by James Tate
Deep shudders of relief rolled through me, and I buried my face in his chest to hide the tears streaming down my cheeks. Reality was smashing my state of numb fear to pieces.
I’d almost been raped.
Gang raped. By boys at my school.
And for what? Money? One of them mentioned a pay off, so I could only imagine Katelyn—or whoever had set this up—had offered a serious monetary reward for defiling me. Given how rich the students of Ducis Academy already were, it had to have been an astronomical amount too.
“Hey,” Evan called out as Beck carried me out of the school in long, purposeful strides, “This is going to require Delta intervention, Beck. I’ve called our paramedics but…” I could hear the pained groan in his voice that suggested some of Beck’s victims—my attackers—weren’t faring too well.
Beck’s grip tightened around me, and his chest rumbled with a sort of growling, angry sound. “I’m not leaving Riley alone,” he snapped back. “Go grab Dylan, he can deal with Delta.”
Evan muttered something I didn’t quite catch, and Beck stopped abruptly, spinning us around—I presumed to face Evan. “I said no. Get Dylan. I’m taking Riley to my house.”
“No,” I protested, pushing back slightly from his chest to frown up at him. “No, take me home. I want to be in my own room.”
Beck’s jaw clenched, and I could see how badly he wanted to argue with me, but clearly thought better of it when he nodded sharply and continued across the grass to where his car was parked in its usual spot.
He placed me gently in the passenger seat and buckled my seatbelt when my hands shook too much to grasp the clicker. When he was seated behind the wheel, he leaned over and clasped my face between his hands gently, and I noticed the slightest tremble in his arms as he met my gaze. “I won’t let them touch you again, Butterfly,” he said softly. “Never again.”
Tears ran unchecked down my cheeks, and I didn’t care. Beck had seen me at my worst anyway. “Please take me home,” I managed to get out, my body shaking. “I need to burn these clothes, and shower.”
Beck’s jaw tightened, but he just nodded and released me, starting the car up and leaving the parking lot. He drove slower than I expected, but he should have known better than to baby me like that.
“Faster,” I said, and that one word had his head snapping to the side, eyes running over me. He must have seen it in my expression, the desperate clawing need.
The Bugatti surged forward and Beck ignored all the road rules, running red lights and through intersections, so that he never had to ease up on the accelerator. He pushed the car to her limits, and as the familiar, throaty roar of the engine filled me, the screaming void of pain inside my head started to ease. Just a little. Enough that I was no longer digging my nails into my thighs, desperate to tear these clothes off.
When we pulled up at my place, Beck was out and at my door before I could even get my seatbelt unclicked. He helped me out, and I knew he was about to carry me again, so I shook my head. “I can walk,” I said.
Those bastards did not break me.
Beck’s dark gaze never left mine, and I would have been worried about the simmering fury still buried deep in those storm cloud eyes, but I knew it was not directed at me for a change.
“Did you kill them?” I asked while we waited for the elevator.
“I hope so,” he said without inflection.
When I was finally inside, I ran for my bathroom, unable to stand the clothes touching my body any longer. I wasn’t gentle as I tore off the uniform and my underwear, nails scraping along my skin at the same time.
Gentle hands stopped me. “Butterfly! Riles!” Beck said, getting my attention. “Let me help you,” he pleaded.
Memories were pressing in on me again. Their fucked up faces filled with anger and desire. The laughter. The helplessness I’d felt when they’d pinned me.
A keening sound fell from my mouth, and I gulped to try and stop it. To try and fill my lungs with air. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t stop the memories.
Hot water splashed over me, jolting me back to the present, and I realized that Beck had stepped into the shower with me, holding me, while the water beat down on us. I was naked. He was fully clothed. Both of us fucked up messes.
I screamed, beating my hands on his chest as my tears mixed with the falling water, stealing them down the drain. Beck let me hit him, never moving or flinching. He took the punishment, even though in this second, I was not angry with him.
