’re just bringing that boy here without even paying me the respect of telling me?” she bit out.
Really? She was really going to go there? She was at work more than she was home lately anyway. What did it matter if Ian was here with me while she was gone?
“Mom, can you come sit down?” I asked, deciding to take the high ground and ignore her comment. “Please? I have something I need to tell you, and it’s not going to be easy for you to hear.”
She huffed out an annoyed sigh and came to sit down on the other end of the couch.
“You’re pregnant,” she said immediately.
“What?!” I exclaimed. “No, Mom. Look, I don’t know any other way to say this than to just come out and say it. I was raped by three football players a little over two years ago. All those rumors that have been going around about me for the past couple of years were started by those three boys after they assaulted me. They were trying to make sure no one would ever believe me if I tried to report it.”
“Right,” she scoffed. “You wonder why I don’t trust you? It’s because you have a history of attention-seeking behavior like this!”
Yep, that had gone exactly how I’d thought it was going to go.Thiswas why I hadn’t been able to bring myself to talk to her about this until now.
“Mom, I’m serious,” I said, choking down the lump forming in my throat. “It was at a party after the homecoming game in my sophomore year. One of the boys, who I’d had a crush on since freshman year, lured me outside and we started kissing. It was my first kiss, and I thought he liked me. But then two of his friends showed up, and one of them put a knife to my throat and told me he’d slit my throat if I didn’t do what they said. They forced me to go out into the woods behind the house and burned me with cigarettes when I didn’t do what they wanted. When it was over, they burned me again just for the hell of it, and the one boy put the knife to my throat again and told me he’d kill me if I ever told anyone. And until a couple of months ago, Melissa was the only person I ever told.”
“Howdareyou, Kyler?” my mom growled. “Are you really that starved for attention that you’ll make up outrageous lies to get sympathy from anyone who will listen? I thought you were more mature than to dothisjust because I’ve been working a lot recently. I’m working all these extra hoursfor you, missy, and this is the thanks I get? You making up stories to cover up the fact that you’ve been whoring yourself around so much that the entire school knows about it?!”
I couldn’t stop the tears from falling anymore. I’d known she wouldn’t believe me at first, but how onEarthcould she twist this around like that and act like my confession was some sort of slight against her?
“Shh, baby,” Ian murmured, kissing my temple. “It’s okay. I’m right here.”
“Ian, could you please excuse us?” my mom scoffed. “I need to have a talk withmy daughter.”
