AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Leah.” I pause at the top of the landing and don’t bother to turn around. I’m tired and mentally drained, don’t even get me started on being emotionally exhausted and wrung out. I hear him climb the stairs but he doesn’t stop behind me, he bypasses me to stand in front. Beck’s eyes shine with pity, I turn away unable to look at him. “I’m so fucking sorry for what Gary did to you.” Hearing that has me slowly turning back to face him, shocked that out of all of them it wasn’t my brother or Darius who cared enough to come to me and say that.
When a sob tears from me he rushes forward and wraps his arms around me as I collapse in his arms. He lowers us to the floor as I cling to him. I cringe when the sounds of screams begin to pierce my ears, taking me another second to realize the screams are coming from me. I’ve never cried like this before, I don’t think I have ever really allowed myself to feel the full weight of what actually happened to me that night. There’s a pain inside my chest that feels like it’s crushing me from the inside out. Beckett tightens his hold on me as he lifts me into his lap. I clutch his shirt in a vice-like grip, terrified he will let me go, not because I’m scared to be on my own but because I feel like I’ll fall apart if he lets go.
“Fuck!” The sound of Darius’s anguished shout has me burrowing into Beck further as I cry out the injustice that robbed me of my happiness. I may have only found out about this a few months ago, but the truth is, Gary ruined my life years ago when he drugged me and Darius saw what he did. I lost the boy that I loved but I also lost a part of myself that I will never get back because Gary stole that from me.
I hear the others climbing the stairs. I shake my head against Beck’s chest conveying to him without words I don’t want to talk to them. “Give her to me!” Corvin snaps, I press myself closer against Beck.
“No.” Relief washes over me at Beck’s answer.
“She’s my fucking sister!” Corvin shouts.
“Exactly, Corvin! This should have been you but it isn’t because you and Darius can’t pull your fucking heads out of your asses for two seconds and realize it washerthat was fucked over tonight! She is the one who had her body displayed to the world without consent and I’m the only fucking one who thought to call Troy and have the video shut down and the ball rolling to have Gary charged with child pornography.” I tense in his hold unsure what to make of what he is saying, but also grateful that he was willing to do this for me even after he knew what I did. “You selfish sons of bitches both need your faces punched in.” His voice drops to an even tone but it holds more weight than if he shouted. “Your sister was drugged and raped, Corvin, and the only thing you cared about was the fact she fell in love with your best friend. You want to be angry at someone, be angry at yourself for not being there for her when she needed youandDarius the most.”
Beck pushes to his feet. I wrap my arms around his neck and he holds me bride style, then turns and moves toward the end of the hall, where I know his room is.
“I don’t fucking think so. She stays with me!” Corvin shouts angrily. Beck pauses but doesn’t turn around.
“Do you want to sleep in his room?” he asks me quietly. I shake my head against his chest unable to speak past the sobs that claw their way out of me. “She stays with me!” Beck says. Corvin shouts and rages behind us but then I hear Saint and Crue telling him to chill. They must be holding him back. Beck kicks his door shut behind us and uses his elbow to flick the light switch. He walks us further into the room, then gently begins to lower me but I cling to him. “I’m right here, I’m just putting you on the bed so I can get one of my shirts for you to sleep in.” I slowly release my hold on him as he places me on the bed, keeping my chin tucked against my chest lost in my own thoughts.
I cover my face with my hands and cry. The sounds coming from me are foreign and unheard of, I feel so used, dirty and worthless. Seeing that video again broke me, the look on my own face will haunt me forever. The fear and confusion as I stared at the camera has bile rushing up my throat, I leap from the bed ready to race down the hall until Beck wraps an arm around me and ushers me through another door that leads to a bathroom. I race in and drop to my knees in front of the toilet just in time before everything I ate today comes rushing out of me. Beck grips my hair and holds it back as I throw up.
“Get the fuck out!” Beck snaps, I have no idea who’s in here and I can’t look. I can’t stop throwing up.
“She might have a fucking concussion, Beckett!” The sound of his voice has me tensing but I don’t look back, I can’t as I continue to heave.
“Now you fucking care?” Beck snaps as he brushes a loose strand of hair that slipped free of his hold back. “I got you Lee.” I manage to stop myself from heaving and slump back onto my haunches. Beck drops my hair, then turns to the sink as I sit here trying to pull myself together. He returns a second later with a warm washcloth, bends down beside me and gently wipes my face and mouth. I try to smile gratefully but flinch when the pain in my cheek stings—I couldn’t feel it while I was breaking apart in his hold, but I can now. “Come on.” He chucks the cloth over his shoulder then gently grips my arm and helps me to feet. He wraps an arm around my waist to keep me steady as he turns us toward the door. I tense at the sight of Darius, standing there with a war of emotions on his face. He looks like a dark angel dressed in all black but he isn’t an angel and I’m not a saint. I lean into Beck as a wave of dizziness washes over me.
“She can’t even stand,” Darius grits out. Beck bends down, then scoops me into his arms bride style again.
“Get out of the way,” Beck orders, waits a second, before he pushes forward and doesn’t give Darius an option but to move. Beck places me on the edge of his bed in a sitting position, grabs the shirt he got for me earlier from the end of the bed, and hands it to me.
“Thank you,” I rasp out, my voice is gruff and coarse from all the tears. I can feel how puffy my eyes are already, I’m going to look like a million bucks tomorrow.
“You okay to dress yourself or do you need help?” Beck asks gently.
“Like fuck, you stay the fuck away—”
I cut Darius off, unable to listen to anymore of his fake concern. “It’s not like he hasn’t seen it all before.” That has him clamping his mouth shut. I push to my feet, sway a little and Beck is there gripping my waist to steady me.
“You need help, Lee, you can barely stand.” I nod my head accepting that he is right. “Do you want me or… Darius to help you change?”
“I don’t care, everyone’s already seen me naked so can we just get it over with?”
Truthfully, I’d always choose Darius but I can’t stand the thought of his hands on me when I know he can’t stand the sight of me. He made it clear he hates me and just thinking that has more tears falling down my cheeks.
CHAPTER4
Darius
Beck reaches for the hem of her shirt and I snap. I shove him out of the way and shoot him a look that promises pain if he pushes this. I may be fucking angry as hell at her and want to ring her fucking neck but I also can’t stand here and watch Beck dress her. I grip her shirt, she turns her head away as if she can’t stomach the thought of looking at me. Good because I don’t want to look at her either, all I see is betrayal. I pull the shirt over her head, leaving her in a pink bra and her pants. I pop the button on her pants and of course it’s right at that second the door opens to reveal Corvin, Saint and Crue. Corvin’s gaze is laser focused on where my hands currently grip his sister’s pants.
The universe fucking hates me today!
“I’m gonna fucking kill you!” he yells as he charges toward me but Beck steps into his path blocking him.
“She has a concussion and just threw up, she can’t stand on her own let alone dress herself. Given their history I thought it best he was the one to help her change, I mean unless you want to see your own sister in a thong, then by all means.” Beck steps aside, sweeping his arm toward us, taunting Corvin. When Leah stumbles forward into me, I catch her by the waist as she leans her forehead against my shoulder, I shoot Corvin a look.
“Fucking decide, Corvin!” I yell. He takes a look at her, then nods stiffly before turning around. “You two turn the fuck around as well!” I snap. Crue and Saint do as they are told. I make quick work of taking her pants and socks off, reach for the shirt—Beckett’s fucking shirt, the thought of her in his clothes grates on my nerves.
