by Liza James
“Are you good to drive, Jake?” I heard Logan ask as the guys trailed behind us.
“Oh yeah, I stopped after one drink, but y’all wild asses didn’t even notice. I get it, though. Fifty shots will do that to you.”
“What? You did?” Savannah turned to look over her shoulder as we all stepped outside, bracing against the cold air and snow that had begun falling.
“Hell yeah. You didn’t even notice that I was passing you every single one of my drinks.” He rolled his eyes and pulled his phone out of his pocket, lighting the way for Logan to find that valet ticket he had gotten when we arrived.
Oh, shit. I forgot I lost my phone inside.
“Damn it, I left my phone inside. You guys wait here? I’ll run back inside and meet you at the jeep.” I stopped walking forward and immediately turned around to go back.
“Wait! I’ll go with you.” Savannah shifted to follow me, but I put a hand up to stop her.
“No no, you go with the guys. I’ll just be a second. Promise!” As sweet as it was for her to offer, I didn’t want to be alone with her yet. I knew she could tell something was wrong and I didn’t want to have that conversation.
She let me go and I picked up the long lengths of my dress so that I could jog back at a quicker pace. Back to retracing my steps, I remembered pulling it out briefly in the kitchen when we had first gotten our shots. I sidestepped through everyone who was standing around, laughing, drinking and evidently not ending their nights any time soon.
By some miracle, I saw my phone still sitting on the counter next to the bottle of tequila. I was shocked at the fact that it was still there and hadn’t been snatched by anyone looking for a new iPhone.
Picking it up, I slid it in my pocket and turned back around to—
“Girlfriend, I thought I saw you. You look amazing tonight! Cade just told me to grab you real quick. He’s upstairs looking for you.” Emily’s hand landed on my shoulder, and I spun around to see her.
She was sporting a short tight little number with spaghetti straps, the same burgundy color as mine, but hers was a velvet bodycon that cinched up on one side. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a tiny little alarm went off. But it was so small that I couldn’t place it.
“Cade? Pretty sure I just saw him and he definitely didn’t have anything else to say to me.” I shot her a polite smile and wondered why in the hell he would send Emily to find me. But then I remembered seeing them together on campus and realized they must be on some sort of speaking terms. I tried to ignore the pang of jealousy I felt at that thought.
“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. He just said he needed to explain something to you? I didn’t ask for details, but I told him I’d let you know if I saw you.” She raised her hands in front of her in surrender as she stepped backwards.
“He’s up in the last room down the hallway.” She smiled and turned on her heels, grabbing a shot from the guy next to her just as he was about to drink it and threw it back herself.
Maybe Cade had finally decided to tell me the truth about whatever was happening? Even if we didn’t get back together, some honest to God closure would be freaking nice.
Glancing toward the door, I figured I could have a quick chat with Cade before meeting back up with the group. Savannah would understand the wait, and I could always shoot her a text to let her know.
Deciding that was the best option, I pulled out my phone and sent a quick message saying Brb. Hvng a qck chat.
Sliding the phone back into my pocket, I pushed my way out of the crowd and to the staircase. Heading upstairs, I passed a few completely wasted party goers who were racing to the bathroom to puke, or passed out in the hallway, complete in their tuxes with drool sliding down their chins and pooling on the tan, tufted carpet.
Jesus. I didn’t realize how hard everyone was really going tonight.
Reaching the last door in the hallway, I had a strange sense of déjà vu as I twisted the knob and stepped inside, closing it behind me before I looked up.
Glancing around, I was overwhelmed with the oddest sense of familiarity. But the empty, light blue walls weren’t ringing any bells. The room was tidy, no clothing in site, and every book was stacked neatly on a small book shelf in the corner.
What immediately caught me off guard though, were the rose petals scattered across the floor. They led from the door, straight over to the large, four poster bed, seated in the center of the room.
Not Cade’s style.
Another warning bell.
“Cade?” I said, raising my voice a notch louder as I glanced around the empty room.
Just as I had turned and gripped the door knob to leave, a soft pattering of footsteps emerged from the bathroom and rushed up behind me.
“Surprise,” came an unfortunately familiar, dark husky voice next to my ear. Frozen in place and paralyzed by a terrifying fear, icicles broke out across my skin. Eerie shivers crept up my spine and I physically trembled as they shot across my shoulders.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
And that was when the first crack exploded across the back of my head before I collapsed to the floor.
Chapter 54
I wasn’t sure exactly how long it was before I finally fluttered my eyes open and quickly tried to assess my surroundings. It could have been mere moments, or an hour before I came to the realization that I was completely and totally fucked if I didn’t get out of this room.
How had I missed the obvious before now? I was so preoccupied with talking to Cade that my memory had been clouded as I stepped into Tyler’s room. A place I had been before, months ago when I had first met him. Instead, I foolishly entered without a second thought, and now it may be too late.
I was laying down, that I was sure of. But the ground seemed much too soft to be the actual floor. My eyesight was fuzzy as I tried to focus through the waves of throbbing pain emanating from the back of my head.
Okay, I was looking at the door. So, I must be on the bed.