Sure, I could have blamed Beck for this—the actions of Delta put me in this situation—but that wouldn’t be fair. It wasn’t his fault.
He’d saved me.
Some of the thoughts scratching in my head eased, and I was finally able to allow rationality to enter. I let my hands fall and slumped forward. As I stared down, I finally noticed the red streaked water, and it took me a moment to realize that was from Beck. He had been covered in blood. Blood that he’d earned protecting me.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered against his chest. “You saved me. I’m sorry.”
“Never fucking apologize to me,” Beck growled, and wanting to see his face, I tilted my head back. “I don’t deserve it.”
That was true. To some extent. But on the other hand, I’d seen real evil today, and it wasn’t the guys from Delta. Needing something to do, I reached for my body wash and loofah, and for the next five minutes, I scrubbed at my skin like I could remove memories if I removed layers.
Beck remained in the shower with me, his eyes locked on my face, arms crossed and expression hard. Finally he reached out and stopped me. “I think that’s enough, Riles,” he said. “You’re starting to bleed.”
His gentle caress brushed over the top of my thighs, where I’d been scrubbing, and I finally felt the slight burn I’d left from almost rubbing my skin raw.
With another sob, I dropped everything, letting it clatter to the floor. Beck took over again, shutting off the shower, wrapping me up in a towel, and gently placing me on my bed. He disappeared for a beat, and I heard him throw his clothes into the dryer before he entered my bedroom with a towel around his waist as well.
My limbs were still shaking and I felt bone-deep cold as I slipped under the covers, pulling them tightly around myself, trying to hold my shit together. Beck crawled in next to me, but he stayed on top the covers, wrapping me up in his arms. For once, I didn’t fight my natural instinct. Lately I’d had to push Beck away out of anger, but my body had hated it every single time I did it. Today I could just let myself be with him. Feel his comfort. Today, I could have Beck back.
“Thank you for saving me,” I said, realizing I hadn’t told him that yet.
His lips pressed against my forehead, and I closed my eyes, pretending that everything was okay between us. “I should have gotten there sooner,” he said in a deathly cold voice. “The bastards had it well planned. Dylan and Jasper are with their parents this morning, and Evan’s front tires were slashed in the parking lot. I was helping him change them when it happened.”
Those fuckers had been planning this for a while. “How did you get to me in time then?”
He brushed a hand over my head, gently stroking back the long wet strands of my hair. “Not everyone in that crowd was okay with it,” he said. “Someone told us that we’d better get in there.”
“It was all setup by Katelyn,” I whispered. “It had to be. She’s the only one with the money and resources to know that Dylan and Jasper were out for the morning, and to pay enough people to make all of that happen. When I walked into the school, about twenty of them were waiting for me.”
Beck’s chest heaved as I told him the rest, but he didn’t interrupt me.
I didn’t leave any of it out, not even the part where those assholes mentioned being paid to rape me. To chase me from this school, or maybe even kill me. I had no idea what they planned to do when they were done with me.
“If I didn’t fucking kill them, I’m going to now
,” Beck finally said, his body as hard as a rock. “Delta will not let this stand. I will not let this stand. Huntley is going to pay, I just have to figure out the best way to do it.”
Now that some of my pain and shock was fading, a fury more potent than anything I’d felt before, simmered in my chest. “Whatever you’re planning, I want in.”
Before he could reply, a phone rang, and Beck got up to retrieve it from the bathroom. “Talk to me, Evan,” he said, coming back to sit on the side of the bed. He started to brush my hair back again, and I let my eyes flutter closed at the soothing motion. I was exhausted.
“No,” Beck bit out, and I opened my eyes again, wondering what Evan was saying.
Beck grumbled. “Fuck. Fine. Okay. You need to come and sit with Riley while I’m gone, and bring me some clothes. Mine got wet.”
