AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Or leave evidence of rape.
Who would believe me?
Who could I tell?
Aslan...
God, what would he think—
Tears dripped out of my eyes as I jerked my legs together—
Only, they wouldn’t obey.
No...please, no—
Not wanting to look but unable to stop myself, I raised my chin and looked down my spread and naked lower half. Joel’s empty pillowcases were wrapped around my ankles and tied to the lower framework of his bed.
I lost all shreds of my humanity.
I kicked and screamed.
I squirmed and fought.
The belt bit into my wrists.
The pillowcases burned my ankles.
My vision spluttered in and out, in and out.
“Help! Someone! Help!” I panted and tripped, awake and dead, awake and dead.
Everything spun.
Everything bled.
“Hey!” Ethan crawled over me. “Stop that. If you die that’s on you, not me. Now...ready for the best fuck of your life?”
Kneeling between my bound legs, he planted his fists on either side of my head.
I tried to bite his arm.
He laughed.
I tried to buck my hips.
He clucked his tongue.
I tried to scream.
He kissed me.
I bit him.
He slapped me.
I sank into pain, drugged by oblivion, gagged by despair.
His hips dropped.
His condom-slick erection slid over me.
I turned hysterical.
My terror blew through the drugs in my system, bulldozed through the spacey, sickening weakness, and I fought with every single part of me.
“Get the FUCK off me!”
But it was no use.
With the softest kiss to my cheek, Ethan reached between us, positioned himself at my entrance, and caught my tear-running eyes. “You look really pretty all tied up.” Nuzzling into my throat, he murmured, “Fuck, I’m gonna enjoy this.”
I screamed—
He thrust.
My back bowed.
My entire body shattered.
I imploded in on myself.
A collapsing.
A crashing.
My entire soul folding into nothing.
As inconsequential as paper.
A dirty and torn, used and abused, stupid piece of paper.
Soaking into the sea.
Dissolving into the salt.
Vanishing
and tearing,
fraying and fading...
into
n
o
t
h
i
n
g.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
*
Aslan
*
(Moon in Spanish: Luna)
“ASLAN...EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?”
I froze.
Shit.
I’d hoped Jack and Anna wouldn’t hear me as I sneaked past the lounge, heading toward the corridor and Neri’s bedroom.
I needed to see her.
I’d given her enough space.
Fuck space.
Every minute I let tick between us filled my chest with awful pressure. My heart kept stuttering, my blood kept burning...urging me to go to her, almost as if I could hear her soul screaming for mine.
Crazy, I knew.
Probably meant I was going mad, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that...something wasn’t right.
Catching Jack’s eyes, I replied, “Just gonna check on Neri. Make sure her tummy is okay.”
“Oh, she’s fine.” Jack grinned, stretching his arms above his head as Anna snuggled deeper against him on the couch. “She left about an hour ago.”
“Wait, what?” Everything inside me stilled. “She left?”
“Yeah, apparently she and Zara have made up?” Anna wrinkled her nose. “Not sure if that’s Neri’s wishful thinking or real. Last time I spoke to Zara’s mother, it sounded terminal between them.”
My hands shook a little as I stepped over the threshold into the lounge. “She’s there, right now? At Joel’s?”
Jack scowled, looking at me a little funny.
Did he hear the thick jealousy in my tone? The sudden punch of despair in my chest at the thought of Neri running to her ex the moment we had a sort-of fight?
“According to Neri, Joel’s in Indonesia training.” Jack reached for his beer bottle on the mango wood coffee table. “I believe my daughter when she said she wants Zara back. And...if Zara is anything like me, she won’t be able to last against Neri on a mission.” Taking a drink, he toasted me. “Mark my words. Those two girls will be thick as thieves again and most likely sitting in the garden on those stupid beanbags of theirs, gossiping about who knows what.”
A twinge in my chest.
A tugging in my heart.
Neri had been at Zara’s and Joel’s countless of times. So why did my gut beg me to go over there? To see for myself that she was safe?
“She said she was staying the night.” Anna smiled, accepting her glass of wine that Jack handed her. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until tomorrow evening to talk to her.”
“Tomorrow evening?”
Why so long?
So, so much can go wrong in that length of time.
“Once those two make up, they’ll be inseparable again.” Jack grinned. “A sleepover will turn into brunch, which will turn into lunch, and swimming, and sunbathing, and God knows what else. As long as she walks back through the door before ten p.m., I’m not gonna stress.”
Doing my best to keep my face from blaring all my worries, I smiled. “Awesome. In that case, do you mind if I borrow your truck? Just gonna go to the supermarket and get a few things before they close.”
“Sure. You know you don’t have to ask. Keys are in the bowl by the door.”
“Cheers.” I rocked on the balls of my feet. “Okay, then...enjoy your movie.”
“Sleep well, Aslan.” Anna blew me a kiss before snuggling back into Jack’s embrace.