Grrrreat.
Farther away from escape was exactly what I needed.
Lifting my hand slowly, I brushed my shaky fingers across the back of my skull and immediately winced at the searing pain across my damp hair. Holding them back in front of my face, I realized there was bright red blood staining my fingers.
Double great.
Survivor’s instinct kicked in as I began coming to and realizing exactly how dangerous of a situation I was truly in.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty. Or should I say, good night? It is night, obviously. So, that definitely suits the timeframe best.” Tyler’s face came into view as he walked over and crouched down in front of the bed, meeting my eyes with his strikingly dark ones.
He reached forward and brushed his thumb down my cheek, gliding it over and smoothing it across my bottom lip. I winced and pulled away, but he was on me in a split second, grabbing the back of my head and amplifying the torturous pain as he held me in place.
A sickly sweet smile spread across his lips as if he wasn’t even phased by the scuffle.
“Oh no no. Don’t do that, we wouldn’t want to make things any worse than they already are, would we?”
At that, he leaned his face closer to mine, still holding that iron grip on the back of my head so I couldn’t pull away from him.
As if testing his threat, he hesitated to watch my reaction as he neared closer. But I knew better in this moment, staying perfectly still was the best way to survive this.
His hard, rough lips pressed against mine as they moved and tried to elicit a sensual reaction from me. But while I knew to stay still, I also didn’t want to willingly give him what he was looking for.
He released his grip on me as he threw my head back onto the bed. He stepped backward and began pacing back and forth across the room.
“I’ve been waiting for this night for a long, long time, Emma. Did you know that? That I’ve been anticipating being with you again, ever since that first night we met.” He scrubbed his face
with his hand, moving anxiously as he tried conveying his thoughts.
My heart was racing quickly, pumping so hard I thought it might burst straight out of my chest. But I tried to slow my breaths, forcing a false idea that I keeping calm while exploring any possible escape route.
“Do you remember that? The night we met?” he asked, stopping mid-stride and looking down at me.
Without a word, I nodded, willing myself to push through the pain enveloping my head and down my neck.
“God. That was an amazing night. I couldn’t even believe that you came to bed with me.”
He continued pacing.
Rubbing his palms together.
Wiping them across his thighs.
More pacing.
“I wanted to fuck you then. That night, I mean. I thought we were going to. You were drunk enough. At least, I thought you were.”
Disgust bubbled up in my stomach, making an appearance I hadn’t realized was already there, but rearing its head at his new words.
He laughed to himself, that wicked grin spreading back across his face as he rubbed the back of his neck. I heard a couple of cracks as his head tilted one way and then to the other.
“You see, it’s hard for me to talk about this. Because it’s complete and total bullshit. But you need to know.”
I remained silent, focusing on every word that lazily fell from his lips. But I also tried to glance back at the door, at the items in the room, hastily counting how many steps I’d have to take at the perfect moment to break through that door.
He stopped pacing directly in front of me and turned to face me head on.
“I thought you liked me. Or were at least into me, Emma. I really did. But I realized how much of a fucking idiot I was that night when I saw you with him.”
He crouched down and sat back on his haunches, lifting his hands and resting them on the bed in front of my face.
“You really think I wouldn’t have noticed you getting up in the middle of the night? News flash. I’m a light sleeper. At first, I thought you were leaving, and maybe that I could have handled. You know, the usual morning after awkwardness totally avoided. But you left your dress behind. So, what exactly did you go do when you left? Or should I say, who?” Tyler let his head drop and his eyes fell to the floor as he sighed in resignation.
Those warning bells in my head? Yeah, they were lit up and ringing like a freaking air strip in this moment.
Sitting up, I felt like I needed to gain some distance between us as I realized we were quickly approaching the climax of his story time. As I moved to shuffle backward on the bed, he lunged forward and his sharp hands latched onto me. One hand wrapped around my braid, using it as a tether to pull me back across the bed as the other hand stabilized him on my arm.
As I was yanked toward him and pulled completely off the bed, he made sure I landed on my feet. His first hand stayed wrapped tightly around my arm as the other slid up my chest, gliding across my breasts in a foul way, taking what he wanted before he raised them further to clamp on my throat. He wasn’t choking me, at least not yet. But he did use the grip to pull my face toward him so that we were nose to nose with his dark, hooded eyes boring into mine.
“What the fuck did you go do, Emma?” He spat at me.
I flinched at the words and his hot breath stung my skin before I spoke.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just went for some fo—”
Second hit.
Harder and quicker than the first as it sent me reeling backward and seeing bright lights explode in front of my eyes.
“Don’t you dare fucking lie to me!” His voice was like toxic venom injecting into my veins and mixed with his brutal strikes had me shaking uncontrollably.
I attempted to touch my lip and inspect the damage, but my hand was shuddering so violently that I ended up tapping my chin, then my cheek, then finally my mouth. Finding more blood was no surprise though, I could taste the metallic sting in my mouth, filling it up before I finally leaned forward and spit it out onto his floor.
“Now tell me the truth. What did you do?” His voice was steady now, a thick, solid sound in the room.
