Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 129207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 646(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 646(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
I stay there until I see a sliver of light shining from under the closet door and only then do I risk moving out into the main part of my bedroom.
I find my phone discarded on the floor, and I plug it into the charger before making my way over to the mirror. I look like a complete stranger. Blood soaks the front of my shirt and is caked across my face and chest. There are bruises marring my skin and blood smeared between my legs.
My eyes are red and swollen from a night filled with tears, and my body is utterly destroyed.
As I stare at the stranger in my mirror, I listen as a slew of texts start coming in, and I pull myself away just long enough to scoop up my phone. I go to sit on the edge of my bed, but everything hurts, and I stay standing instead, trying to figure out how the hell I’m supposed to survive.
Swiping my thumb across my screen, I find a flood of texts from Ezra and Axel checking in on me, even a few from Dylan and Rock, and the second I open the first text from Ezra, I break.
Ezra - I’m sorry. I love you. Please tell me we’re okay.
I crumble to the ground, throwing my phone aside. If only they never left. If only I had been honest with them, this never would have happened. I’d be safe in his arms, away from the monster who sleeps down the hall.
My body never would have been destroyed, my innocence never violently stolen, my world never crushed into a million shattered pieces. I would never have to fear coming home, never have to fear what might happen if I open my door, never have to fear showering. I would never have to know what it feels like to be pinned down, never have to feel the rough carpet indented on my face, never have to peel clumps of dried blood from my skin.
Never have to wipe my father’s cum from between my legs.
My nose wouldn’t be broken. There wouldn’t be bruises covering my skin, and my throat wouldn’t be raw from screaming for him to stop.
They abandoned me here and refused to listen to my cries when I begged them to take me. They thought I’d be better off, but they’ve never been so wrong. In what world is this better? In what universe is this where I’m supposed to be?
God, why didn’t they just take me with them? Why didn’t they listen to my cries?
They never should have left.
What happened tonight, it never would have happened if they were still here, if they’d taken me with them just like they always promised they would.
They lied to me. Ezra lied.
It’s all their fault. Axel and Ezra, the very men who vowed to always protect me, and they let me down, and no matter how many sweet words they send to me, nothing will ever make this okay.
I hate them. God, I hate them so much.
They left me to the wolves and now . . . I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same.
26
Raleigh
The private jet touches down in LA, and I pull myself out of the warmth of Dylan’s arms. It was an awkward flight home. After spending the night riding Ezra’s dick, we each went back to our respective hotel rooms and haven’t spoken a word since.
Apparently we have great sexual chemistry, but when it comes to talking . . . zero.
It’s almost ironic how it used to be the other way around. We used to talk until the early hours of the morning while he did everything he could to avoid getting physical with me. Now as adults with our own forms of trauma, talking is the last thing I’m prepared to do.
As I boarded the jet, I was faced with three options—Ezra, Rock, or Dylan.
Ezra looked at me with expectation, as though if I dared to sit down beside him, he was going to ask questions I wasn’t prepared to answer, and in return, I would end up trying to seduce him to avoid having to talk at all. Rock already had his drumsticks in his hands, so sitting down next to him meant probably being used as a drum the whole flight—and I don’t mean the good kind of drum where you’re banged in the bathroom for the duration of the flight. And Dylan, sweet, loveable Dylan. He gave me a goofy smile and looked as though all he wanted to do was sleep.
BINGO!
I sat down beside him while awkwardly avoiding Ezra’s stare, he looped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side, and that’s exactly where I stayed until now. Don’t get me wrong, while I might have been physically comfortable, I was anything but.