Out of the Dark
Sundae Leighton
Published by Sullen Press, 2021.
Out of the Dark
Available in these formats:
978-1-7376181-2-6 (Paperback)
978-1-7350077-9-3 (eBook AZW)
978-1-7376181-4-0 (eBook EPUB)
Copyright: © 2021 Sullen Press, LLC
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by law. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents or otherwise, are written from imagination only. Any resemblance to actual persons, things living or dead, or events is coincidental. This book is intended for mature readers 18 years and older. It contains sexually explicit and graphic scenes and language that might be offensive to some readers.
All characters in this work and all my work are 18 years of age or older.
All sexual acts are consensual.
Beta Reader: Stephanie Cooper
Cover: E. Leighton
Editor: Heart Full of Reads
Table of Contents
Title Page
Disclaimer
Dedication
Playlist
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter-Twenty Nine
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Epilogue
A Note from Sundae
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Chapter One
Chapter Two
For my husband—
Real love is forever
Playlist
Butterflies— Kacey Musgraves
Alone With You— Jake Owen
You and Tequila— Kenny Chesney
Wildest Dreams—Taylor Swift
Everything I Wanted— Billie Eilish
Knowing You— Kenny Chesney
All I Ask— Adele
‘Til Summer Comes Around— Keith Urban
Let You Go— Machine Gun Kelly
Memory I Don’t Mess With—Lee Brice
I Should Probably Go To Bed— Dan + Shay
Good 4 U— Olivia Rodrigo
Ya’aburnee— Halsey
When You’re Home— Tyler Shaw
Waves—Luke Bryan
Prologue
Hutch
I hurt everywhere. There wasn’t a muscle in my body right now that wasn’t screaming at me as I made my way back to the cabin that I was currently sharing with three other guys. The coaches at the camp had worked us to the bone today, and even though I loved every single minute of it, the only thing I wanted to do right now was take a shower before I crawled into bed and slept.
I had to admit I wasn’t exactly thrilled when my parents suggested going to football camp this summer. Sure, I had dreams of going pro, but I was a fifteen-year-old boy with pretty much on my mind twenty-four hours a day.
Tits, ass, and pussy. The ones that happened to be attached to Mya Lane, my girlfriend, back home in Ocean View. Sure, we hadn’t gone past second base, but we were getting really close. I could feel it.
I pushed the door open to the cabin, only to be greeted by the stench of sweat, stinky feet and... Good lord, what was that? I was spoiled rotten not having to share a room with my kid brother, Patrick, and whatever it was smelled like rotten fucking cheese right now. I tried not to dry heave as I grabbed some clean clothes from my bag, a towel, my soap, and then headed down to the showers to wash up.
Maybe I could call Mya later tonight. It had been a few days since we had spoken, but that wasn’t for my lack of trying. She was busy working at her parents’ grocery store, and like me, was too exhausted most nights when we actually did make contact. I stripped out of my workout clothes and dropped them on the floor before I turned on the water in the shower and stepped beneath it. The water pressure wasn’t nearly as good as back home, but right about now, I didn’t care. The hot water unknotted the tensed joints and muscles that I didn’t even know I had. My coach at Ocean View High worked us vigorously during the school year, so this was saying a lot.
The man never let us slack off, and if someone even tried? Everyone single of us suffered for it.
I was looking forward to getting back to school this fall. I would most likely make starting quarterback this year, and along with the rest of my classmates, and players, we would rule the halls of our school. I would have my beautiful, smart, girlfriend—
Without warning, my arms were yanked behind me as something was dropped over my head, obstructing my vision. I tried to fight, but whoever it was much stronger than I was.
“Don’t try to fight this,” a masculine voice hissed into my ear. “There are more of us than you can handle on your own, Hutch Kelly” His friends’ heavy laughter followed behind his words. It sounded like they were all men.
I didn’t recognize the voice. I didn’t listen to what he said either and kept struggling as I was yanked onto my back and they began to drag me across the wet concrete floor. “Fuck off.” I slammed my head against the floor, which caused bright stars to explode behind my eyes.
Someone clucked their tongue against the roof of their mouth. “Now, now, Hutch, if you fight us, you’re only going to make it that much worse for you.” I was flipped onto my stomach before my hands were tied behind my back. Then I was pulled up onto my feet. “Walk.” Something cold poked me in the back, and I shivered despite the fear that swirled in my belly. I had gone on plenty of hunting trips with my father and uncles to know the feel of a gun.
A hand wrapped around my arm to the left. “If you run, we’ll make you wish that you were never born, boy.” Then my skin was pierced brutally as he dug his nails straight into my arms.