Well, denial hadn’t worked the first time. And at this point, I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it to that door. My body was losing strength quickly, my head was dizzy and throbbing, making it hard enough to focus on what he was saying.
“I saw Cade,” I whispered, refusing to look him in the eyes.
“That’s right. You saw Cade. But you were mine. He had no fucking right to touch you like that. But the worst part? You let him.” He laughed again, this time it reverberated in the room and bounced around my head in a slightly insane kind of way.
Hell, who was I kidding. Slightly insane? Tyler was had completely lost his mind.
“I followed you down there after a while and, when I didn’t see you in the kitchen, I looked out the windows. That was when I caught you with him.” Quiet now, his voice had dropped to almost a whisper as sadness laced his words. Each minute he was on one extreme or the next, I couldn’t keep up with his mood swings and I was fading way too quickly.
“You fucking slut. You dirty, fucking whore. And all this time you thought Cade was the one who started those rumors at school? I was trying to prove a damn point. You didn’t know him. Hell, had you guys even spoken before then? You and I had an instant connection. He was nothing. He still is nothing.” As those words were shoved through gritted teeth and saliva splattered my bloody face, he brought his heavy leg backward and shot it forward, straight into my ribcage. I lost all ability to breath as I clutched my stomach and coughed out more blood. I prayed it was only from my mouth, but as I continued wheezing while catching my breath, I worried he had caused greater damage than I was aware of.
Without a word, he leaned down and yanked me onto my feet.
I was stumbling now, trying to maintain consciousness as the blood rushed out of my head in several different places and my lungs chattered while working. But I was terrified of what would happen if I passed out, without my knowledge, if I finally woke up.
“My friends—my friends will find me,” I mumbled as I reached out for the bed to steady myself.
Tyler threw his head back in laughter. “Your friends? Emma, they’re long gone now. Emily told them you were catching a ride home with a friend. They left a while ago.”
Emily, Emily ... Emily. She was in on this?
As if reading my mind, he set me back down on the bed and got on his knees in front of me before speaking.
“I know what you’re thinking. You’re confused. You thought Emily and I were together, that we were happy and I’d forgotten about you?” His voice chirped up into a mockery as he pretended to be me.
I forced myself to listen to the details, but my body was having other plans as I swayed slightly and struggled to stay upright. And then I was aware of Tyler’s hands as they landed on my thighs, sliding up and down my legs as he eased them apart. I pressed against Tyler’s shoulders as much as I could with my own hands, trying to push him away but gaining no traction.
“Emily and I were never together. No, she made it clear that she wasn’t interested the night her and I met. Unlike you, she didn’t lead me on. She didn’t spread her legs for someone she wasn’t into.” He gripped behind my knees and pulled me toward the edge of the bed as he rolled his hips into mine.
Feeling the sudden urge to vomit, I tried to cover my mouth with my hand, but the electrical shock of pain that radiated the second I touched my mouth had me swallowing it back. I didn’t have the strength to fight him, I knew that. So, I resorted to begging in hopes that his emotional side, the part that potentially actually liked me, would yield.
“Tyler, please. Stop this, okay? It doesn’t have to be like this with us.” My words were shaky and strangled as they spilled out of my mouth.
“Emily has always had her eyes on someone else. For years now, actually. Can you guess who?”
He co
mpletely ignored me and kept talking as his hands explored and learned my body like he had never touched me before. But while he was taking his time, things started to click into place in my mind.
Emily had been interested in someone else. Someone that made it possible for her and Tyler to find common ground and relate together in.
Cade.
She had wanted Cade this entire time, even longer? Tyler had wanted me. It was the perfect pair to combine forces and get what they wanted.
“You know, deep down you know. She’ll get him, too. She’s been working that angle for a while now. Her family and Cade’s family have actually known each other since they were both kids. Who do you think got a hold of Cade’s dad and brought him to his fight with Devon that night?” He laughed before continuing. “It was the perfect set up to split you both up. Of course, he wouldn’t want his dear old abusive dad around his perfect girlfriend. He couldn’t risk that.”
Tyler’s hands had slipped under the skirt of my dress, dragging his fingers across my skin and up to grasp my hips. As his head dropped to my neck, his lips began kissing across my jaw and toward my mouth. Each inch closer magnified the pain I was feeling and clouded my brain with a haze that was closing in on me. I wasn’t sure if I was trying to block out the trauma or if it was directly related to where he hit me, but tears sprung to my eyes as a terrifying thought surfaced in my mind.
I didn’t think I was going to make it through this. Or, if I did survive, Tyler was going to have his way with me. Right here, right now.
Damn it, why did I ever listen to Emily when she came to me? I should have known in that moment to leave.
Tyler’s lips connected with my mouth, forcing mine open so he could penetrate me with his tongue.
Taking and taking and taking.
With his hands, with his mouth, soon to be with other parts of him as well as he dropped one hand to unbutton his slacks.
“Kiss me,” he demanded as he slid his hand down the front of his pants and gripped himself. His other hand wrapped around my throat and grasped the base of my chin, smashing my mouth against his as he urged me to kiss him back.
