My best friend drugged and raped me and left me to deal with the aftermath all on my own while she lives it up with the popular crowd. But why?
“Fucking why?” I scream, banging my fist against the steering wheel, the road a blur from the tears that refuse to stop.
My emotions are all over the place. There is sadness and worry, but what comes to the forefront is anger. Now that I’ve accepted what I’ve known in the back of my mind, I seethe with fury. I grip the steering wheel, turning my knuckles white as I think about what school’s going to be like on Monday if she told everyone. But will she? I mean, she has to implicate herself and admit that she’s the one I was having sex with. I’m not sure how that would go over with the popular group. Homophobia is still a very real thing at our school. My hands start to relax a little bit. Stacey wouldn’t risk being ostracized. There’s no way she’s going to tell people about what we did. She’s just going to use her newfound skills and seduce James Walter. Then, Nikki Steel will regret inviting her to join their little clique. When that happens and Stacey comes crawling back to me, I have absolutely no plans to forgive her. Eventually, I’ll even tell Gio what she did. He will wipe the floor with her. Wouldn’t that be the perfect revenge? Wanting to be popular but instead becoming a pariah?
I tear into the driveway and park my car in the garage. Slamming the door behind me, I stride inside, but instead of going up to my room, I head down into the basement. We have a gym set up down here, and I want to make use of the punching bag to get rid of some of my anger, not to mention calming all the thoughts running through my mind.
Since I was very young, Dad put Gio and me in every self-defense class he could find. I am a black belt in several different disciplines, but right now, I just need the mind-numbing repetitive action of smashing my fist against a leather bag. Throwing my keys and cell on the ground near the door, I toe off my shoes and grab some hand wraps out of a cupboard. Quickly wrapping my knuckles, I start to hit the black leather bag hanging from the ceiling. I swing over and over again, trying to rid my mind of everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours.
Twenty-four hours. That’s how long it’s been since I was betrayed by the one person I thought would be a constant in my life besides Gio, and it is not a small betrayal either. You can’t get much lower than drugging and raping someone. I know I should go to the police, but I have no proof. A rape kit isn’t going to pick up any DNA evidence from a strap-on dildo. I’m sure there’s probably some tearing down there with how sore I am, but who is going to believe me? No, I’m going to deal with this my own way. It might not be today, and it might not even be this week, but one day, Stacey is going to wish she never knew the name Victoria Russo.
ChapterEight
My body aches again when I wake the next day, but it’s from the two hours I spent pounding the sandbag. I had to smoke another joint before bed last night so I could get some rest from all the insidious thoughts running through my mind. I’m now out of weed, and I need to ask Gio for more before he leaves today.
We are moving all his stuff into his dorm room this morning, and then tonight will be his last night at home. He wants to move in and get to know his roommates, who were assigned by the school, and learn his way around campus before classes start this week.
I run into him on the stairs as I head down for coffee. “Hey, there you are. I was getting worried.” He’s smiling, but it doesn’t quite hide the worry in his eyes. “I didn’t see you after you got back from Stacey’s yesterday. Did everything go okay?”
I can’t stop the sigh that escapes my lips. “No, it didn’t, but I’m not ready to talk about it just yet.” I see him gearing up to argue, so I put my hand on his arm. “Please, Gio, just let it go for now.”
He grits his teeth in annoyance but nods. “Okay, but I won’t let this go on forever. I will get it out of you.” We’ve always told each other everything, so I guess it’s a shock for me not to tell him this time.
“I’m not sure how you’re going to manage that. You won’t be here,” I say as I push past him and continue to the kitchen. I feel the weight of his stare on my back, but I don’t turn to look at him. I’m feeling so fragile that I know it won’t take much to push me over the edge.
I make myself a mug of coffee and take a seat at the kitchen counter. I’m not hungry, so I don’t bother with a bowl of cereal. I lose track of time, lost in my thoughts, and I’m not sure how much later it is when Gio appears in front of me again with one of his boxes in hand.
“Hey, I’m all packed. You ready to come with me?”