I wasn’t sure how far we walked, but it felt like a million miles. Since I couldn’t see with the sack over my head, I stumbled, fell, and had to be helped getting up more than a few times. I never said a word as we moved. Never even peeped, hoping that they would let me go if I played along. Finally, they shoved me down onto my knees and I felt grass and damp leaves against my naked skin from the rain from the night before. One of them clamped a hand down on my shoulder while another spread my legs.
That was right about when I suddenly realized what was about to happen. “No!” I didn’t even recognize the sound of my own voice.
Another hand landed on my elbow as I was pushed facedown into the ground. “Relax, Hutch, you might fancy enjoying this,” he insisted and laughed when I tried to kick back at him. That just resulted in having my legs pinned down by one of them. I was strong f
or my age, but whoever it was, was much stronger.
“You should feel honored. You’re so much more attractive than the rest of them,” another one remarked. Like it was something anyone would even want to be proud of.
I fought like hell as best I could. I screamed and I cried as each of them — I counted six — took turns raping me. They didn’t use lubrication, but they did use protection because I heard the sound of the condoms being ripped open in my ear every single time. The sounds of their voices in my ears, their groans, and grunts as they plunged into me from behind would forever stay drilled into my memory as they got off inside me. Tears stung my eyes, poured down my face, and before long, I wished they would kill me. I bit down on my bottom lip so hard I tasted blood because I refused to make any noise. I didn’t want them to know how much pain I was in or that right now I wished I was dead.
Then once they were all finished, they left me where they raped me in the middle of the forest, broken and bleeding, with the sack still over my head.
I must have passed out at some point because when I came to it was dark, I was alone and untied. I cried and screamed out into the black forest until I threw up my lunch from this afternoon. My body shook as I got to my feet, my legs threatening to give out from beneath me. This felt like a nightmare that no one, male or female, should ever have to live through. If I thought I had been in pain from practice, I didn’t even know what pain was as I weakly tried to navigate my way back to camp.
Each step sent searing pain through my backside, and more than once I had to stop, tears sliding down my face. I didn’t want to touch myself. I didn’t want to see what I looked like, for fear it would push me completely and totally over the edge. I’m not sure how long it took me to find my way back to camp, but when I did, I stopped at the showers, the same ones that I had been ripped from hours before, and found my bag sitting where I had left it.
I washed off, dressed without looking in the mirrors, and then limped back to my cabin. No one saw me. Not a soul was awake. I crawled into my bed, forever changed.
I would never be the same.
Chapter One
Jillian
I stared up at the ceiling above my bed trying to stop the room from spinning, while focusing on the glow of the dark stars that were stuck above my head. I had returned home yesterday after spending a month at ballet camp and my friends had spared no expense with the party they had thrown for my homecoming. I began to reach for my cell, which I usually kept tucked beneath my pillow, when I heard the faint sound of snoring.
Wait a second. Did I bring someone home with me last night?
I mull over last night’s events in my brain. Bella Black had thrown the party at her parents’ place since they had been gone for the evening. Claire Meyers, Holly Carver, and my sister, Jo, all had been there. Madison hadn’t originally been invited, but because Bella is friendly and kind, she was afraid to tell her Madison wasn’t part of crowd once she ran into her picking up things at the store. Jo had left about an hour into the party to go be with her boyfriend, Pat, which was nothing new, but the party had been strictly a clam jam though. No dick allowed.
The snoring started again so I slowly eased myself to the end of the bed before I realized I was on the top of the bunk beds that Jo and I used to share when we were little. Until she decided that she wanted her own room because we weren’t babies anymore. When the hell was the last time I slept on the top bunk? I usually kept a pile of crap up here that consisted of my gym clothes that I practiced in, useless junk I didn’t know what to do with, and a few other odds and ends. Random dude had begun sounding exactly like a motorcycle now so I peeked my head over the side of the bed to see exactly who was making such a ruckus, and gasped in surprise.
Hutch Kelly snored on the lower bunk before. Older brother to my sister's boyfriend, Patrick, he wasn't exactly a stranger, but not someone I could call a friend either. Not for my lack of trying at least. The way his toned long legs hung off either side of the twin bed might have been comical if I wasn’t curious as to why he was here. Hutch was, well, different. Incredibly quiet, known to be a loner, and quick to anger on occasion when provoked; he hardly spoke unless he needed to. Even then, it was usually a word or two that he grunted out, and it always seemed like he was doing it to please the person speaking to him. I had been on the receiving end of that myself more than once, and it was hella awkward. Hutch was the cuter, more beautiful version of Kelly, with his perfect chiseled jaw, flawless cheekbones, and gorgeous blond hair, but there some something danger lurking behind his brown eyes. Something dark and terrible that he wanted to keep hidden from the rest of Ocean View.
