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“Bastian must be one tough guy.”
His comment struck a nerve with me, and caused a warning to prickle my spine.“What do you mean by that?”
“To voluntarily stay away from you. I wouldn't have the willpower to do that.”Headded.
It wasn't so much what he said, but how he said it that made me even more uneasy. Brad was my friend, he was Bastian's friend, but there was something about him tonight that felt off. My gut was telling me to seek out Poppy and Caden.
“I think I'm going to call it a night. I'll see you at school.”I started to rise and noticed for the first time that the door was closed. Brad grabbed my arm and pulled me back down onto the sofa.
“Where are you going? Stop playing coy, Lark.”
Okay, it was no longer a prickling sensation, but alarm bells going off in my head.“Brad, I'm really tired. Please let go of my arm.”
“This is fated, you and me. Did you know that?”
“What?”
He moved so quickly, pressing me into the sofa as his overly aroused body covered mine.
“Get off me!”I shouted as I pushed at him. At first I thought he was teasing—completely inappropriately—but teasing all the same.
“You're so hot. Just looking at you gets me hard. I can't tell you how many times I've jacked off thinking about getting in between your legs.”
What was happening? My brain refused to process the horror of what Brad was doing because I couldn't believe he was actually doing it.
He ground his hips painfully against my stomach.“Like the skirt, easy access,” he purred, causing bile to rise up my throat. This could not be happening.“It's cool, Lark. You've already spread them for Bastian, so there's no harm. He never even has to know.”
Who was this monster disguised as a friend? Fear turned me into a crazy person as I struggled to push him off, but he was too strong. Then his mouth came down painfully on mine. He gripped my one arm and pulled so hard that he almost dislocated it. My cry of pain muffled by his punishing mouth.“Stop fighting it,” he hissed.
Fear and confusion welled in me. I didn't understand the violence and anger that pulsed off him. And I couldn't make him stop, no matter how hard I tried. I attempted to appeal to the affable guy I thought I knew.“Please let me go, Brad. I don't want this and you're hurting me.”
He actually laughed.“No way. I finally have you right where I want you. You're going to love every second of this.”
He forced his leg between my thighs and pulled down his zipper. My scream was cut short by the pressure of his mouth. He bit my lips to demand silence. Bucking my hips, I hoped to throw him off balance, but that only made him laugh as he rubbed himself against me. I went completely still, closed my eyes and felt myself going to another place, so I wouldn't have to endure what was about to happen to me. Suddenly he was gone and when I opened my eyes, Caden stood over a now bleeding Brad sprawled out on the floor. And I saw other people standing just behind him. Shame filled me as I closed my eyes and started to cry.
“You're okay. Ohmy God! You are okay, Lark.”Poppy came from behind Caden and rushed to my side. My tears fell harder realizing that it could have been Poppy in here with Brad. She reached for her phone and called home. Something ugly moved through me, a thought I tried to shut down but one that took root anyway. Maybe I was more like my mom than I thought. Maybe I had asked for this somehow.
“Thank God Mica came to find us,” Poppy said.
“What?”
“Mica heard someone scream and when she opened the door, she saw Brad on top of you, so she ran to find me.”
Of all the people to save me, it was Mica—someone I never liked, but after this, I was willing to accept that I may have been wrong about her. She studied me from her spot near the door. There was sympathy in her expression, but I saw something else too, understanding. “Thank you.”
She nodded in response before she turned and left the room.
“Stay down, asshole.”Caden growled to Brad. He lowered to his haunches in front of me. I could tell from Caden’sdark expression that I looked like hell. “He didn't...”He curled his hands into fists as he tried to ask the question I knew he didn't want to hear the answer to.
I was quick to answer since Caden looked ready to kill Brad and as much as the idea appealed to me, I didn't want Caden going to jail. “No, he didn't.”
He peered over his shoulder to a nearly unconscious Brad and spat at him.“You get to fucking live, shithead.”
There was a commotion at the door seconds before Mr. and Dr. Wright appeared. Right behind them were the police.
I had never seen Mr. Wright in full lawyer mode but he was a force to be reckoned with. While Dr. Wright sat on my other side and held my hand, Mr. Wright took charge and within twenty minutes, statements had been taken and Brad was taken into custody. The Wrights drove me to the hospital where I had to suffer through an exam which included having someone photograph my bruises and collecting DNA from under my fingernails. Shock had muddled my brain, but even when the shock subsided I knew clarity wouldn't follow. The boy in that room with me was not the Brad I had come to know. It was terrifying, the Jekyll and Hyde performance I had witnessed tonight.
By the time we got back to the house, the shock had worn off a bit. But the horror of the evening began to sink in. Caden walked me to the sofa, Poppy wrapped a blanket around me and Mr. Wright pressed a glass into my hand. The smell confirmed that it was alcohol, but I downed it and the warmth that immediately filled me helped to push back the terror.
