“Perfect timing.” Dad pulls me into a hug, and my gun pinches my skin, causing me to grimace. He pulls away and looks down.
“We’ll make sure to get you a holster for that. Now I have something for you, and then I’m afraid I have to head into the city. I have some things to attend to at the casino. We will stay there tonight and see you tomorrow evening when you arrive. You can either stay here when you finish packing, or you can stay back at the other place. See what Penny has to say when you get there,” he suggests, and I grimace. I was hoping she wouldn’t even be home.
The elevator doors open, and we step out into the garage. Dad’s car is not the only one inside, and a quiet whistle escapes my lips when I take in the other one that’s there. A dark, shimmery green Dodge Charger Hellcat is sitting in a spot next to Dad’s car. I walk over to it and run my hand over the pretty glitter finish.
“Holy smokes, that’s nice.” I can’t help admiring the glossy paintwork and the sexy vehicle. When I turn around to look at the three men, they are beaming at me.
“I picked the color,” Mickey says with glee, and Dad and Gio both smack him on the back of the head.
“Good choice, Uncle Mickey, it’s really nice. Whose is it?”
Gio rolls his eyes as Dad tosses me a set of keys, which I scramble to catch before they hit the nice paint work.
“Yours of course. I couldn’t have you driving around in that POS any longer. I only did it because I needed Penny to think that I paid attention when she talked to me. Sorry you had to suffer for a little while.” Dad grimaces and awkwardly runs a hand through his dark hair.
“It’s alright, Dad. I’m beginning to understand that dynamic, and this totally makes up for it.” I’m grinning ear to ear as I lift the handle and slide into the driver’s seat. I run my hands across the leather steering wheel as Gio slides into the passenger seat, and then I press the button to start the engine. It rumbles to life, and I swear my core pulses almost as much as it did when Stacey was licking my clit. Fuck, I don’t want to think about her and that.
Dad knocks on my window, so I press the button to roll it down. “Be careful, have fun, and we will see you tomorrow.” He leans in and kisses my cheek.
“Thanks, Daddy,” I whisper, and I hug him around the neck through the window.
“Anything for my princess.” He taps the hood, and Mickey waves as they both climb into his car.
Strapping in, I look at my brother as I put my hands on the steering wheel. “Ready?” I ask as he hurries to strap in too.
“Sure, just take it easy until we get past the gates. They don’t open so fast,” he warns as I put the car into gear and take my foot off the brake.
I’ve driven Gio’s car before, so I’m familiar with how it handles, and I follow his advice as we head up the ramp and exit the garage. The doors are still open from Dad and Mickey leaving, and I wave to Frank as we exit before putting my foot down and heading back to our home, laughing like a loon.
* * *
There are boxes waiting on the kitchen table when we get home, and Penelope is nowhere to be seen, thankfully.
“Look, sis, I need to defer my enrollment, and I need to break the news to the guys. At least Casey can have my room now.” Poor Gio, he looks completely bummed about it, so I give him a quick hug.
“Go. I’ll be alright. I’m just going to sit here and have a look at how far that video has gotten over social media, and then I’m going to pack up all my things to move into the other house. I don’t think I want to stay here another moment. I have no clue how she got that all on video, but I’m not sleeping in that room knowing there’s probably a camera in there.” I feel sick thinking about it, but I need to know what everyone is saying.
Gio leans against the counter and frowns. “Well, that’s going to be harder than you think. Dad had one of our tech guys look into it, but by the time he got a chance, the footage had already been removed.”
“What do you mean?” A sliver of hope works its way into my heart.
“It’s gone, erased. And every time someone tries to put it back up, it’s immediately removed. The tech guy says it’s really clever. Someone built a program that searches for it and deletes it. He said it’s pretty hardcore tech.”
“Who the fuck would have done that?” I’m surprised, but I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth. I wish I knew who it was, I’d send them a fucking gift basket, or a lifetime supply of weed. Ha! Sage would freak out, that would be fun.
Gio shrugs but pulls his car key out of his pocket. “Not sure, but I’m not complaining. I’ll see you at the fortress later, alright? I’ll grab some takeout on the way home since the chef doesn’t start until tomorrow.”
“Okay.” I wave as he leaves and pull my phone out of my pocket. Even if the video isn’t online, I’m sure people are still talking about it. I pull up the school’s internal social board and start scrolling through.
I read comment after comment. Most of them are disgusting and degrading, but occasionally one or two will mention that it looks like I’m unconscious at the end and how the video should be shown to the police. Sexual assault is no joke. One anonymous poster said how hot the beginning of the video was and how she wishes my face was buried in her pussy. Well, that’s kind of… sweet? Oh well, I guess it’s all out there now. As embarrassing as it was for the whole school to see it, I’m not actually ashamed of any of it until the very end. I couldn’t even watch it, so I still have no clue what Stacey did to me. I think it’s better that I don’t know.
As much as I’d like to have a drink while I’m packing, I have to drive back to the fortress, so I’ll hold off for now. Grabbing an empty box in each hand, I trudge upstairs to begin packing, but when I get to my room, I’m reluctant to step into it. What if Stacey is on the other end, watching me? Or worse, she’s got friends around and they are all watching me, laughing about the fact that I’m packing up? It’s a good thing that I never came home and threw myself on the bed in tears. Now that would have really given them a show. Thank God for Gio, and thank God for the fact that I hadn’t bothered with makeup this morning, otherwise I would have been walking around looking like a clown all day with it smeared across my face.
Taking a deep breath, I blow it out and step into my room. I’m not going to search for the camera. I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of knowing they are bothering me, but I will ask Dad to have one of his tech guys sweep my belongings so I don’t end up with it in my new room—I didn’t think about it before. I put my keys and phone down on my desk, and I slowly pull the gun out of my waistband, placing it with them. Hopefully if someone is on the other end of a camera, I just made them piss their pants at the sight of that.
Placing the boxes on my bed, I start emptying my bedside drawers into them. I shoved all the sex toys Stacey had left behind in one of them, so they all go in, as does my phone charger and my e-reader. I should throw the toys out, but for some reason, I keep them. Maybe it’s because it’s the only proof of what happened—at least it was prior to the video being released—or maybe I want to keep them to prove I’m not afraid of future sexual encounters.
All that’s left are the rest of the drugs from Gio’s party—a few pills and a couple of bags of white powder—my lighter, and the ashtray I use when I smoke outside. I probably should have put them with the rest of my drugs in my book, but I can’t claim I was thinking straight last week. Going over to the bookcase, I pull out my hollowed-out book, grab one of my joints, and throw the rest of the drugs in there before placing it on the desk with my phone and keys. I’ll take that over with me this evening.