His face was expressionless, but it was always his stormy eyes that gave him away. “I have to go and give my report to Delta. They’re trying to clean the mess up, but it was very public this time, and I need to help them navigate it.”
I nodded, pulling myself up. “Do you want me to come as well?”
It was about the last thing I wanted to do, spill my pain to those old bastards, but I would do it if it meant Beck was not in trouble.
He shook his head. “No. Fuck no. I don’t want you to have to be around them anymore than necessary. They’ll use any weakness against you. But you do have to get dressed…”
Because Evan was coming, and he didn’t want me naked.
Beck helped me up, and I shuffled into my closet, grabbing out underwear and my comfiest pajamas. They were warm and fluffy, and left almost no skin showing. I couldn’t stand to look at my bare skin right now.
I didn’t get back into bed, instead choosing to wait for Evan on the couch. Beck sat beside me, and we didn’t speak, but he held my hand in his, and it was enough.
* * *
Beck
Leaving Riley with Evan after what I’d just witnessed, was about the hardest fucking thing I had ever done. My butterfly… They had come very close to breaking her. Just the fucked up memory of their faces. That gleam in their eyes as they held her down…
I slammed my fist into the wall outside her building. I wanted to do that over and over until some of the rage inside died down. Breaking a ton of bones, their bones, hadn’t even nearly sated my bloodlust. I wanted them dead. It was only the thought that I might end up in jail, unable to protect Riley, that stayed my hand. I’d always had a fucked up anger issue, and Riley brought out the worst … and the best in me.
I couldn’t face Delta like this though. Going in there with my emotions clearly on my face, was a good way to get us all screwed.
“Hey, Beck,” someone called as they passed me in the street.
I didn’t bother to respond, and the look on my face was enough for them to hurry the fuck along. Safest thing for anyone around me today.
You got there in time.
We had, but it was almost too fucking late. That wasn’t good enough. Not for Riley.
She didn’t know it yet, but whatever distance she’d tried to maintain between us was done. Fucking done.
12
“What’s happening, Evan?” I asked him. “He’s not going there alone, right?”
Beck had just left, and now it was Evan and me, waiting to hear what punishment Beck was going to face. Evan looked far less relaxed than usual; his hair was a mess, like he’d run his hands through it a bunch of times, eyes bloodshot, and there were even some very light spatters of blood on his shirt. He reached out and pulled me into him, and for a second my body froze, until I remembered it was Evan. I sank into his embrace.
“Fuck,” he murmured against my shoulder. “You took ten years off my life, Spare.”
“You should have been in my position,” I joked weakly.
He led me to the couch, and I found comfort in having him here. Not the same as Beck, but it was still comfort. “Dylan and Jasper are with him against Delta,” Evan said as we sat. “I’d be there too, but we can’t leave you alone. You’re our priority too.”
“Isn’t that a bit dangerous?” I asked, shifting around until I was comfortably snuggled up against his side. “Letting them know you guys care about me?” Even as I said it, I knew it was true. They did care, despite their betrayal. I’d been so mad about it all, about how they tricked me into trusting them and then forced me into shooting a man, that I hadn’t wanted to see things from their point of view. But deep down, I knew they did care. It hadn’t all been bullshit.
“Too bad,” Evan huffed, reaching over and grabbing the TV remote to click the screen on. “We won’t play their games if it puts you in any real danger, and today was way over that line. Way over. They could have...” He trailed off with a pained sound, staring straight at the TV and not meeting my gaze. “Spare, they weren’t going to stop.”
A deep shudder ran through me, thinking what would have happened if Beck and Evan hadn’t intervened. “I know.” My voice was quiet and thick with fear.
“No, you don’t know,” Evan replied with a shake of his head. “That guy, Todd, he has a bit of a history. Only reason he isn’t locked up somewhere is that the girls who report him all mysteriously retract their statements and inevitably change schools not long after the fact.”
