“How much do you wanna bet that you won’t be laughing in a little bit?”
I was so focused on glaring at him that I didn’t realize he was standing so close to me now. He put both hands on my hips, grabbed me roughly, lifted me up, and threw me over his shoulders.
“Are you crazy? Let me go.”
“Now you’re coming with me.”
16
June
I didn’t have any idea where we were going; I was totally lost. The only thing I guessed was that we were going inside. We walked down a set of wooden stairs that creaked under his heavy steps. Maybe we were back in the house, but it was too dark, and I couldn’t figure out where we were.
“James!” I protested.
I heard him let out a groan as he tried to force a door that, finally, flew open.
“James!” I screamed again, panicking.
“Don’t you ever call me by my first name again,” he spat, throwing me onto the ground roughly. “You were saying, White?”
A chill went down my spine. I realized that I was shaking, and not just from fear. It was cold and musty.
“Fucking bitch,” snarled James before putting the vape pen in his pocket.
I could barely see anything, and I had to get used to the darkness.
I looked around. “Oh my god. We’re in a basement,” I moaned, terrified. “What do you . . . what are you gonna do to me?” I stuttered, moving backward on the dirty floor. James stood still. The light from a small window cut across his angular face.
I tried to pull my dress down to my knees, clamping my thighs shut. He burst out laughing. “What the fuck is your deal? Are you afraid of me now?”
“No,” I lied.
Even though I didn’t want to admit it, his voice was so deep that it filled me with dread.
James raised an eyebrow, surprised at my tenacity.
“No, huh?”
“I’m still waiting. You don’t scare me.” I wasn’t brave enough to get up, but a question came to mind. “Did you really almost kill someone when you were sixteen?”
His initially amused expression transformed abruptly. His jaw clenched, so sharp that it could have cut glass. He towered over me, making me feel even smaller on the dark ground.
“Who told you?”
I felt my lip tremble.
“Was it Will? Is he the one who told you?” He continued to glare at me with a suffocating gaze.
“No.”
“Fuck!” I heard him cuss. “I knew you’d cause trouble. I wanted to scare you a little but now that I think about it . . .”
His look was anything but promising, and with the same rage on his face, James backed away until he got to the door. “It’s better to go medieval with people like you. You’ve met your match, Snow White.”
“What are you . . .”
He sneered at me brusquely.