He was eight years older than me, which made him twenty-six. I knew that he worked as a mechanic at Zed’s Automotive, but we didn’t really hang out together despite the fact that he was brothers with Pat. Like I said... a lone wolf. My mother moved us to Ocean View when I was eight, right after Dad died, and according to the gossip mill around town, that was the summer that Hutch started acting the way he is now. No one knew why, and if Patrick did, he never said anything despite the fact that Pat and Jo had been inseparable since the moment we moved here.
I still had no idea why Hutch was in my room right now.
Suddenly his eyes flew open to reveal those deep, milk chocolate browns. They grew wide with surprise when he realized where he was or maybe it was that I was ogling him, before his mouth formed a perfect circle. Hutch tried to jump out of the bed, entangled himself in the sheets, and then simple fell hard on the hardwood floor like a giant sack of potatoes. It might actually have been comical if I wasn’t terrified that he had broken a bone.
“Crap, Hutch, are you alright?” I jumped down from the top and landed gracefully onto my feet. Thank you, years of ballet. The room spun around me, but I tried to ignore that while silently swearing off booze forever. Hutch held up a hand to stop me with terror in his eyes as I attempted to touch him. He quickly removed the sheets and stood up towering over me. He gripped the nape of his neck with his left hand as he stared me down. I watched as his dark eyes searched my face before they dropped down my body, and I couldn’t help but fold my arms over my chest as I felt him take me in. God Almighty, the man was a pure work of art. I was about to speak again when a knock sounded at my door.
“Jillian, are you alright?” Emily Robinson aka my mother asked softly. The woman was always up at the crack of dawn like some sort of bird catching the worm.
I grimaced as I tried to think of something quick. “Uh, sure. Fine, Mom,” I tried to assure her. “Just tripped over my gym bag.” Hutch’s brows dipped at the lie that slipped so easily from my lips.
“You're up early.”
Right, because there was a hot man snoring in my bed; I have no idea why or how he got here; and now he looked terrified of me touching him, but it’s fucking fine. I glanced over at Hutch to find him staring at the pictures I had of me and my friends against the wall. Or maybe he was just trying to avoid looking at me. “I have breakfast plans at the Egg,” I finally answered my mother, hoping she might believe that one. “With Hutch.” I watched the way his head swung around to stare at me with surprise written all over his beautiful face.
“Hutch,” Mom repeated his name as if she had never heard it before.
I rolled my eyes. “Hutch, Mom. You know, Patrick’s older brother. Tall, quiet, and incredibly good-looking.” I watched the way his ears turned pink, but he narrowed his eyes as if I had called him a puppy killer instead. “Ran into him last night on the way to Bell’s so we thought we would catch up, and if you don’t want me to be late, I should really jump in the shower.” I was just digging myself into a bigger and deeper hole, but honestly, I should probably blame Hutch for this, since he was in my room.
I heard the sweep of Mom’s slippers as she took a step away. "Okay, well, have fun." She sounded confused, but then, her retreating feet told me she had moved down the hallway.
I clamped my hand over my mouth as a laugh thr
eatened to escape, only to notice the way Hutch was scowling at me with dark eyes. “Are you mad at me?” I demanded. “Don’t forget you’re the one in my room,” I pointed out, before he could reprimand me.
He shook his head, but didn't comment further. Instead, he started toward the window, unlocked it, and then pushed it open.
"Wait a damn minute! Are you even going to tell me why you’re here?” I placed one hand on his arm, only to have him spin around as he shoved it away. “Shit, I’m sorry. I forgot you don’t like to be touched. Have breakfast with me.” What did I just say?
Hutch simply shook his head as his heated eyes moved over my body again. I guessed he liked what he saw, which made two of us because his biceps were the size of both of my thighs.
“What, don’t you eat breakfast?”
He rolled his eyes, apparently annoyed with me, and avoided answering me by yanking the screen up on my window.
I huffed like a spoiled brat. “You’re going to blow me off? I invited you to breakfast. The least you can do is—” My stomach clenched when he turned back around to cage me in against the wall. This version of Hutch Kelly was scary as all hell. Sexy, but still scary.
“Nine o’clock,” he growled between clenched teeth before he took a step back. Then he somehow managed to squeeze his massive girth through my small window, making sure to pull the screen shut behind him, slipped out onto the roof, and shimmied down the side of my house to sprint across the lawn to his place that was across the street as if it was a normal routine for him.
This officially had to be the weirdest morning of my entire life.
***
This wasn’t a date, yet I felt oddly nervous getting ready to meet Hutch for breakfast. I showered, pulled my dark hair up into high ponytail, and then dug around trying to figure out what to wear. I finally decided on a pair of blue jean shorts, along with a t-shirt, decorated with ballet shoes from camp. Comfortable, casual, and something I would normally wear hanging around with my friends.
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