This made me sit up straighter and stare at Evan in shock. “A ‘history?’ What, you mean he’s raped other girls at Ducis?”
Evan shrugged and started surfing Netflix. “We think so. He’s also suspected of slipping drugs into girl’s drinks at parties. There were also rumors that he physically abused his ex-girlfriend. She disappeared at the beginning of the school year and no one seems to know what happened to her.”
“What?” I squeaked, placing my hand against his chest as I went rigid with shock. “Do you think he did something to her? Like... did he kill her?”
Finally, Evan turned away from the TV and met my eyes with a heavy sigh. “One thing I’ve learned, growing up in a Delta family, is that people are capable of much worse than you’d ever expect. All they need is the means to get away with it and all bets are off.”
“That’s...” I shook my head in stunned disbelief. Then again, given what had just happened to me at school of all places, I could understand where he was coming from. “That’s so fucked up,” I whispered, sagging back into the couch and letting Evan tug me close. “This whole world you live in, it’s totally fucked up.”
“We,” he corrected. “As shit as it is, you’re a part of this world now too.”
He was right, and for the first time in a long time, that thought didn’t make me want to grab those fake IDs in Richard’s office and run for my damn life. Katelyn’s orchestrated attack had shown me the stark reality of human nature. Blackmail, bribery, violence, death... These things weren’t exclusive to Delta and Huntley. They were everywhere, and maybe Delta was my best chance of surviving it all.
Or maybe it would see me killed.
I decided to drop the subject. I’d done enough falling to pieces with Beck, and now I just wanted Evan to distract me and comfort me. Reaching over, I grabbed the remote from his hand and took over the movie search.
“Taken?” he suggested when I flicked past the Liam Neeson classic. I turned a horrified look at him, and he grinned sheepishly. “Kidding,” he offered weakly. “You choose.”
Giving him a side-eye, like he was fucking insane, I quickly selected a cheesy comedy. The absolute last thing I wanted to watch was a goddamn action film about sex trafficking.
13
Beck
It took all my years on years of practice in self-control to keep from punching my fist through a wall as I left the Delta office in Jefferson. My dad had been too busy to even call in and participate, and Langham had been in New York so I’d been left to face Dylan and Evan’s asshole fathers, and Catherine.
And to think, I’d just agreed to owe them a favor. That promise sat uncomfortably across my shoulder
s, making my skin itch and crawl with sick premonition.
Fuck, I hated that bitch.
How the hell she’d managed to pull the wool over Richard’s eyes all those years ago, I had no idea. In my eyes, she was a snake just waiting to strike. But for what end game? For all accounts she seemed to despise her family more than anything. Was she trying to use Delta’s power to take Huntley down? If so, she should be more up front. We’d happily help, especially if it gave me a shot at punishing Katelyn for this revolting attack on Riley.
Almost as if my thoughts had summoned him, my phone buzzed with an incoming call.
Beckett Sr. flashed across my screen and my thumb hovered over the “decline” button for a moment before my better judgement—or years of brainwashing—set in and I answered the call.
“Sir?” I snapped, putting the phone to my ear as I crossed the road to where my Bugatti—Riley’s dream car—was parked. I’d always loved this car, but knowing it turned her on so hard gave it a whole new lease on life in my garage.
“Heard you have been making waves, Son,” my father stated, his voice cold and devoid of emotions. “I taught you better discretion than this.”
It wasn’t a question by any stretch, but I knew when to reply, and when to keep my mouth shut. This was the former.
“Yes, sir. You did.”
My father grunted an annoyed sound. “This girl, the Deboise throwaway. She’s causing too much trouble.”
Ice formed down my spine and bile churned at the deeper meaning of his casual statement. Rome Beckett didn’t tolerate trouble, and he was a hundred times more trigger happy than I was. Growing up, I’d seen more bloodshed than most retired war vets saw their entire careers. If Beckett Sr. perceived someone to be interfering with business, he would have them killed or do it himself.
