“Jesus.” He hisses.
She pushes her right hip out. “They like each other, and she needed to let loose and have some fun.”
Liar. She knows I don’t like him.
“So you chose to drug her? Fuck, Becky! What if he had wanted to have sex with her? She wouldn’t have been able to give him consent. Or what if he wouldn’t have cared?”
She looks down, inspecting her nails, confirming what he’s already thinking with her silence. That was their plan.
“God, you are such a fucking bitch.” He sighs.
She looks up at him, glaring. “I’m not here to listen to this. Where is she?”
“She’s not leaving with you,” he answers flatly.
“Eli …”
He slams the door in her face and locks it.
“Eli.” She pounds on it with her fists.
“Go home, Becky!” he shouts before punching the door.
He stands there waiting for her to say something else, but seconds later, her car starts.
He runs his hand down his face, releasing a long sigh.
I make my way back to his bed and crawl under his sheets. They’re nice and cold and feel amazing against my heated skin.
His door slowly opens, and he peeks in to see me now awake. He’s changed his clothes from last night. I remember him sitting at the bonfire and Deke giving me the bottle of vodka. Me walking away and finding David. Then my sister giving me a drink before Eli and I got in his car. Everything else is kind of fuzzy. He wears a white T-shirt that has a band I’ve never heard of and a pair of black shorts. His dark hair damp as if he just took a shower.
“How do you feel?” he asks, coming to sit beside me.
“Lightheaded,” I admit. The room still spins but not as bad as last night. “I have a pounding headache.”
“Here.” He grabs a bottle of water off his nightstand and a couple of aspirin. “Take these.”
“I heard you,” I say, staring at his dark comforter. Tears sting my eyes. “Why would she …?” I can’t finish the question because I know the answer. She hates me. Always has.
He reaches out, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look up at him. “You’re okay, Demi. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. You’re safe here.” Then he leans forward and places a soft kiss on my forehead.
Present
Becky didn’t give two shits about me. We weren’t close, but I never gave her a reason to drug me. I still wonder what would have happened had Eli not been the one to take me home that night. He took care of me. Protected me. I passed out thinking I loved him, but I woke up sure of it. But like anything else in my life, if I wanted it, Becky had this need to take it from me.
That’s why I willingly spread my legs for Deke. A part of her sick and twisted mind still loves him, and I wanted to take something from her that she’ll never forget. And Deke will hate me. Now more than he did before.
I was never a slut like my sister, but this one act made me one. I used him. And for what? To piss off my sister. To show them both I’m not to be fucked with? I had never had someone touch me the way Deke did at Silence. And so, after I allowed him to touch me, it just went downhill. My mind. My decisions. Now my fucking life. Becky will think of something to do to me, but it’ll be so worth it. My entire body hurts. Will it be like this every time I have sex? God, I hope so.
“What happened the other night?” Lauren asks, sitting down in her seat next to me. “I’ve been calling you all weekend. Did you and Seth break up?”
“No,” I answer.
“What was that fight about?”
“He thinks I’m cheating on him.” I shrug.
Her dark brows pull together. Lauren and I never talk about my sex life or lack thereof. She just assumes Seth and I fuck like rabbits. He’s a college student, after all. A boy with needs. I’m just not the one who fulfills them.
