Dread lumps in my throat when I realize that this istheparty.
“There’s no sound,” Jensen says enthusiastically. “So I hope you don’t mind the narration.”
I watch the camera moving through a sea of people in a dark, crowded room before it pans to a group of familiar faces. Tyre, Jett, and Broden.
They’re gathered around, laughing and smiling, throwing back drinks. But then, Seren enters the frame, with me close behind her.
My heart aches, seeing her smile that night. But now that I think about it, I could tell that she was feeling a little off and with the knowledge I have of whatshe wrote in her journal, I know it’s because she was irritated with my brother. With the back and forth they seemed to have been going through.
“Are you all paying attention?” Jen says as he waves his gun from me to the two who are struggling to even stay seated upright. “This is where the important part of the story begins.”
But I can’t seem to focus. My vision is blurred, my head is spinning, and I feel faint, like I might pass out. Adrenaline eats at me as I try to focus on the grainy video, watching as Broden steps away from the group he’s standing with and…
“Do you see that? He roofied her drink,” Jensen announces, narrating the video.
Broden analyzes the moment Seren isn’t looking before he slips something into her drink. And right as she turns around, so does he, acting as if he didn’t do a damn thing. My heart sinks knowing that, now, that’s what got me sick that night. I drank from the same cup. But I only took a sip, she drank the whole thing.
Then there’s the smell of Broden’s rotting body permeating and suddenly I don’t feel so bad about it. I squint my eyes when I watch Seren take a big drink of the liquor, and then her eye seems to catch on something, causing her to stop and hand her cup to me. I take it, and then she leaves. That was the last time I saw her at the party. I take the last drink of her cup and wandered off, I assume to find Trace. I didn’t know why she left so suddenly, but now, as the video plays out in front of me, I know why.
She was following Declan.
“I never understood what she saw in him. I mean, sure, he liked her. Who didn’t. But Declan was nevergoing to be capable of handling a girl like Seren. And look at her, she’s so love sick that she would do anything for attention. Attention that I was willing to give her but she was so hung up on the star quarterback.” Jensen’s voice rings wicked, deranged. He’s salty and annoyed about what the video is showing. But then the video pans over to a hallway where Seren enters a bedroom and not more than a few minutes later, Deck follows.
The camera walks in closer and my stomach drops when the camera man chances to open the door a crack. Deck and Seren are on the bed, he’s on top of her as they make out.
I turn my head. I don’t want to watch this. I don’t want to watch my brother in bed with my best friend. But then something hits me on the side of the head.
“Pay attention, Sunshine,” Jensen demands and I can see him reel back his gun. My ears ring and my eyes burn but I do my best to straighten up, feeling tears slide down my skin.
The video is too much. Decklan and Seren are now having sex. I feel my heart racing knowing that the shaky hand behind the camera has to be Jensen. And he’s fucking sick for doing this. For keeping this video. For making me watch it. But more so, I realize that as Deck climbs off of Seren when he notices that she's losing consciousness, I know that I’m about to watch something even more sickening.
Jensen seems to push the door open and slides in as Decklan walks toward the bathroom in the room.
“I heard footsteps coming down the hall here. I didn’t want to get caught so I fancied myself a place in the closetinstead.”
The video shows my brother coming back with a little cup of water and a towel. Seren is laying half naked on the bed, eyes closed and her face looks drained of blood. I watch as he smacks her face a few times, but she doesn’t respond so he goes back to the bathroom for something but when he comes back out, it’s too late.
Tyre and Jett are already stripping off their clothes, and when Deck seems to rush at them, yelling with concern on his face, Tyre shoves him back and my brother falls to the floor.
“Stop us, and I’ll fuck your sister next,” Jensen says right as Tyre’s mouth moves in tandem on the screen. And then he continues reading his lips. “Snitch, and we’ll say that you planned the whole thing. This bitch owes us for all the teasing and flirting, hot shot. We just want a little taste.” Jensen stops speaking right as Tyre turns back around but all I can focus on is my brother. He seems to be yelling, crying, freaking out on the floor of the bedroom. I watch as he pulls out his phone but then Jett gets up and snatches it from him.
Why are they doing this? To Seren, to my brother? They’re his teammates. What did he ever do to deserve this? What did Seren ever do?
I can’t watch, dipping my head as my stomach flips, knowing what’s being displayed on the screen. It feels like my heart is being ripped from my chest with a kitchen knife, my earth shattering around me.
“I know, Sunshine. I know it’s hard to watch.” Jensen slides his gun across my cheek in a seemingly caressing gesture. I want to puke, my whole body racked with nausea.
“Why didn’t you stop them?” I cry behind the guard of my tape, my broken and empty voice getting muffled.
“What’s that, Liv? Did you want to say something?” Jensen leans down to my ear and I shake my head.
“I guess I can grant you that, since you’ve been so good for me.” I feel the burn against my skin as he aggressively rips the tape from my mouth.
It feels like flesh being torn from bone and it causes my head to go dizzy. Cold air greets the heat of where my mouth was trapped, slithering against my raw skin and creating a feeling that feels like sharp pricks all at once.
Jensen leans down and whispers in my ear, “Now, what were you saying, my sunshine?”
My lungs burn as I gasp and gasp, eager for more air. But I force myself to open my mouth anyway.
