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“Fuck,” Wes mutters. He rubs at his face.
“I didn’t want to continue.” Somehow, I laugh. “Obviously. But Professor Kammes made sure I didn’t have a way out. By the end of our first… encounter, he had a way he could ruin me. From there—”
“What does he have on you?” Cal asks. When I look at him, he’s crouched down on the ground with both his hands covering his mouth.
“It doesn’t—”
“What does he have on you, Athelia?” Kellan’s voice is dark. Threatening. But I don’t think he’s aiming it at me.
“Videos,” I whisper. “No school would hire me if they got out.”
Cal looks like it’s taking everything in him not to crawl into bed with me and hold me. Touch seems to be his go-to method of comfort. It’s mine as well—I just don’t think I want it from them.
They’re just as guilty in all of this.
“From there,” I continue, “things escalated. He started setting up more meetings than necessary. Then he made me come to his house on Sunday mornings when his wife was at brunch.”
Both Cal and Kellan glance toward Wes. By now, I’ve put the pieces together. Professor Kammes’s wife is Wes’s mom.
“I was too scared to say no.” I hug Mildred closer to my chest, the soft material of her ears rubbing against the bottom of my chin. “He threatened that if I let another man touch me, he’d know, and there’d be consequences.” I gesture vaguely to my body. “I didn’t know what those would be until today.”
“I’m so sorry, Athelia.” Cal sounds broken. I don’t want to believe that any of them have the ability to feel, but there’s no way he could fake that level of guilt.
“I kept telling myself that it was only four years. That I could handle it. But he’s been getting worse lately, and I…” I don’t bother continuing. Don’t have to.
They’ve seen the bruises.
Wes is shaking. Like,actuallyshaking. His fists are tight, making the veins in his arms bulge.
“Why didn’t you tell your mom?” I ask him. “He’s cheating on her. How long have you known?”
“They have an open marriage,” he says flatly. “She’d never approve of him fucking someone as young as you, but frankly, that’s none of my goddamn business. If I’d known it wasn’t consensual, then I—”
“How could it possibly be consensual?” I shout. It makes my ribs ache, but I don’t care. “He’s myprofessor,you fucking idiot. The power dynamic alone—”
“He told meyoucame on tohim,”Wes snaps.
“Well, I didn’t,” I yell. A pained whimper escapes my lips, and I internally berate myself for the tears that flood my eyes.
Don’t you dare cry.
“Stop upsetting her,” Cal orders. “She needs to rest, not get worked up.”
Wes ignores him. “Kammes saw us with you. Sawmewith you. We were flirting and having a good time, but Kammes had already singled you out. I was still living with him and my mom at the time, so he caught me one day at home and told me to leave you alone. That you were his. That you… wanted him over me.”
I shake my head, and the force of it causes my tears to fall onto my cheeks. “Never.”
Even now, after all they’ve done, I’d choose them over Professor Kammes in a heartbeat. I don’thaveto choose, so as soon as this is done with, I’m kicking them out. But the point still stands.
“He showed me the video he took of you the first time,” Wes says. “You looked like you wanted it.”
At first, I bristle, because it sounds like he’s accusing me of lying. But when I glance at him, his eyes are glazed over, and he looks numb.
“Wait,” Kellan says slowly. “Has he always beat you?”
I shake my head. “He’s just really rough. It hurts a lot, but he made me pretend I enjoyed it. Got him off easier, I guess.”
Wes makes a disturbed sound and turns around to face the door. He rubs at his face again. “I can’t believe I fucking fell for it.”