I blink a couple of times, and a wave of guilt swamps me. “Shit, Gio, I’m sorry. I completely spaced.”
He shrugs. “No biggie, but still lending a hand to move it all into my dorm would be great.”
“Okay, sure, let me just grab my shoes and phone.” I climb off the stool, leaving my dirty mug where it is. I’ll deal with it when I’m home. “Oh, hey, do you happen to have any more joints lying around? You’re not going to be here if I want one, so I’d like to keep a few on hand.”
He frowns but nods. “Yeah, in the desk drawer in my room. I left some rolled in there, help yourself.”
“Great. Thanks so much.” I force a smile on my face and press a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll be ready in five minutes.”
Leaving him in the kitchen, I run back upstairs, push my feet into my flip-flops, and shove my phone into the back pocket of my shorts. I look at myself in the mirror and grimace at what I see. I have dark circles under my whiskey-colored eyes, and they have a kind of hollow, vacant look which matches how I feel. I guess that’s why Gio is so worried. Running my fingers through my black hair, I try to tame the waves as best as I can, but without some product and some extra love, I’m rocking the freshly fucked look, and I don’t have the energy or time to fix it. I wish I did, because looking this way when it wasn’t deliberate makes me feel icky.
Going to Gio’s room, I hesitate in the doorway as I take in how empty it looks. I can’t believe he’s leaving me for the next year. I know he’ll be back on weekends, or I can go and see him, but it’s not the same. It almost looks like he’s moving out completely. All his books, knick-knacks, and junk he usually has lying around are gone. His bed still has sheets on it because he’s coming back to sleep in it tonight, but apart from that, there’s nothing.
Sighing, I pull his desk drawer open, looking for the weed, and I stop suddenly at what I find. There are a bunch of rolled joints, but there’s also a big bag of weed and a handgun. When did Gio get a handgun? And why does he have it? I know Dad has taken him to the range and taught him how to shoot, but I thought Dad had them all locked away in a safe that only he knew the combination to. He must have told Gio. A pang of jealousy stabs at me for a moment, but I wave it away. I’m sure if I asked, Dad would teach me and give me the combo too. I bet he probably wanted to, and Penelope convinced him it wasn’t something girls did.
Gio shouldn’t just leave the gun lying around, especially if he’s going to leave it there while he’s away. I better remind him to lock it up. Grabbing a handful of the rolled joints, I close the drawer. I’m sure he’ll probably take the rest of them with him when he leaves tomorrow. Hopefully he won’t notice how many I took. Running back to my room, I place them in a hollowed-out book I have on my bookshelf with the rest of the pills and powder from the other night. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I have a feeling Penelope goes through my room when I’m not here. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Finally, I run down to the garage. The rumble of Gio’s Dodge Hellcat echoes through the space as I climb into the sleek black machine. The smell of leather hits my nose while the seat caresses my body as I put on my seat belt. “God, I love this car.” I moan as he eases out of the garage and down the driveway. “Why do you get this, and I get Penelope’s leftovers?”
“Because she’s a manipulative piece of shit. I can’t believe Dad listened to her. He’s got to have his reasons, and I’m sure one day he’ll tell us, but it’s not really fair to you.”
Gio drives the car in the direction of the city, and I settle back, trying to look relaxed while I hope he doesn’t bring Stacey or my weird mood up during the next twenty minutes. We pass the fortress once more, and there’s a guard standing in front of the guard box. He’s tall and muscular, and looks just like a guard should look with a shaved head and tight shirt, which does nothing to hide any of his burly form. Intimidation at its finest. Gio lifts a finger to wave as he goes past, and the guard nods back at him.
“Holy shit, did you see that?” I gasp as I shift to watch the guard behind us. As he turns and goes back into the box, I see a gun holstered to his side that had been hidden by his arm.
“Yeah, so what?” Gio doesn’t take his eyes off the road, but he sounds amused.
I swing back around. “Well, do you know that guy or were you just being neighborly? I’ve never seen anyone in front of the fortress before.”
