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“You’ll never have to worry with me, Pretty Girl. I’ll fight off the monsters."
His words hit me hard in the chest, knocking the remaining oxygen from my lungs. My lips pop open, fighting to bring much-needed air into my body. Fighting the memories floating through my mind evades me, and I once again fall into their depths as Rad strokes fingers through my hair and Callum rests at my back. He whispers encouraging words into the nape of my neck, seeming to know exactly where my brain went.
Nervously, I peek around the empty school hallway, standing before Rad's locker. Hearts and other notes decorate the outside.
Every inch of me trembles at the prospect of him catching me standing here with a tiny note clutched in hand—a small message filled with the two names I never wanted to see again.
After returning to school a week ago, their faces were the only thing I saw. When they passed in the halls, they discreetly checked me over—even being as bold as cornering me and reminding me of what they could do as punishment for opening my mouth. Every detail plays like a damn movie.
The police refused to do anything about the situation. Instead, laughing me away after I had given them their names and showed them their faces. My innocence was lost, and it'was nothing but a joke. Who wouldn't want to lose their virginity to the star football player? Or two? Even better. Now, I have no other options.
No one else is on my side.
With one last breath, I shove the note through the top holes of his locker, silently begging that he finds it. And then finds them. I don't know what I want to accomplish with this, but I want justice.
"I never told you thank you." My voice breaks in half as my fingers trace over the musical notes on his chest.
"Oh, Little Star," Callum whispers with encouragement, wrapping his arms around me in gentle support. "Tell him." Rad's brows furrow in confusion, darting his eyes between the two of us.
"Thank me?" Rad asks, shaking his head. "Today was…"
"Not for today," I whisper, my voice full of unshed emotions I let no one see. Callum tightens his hold on me, burying his face in my neck and helping me breathe evenly.
"Did you hear?"
"Oh, my God!" Tessa says in a hushed voice, turning toward the front doors with Sara right beside her.
They continue to whisper until Bradley and his best friend Kyler march through the doors with matching black eyes and limps. I hold on to my gasp, watching with wide eyes as they walk by without passing off another threat.
"A long time ago, I slipped two names into your locker, and you…." I roll my lips together as his thumbs brush across my cheeks. "And you…" My heavy tongue refuses to cooperate, but Rad picks up.
"My locker?" He looks down, scrunching his cute button nose. Losing himself in his thoughts, he finally stiffens when realization smacks him. Jerking back, his lips pop open, and he stares at me in disbelief, shaking his head. "We beat the ever-living shit out of those assholes. Kieran, Asher, and me…we cornered them and made them regret what they did to…to…. Wait…." More realization swiftly takes over his paling face, and he clasps my cheeks tighter as if I were about to run away from him.
The night of the party, he could have turned the other cheek and walked away, leaving me exposed to the world. He could have had his fun, too, and I would have had no power to stop him. Instead, he cradled me in his arms and took me away from the party like my personal protector.
"You?" he breathes. "No, I would have remembered. I looked everywhere for you." He shakes his head. "I would have recognized you anywhere." But he didn't, because I didn't want him to. That night, he may have been my hero, but I wanted to shrink into the shadows and pretend it didn't happen.
Tears stream down my cheeks when the first cut snips off ten inches of hair, landing in a spiral on the bathroom floor. They used my hair as a weapon to hold me down and inflict pain. Now, I'm ridding myself of the weakness that caused me so much harm. By the time I'm finished, my brown locks lay lifelessly by my jaw, framing my face with uneven strands and imperfections. But I don’t give a shit. I raise my chin, eyeing my new stony exterior. No one will ever get something over on me again.
My fingers run through his curly mullet, tracing down his neck and onto his chest. The warmth of his skin bleeds through my fingers tips, taking away the darkness of my memories. Bad things happen to everyone every single day. It's what you do with those dire situations that count. I drowned in my misery for an entire year, blaming myself for everything. If I hadn't done this…. If I hadn't done that…. But it happened. And it wasn't my fault. Through shitty therapy provided by the reluctant state, I made it through to the other side. I embrace who I am now and who I was. We're one and mentally stronger than before. Sure, I've had my fair share of hurdles, but I always make my way through them.
"I cut my hair after it happened and wore big clothes." I swallow hard, keeping eye contact, but my fingers still wander down his flesh. Callum squeezes my waist in support, holding me as I talk through it.
"Why don't I remember?" he whispers, seeming pained that he can't remember me or my face.
"Because I didn't want you to," I whisper with a break in my voice, cupping his crestfallen cheeks so tinged with hurt his eyes water.
"I went to the police," he says, swallowing his emotions. "They…"
"They laughed me away. How dare I accuse the two starting football players of something so heinous? Their words, not mine." Rad gently wipes the remaining tears from my cheeks with understanding. "I wanted to disappear, Rad. I wanted…. To forget about it. They haunted me…."
"And when you saw him at the bar?" he questions, tensing up.
"It was like seeing a ghost from my past, but that's it. Nothing more," I murmur, vividly remembering the terror I felt when Bradley bumped into me that night, shattering glasses from my tray. And then again, down the road where he stood next to another man draped in shadows.
"Oh, Pretty Girl," he urgently whispers, putting his forehead on mine. "You saw him, and then you…. God, I didn't force you into anything that night, right? I didn't…." My desperate lips pounce on him, shutting down his train of thought until I pull back breathlessly. Wild, nervous eyes inspect mine.
"I decided a long time ago to take my body back. I didn't want the memory of those assholes holding me back from doing what I wanted. Trauma healing comes in many forms, and I took mine by the horns." I search his eyes, hoping he understands my meaning.
