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“Help me, please,” I whisper.
A flicker of something passes his gaze. What is that… hesitancy? Fear? Worry?
I almost laugh, suspended in the air. He couldn’t be worried about me, right?
But I am.
His mouth opens, and his soft words float through the night and slide around me light as a silk scarf.
“Warned you.”
And I fall.
The wind swallows my cries as my arms and legs flail around me for only seconds before I crash into the frigid water. The current is light, but the water is colder than ice as it chills my body down to my bones.
I break through the surface, gasping as the cold water freezes my lungs. I can barely catch a full breath as I doggy paddle toward the shore.
Once my feet hit the sand, I fall to my knees, flopping to my stomach as my fingers dig into the wet, thick sand and I pull myself the rest of the way to the shore.
My face sinks to the sand, and I catch my breath as constant shivers rack my body. My sopping wet clothes stick to my skin and do nothing to protect me from the frigid wind whipping through the air.
I roll over so my legs are out of the water and stare up at the night sky.
How will I ever find my way home?
Surely, I’ll catch hypothermia before the night is over if I stay out here.
I can see the glow of headlights before I hear the hum of the car. I think about getting to my feet and making a run for it. But where at this point? The cliff on either side of me makes it impossible to scale either side. I could run into the water or run toward the oncoming car. I have no other option.
But most of all, my fight is spent. Whatever they want to do to me at this point is inevitable. I’ll never win.
I keep my head toward the sky, even as the heavy, slow footsteps of feet step up to me.
“I hope you realize, if you don’t play by my rules, this will only be the beginning of a long, long fucking road of torture.” Malik’s voice rings into my chest, and I want to cry as he gently lifts me up.
I want to curl away from him. I want to fight him. I do neither of those things. I stay limp in his arms as he walks me back to his truck, settling me much nicer into the trunk this time. I feel like a wet dog as I curl into the corner, keeping my eyes averted from his as he stares at me a moment.
I feel like a wreck. Burrowing my face in my arms, I can feel his hatred burn into me, warming my frosty skin before the trunk slams closed.
I know his friends are still in the car. I can feel them watching me, but I’m depleted of energy. Hunkering into the corner, I close my eyes.
Tonight, I’m done. After The Room of Atonement and the guys’ sick games, I’m spent.
I’m done.
14
MALIK
Sitting in the driver's seat, I let my arm hang out the window, watching the trail of smoke float from the cherry. I flick the filter, letting the inch-long ash tumble to the ground.
My eyes can't leave the window upstairs. The yellow glow from inside the room. Don't tell me how I know this, but I can just feel her fucking rage from here. Her defeat. Like she's moments from walking back to that bridge and drowning herself this time.
I brought her home, her barely conscious body lying limp in my trunk. I carried her upstairs myself, the guys knowing she’d hit her breaking point for the night. After tossing her on the bed, I walked straight back outside, ready to go cause some more havoc around town. Light this shitty place on fire and watch it burn from the ground up to the tops of the trees. I’d relish in it. I’d feast on the fear of the townsfolk, and I’d laugh at the screams of the dead burning beneath the dirt.
I want to leave, but the fear in her eyes as she dangled from that bridge chills my entire body to the bone.
With an irritated growl, I take my keys out of the ignition, tossing my cigarette onto the ground and walking inside. It's empty, all the lower lights turned off. Glancing to the right, I see my dad's office door closed. A low glow comes from below the door, and I sneer at it, heading for the stairs.
