“I’ve seen this ring before. Where did you get this?” he asked, examining the ring on my hand. Jerking my hand from his hold, I took the ring off and slipped it into my pocket.My most treasured item. I had to keep it safe. “Mia, where did you get that?”
“It was a gift. A family heirloom,” I lied, then ducked under his arm and attempted to take a step from his stifling space. He pressed his hand against my chest as he slammed me back against the wall.
“Oh, no you don’t,” he growled.
Trembling, I asked, “What do you want from me?” He became more confident, surer of himself and the hold he had over me.
“What you owe me.” Oscar grinned as he drew closer. His hot breath against my cheek held me rigid. “Remember I own you, Mia. “His hand was between my legs, inching its way up. “I fucking own you, and there is nothing you can do about it.” Then he cupped my sex. I turned my head, wanting to cry as he applied more pressure. A knot of fear lodged in my throat as the aching swelled in my eyes.
“Please stop,” I begged. “Just stop this.”
“You know what they say when a girl says no.”
He didn’t stop, only rubbed his fingers more forcefully over the fabric of my jeans and I shook my head violently. Oscar grabbed my chin. His cigarette breath coated my lips. “Stop fighting it, Mia. It’s better that way.” And then he let me go with a single step back. “I’ll see you real soon, darling.”
I ran the rest of the way back to my dorm. Clicking the lock behind me, I fell back against my door and slid down until my bottom hit the marble. If I told Ollie, he would do something to get himself kicked out. If I told Dr. Conway, Oscar would only use my record against me and say it was all lies. He would say I had come onto him. Every time, Oscar reminded me of the repercussions, scaring me so I wouldn’t run. And it worked.
A rap at my door caused me to wince. Crawling away from the door, I waited.
Another knock.
“Mia, it’s me.”
I jumped to my feet and unlocked the door. As soon as it opened, I flung myself around Ollie, wrapping my arms around his neck and digging my head into his chest. He stroked my hair with one hand while wrapping the other around my back as he held me tight. “Shit, Mia. What happened?”
I was only able to shake my head, so he walked me into my room and closed the door behind us. “We talked about this. You have to talk to me,” he said, pulling my head off his chest and searching my face. “Please, this is fucking killing me …”
“I can’t, Ollie. I wish I could, but I can’t. Not this.” The tears fell rapidly. “I can’t tell you and it’s for your own good.”
“You keep saying that, but it doesn’t change the fact I can’t do anything to fix this until you talk to me.”
“Just read to me.”
And after I changed into my sweatpants and pulled his hoodie over my head, he did.
He read chapter after chapter, threading his fingers down my hair and over my back. His comforting touch soothed me from the moment he was unaware of.
Forcing myself to focus on Noah and Allie’s troubles, my thoughts were slowly stolen by Oscar. He invaded my reading time, my moments with Ollie, my brain.
If I allowed this to go on any further, it might bring me back to a place I had worked so hard to get out of. Was my mind capable of building a switch again, then flipping it? Would Oscar bring back my walls? I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. Telling someone was my only option. Dr. Conway was my only option. Either she wouldn’t believe me, and I would be forced back to the psych ward permanently, or all the lights inside me would shut off again if Oscar went too far. Either way, I would be defeated.
But what if she did believe me?
In two weeks, she would return.
I only needed to get by for two more weeks.
“I know something Ollie doesn’t know,” Maddie sang as she approached me in the hall. Christmas was in six days, but Dolor didn’t necessarily reek of holiday spirit. There was a small tree set up in the corner of the mess hall, but its lack of lights and ornaments made it look like a bad joke. It had been a donation—a pity donation by someone who only wanted to feel good about themselves during the holidays. Without classes to keep us occupied, and half the staff gone, the campus felt like a ghost town.
Tilting my head in Maddie’s direction, I wondered if entertaining her childish games was even worth it. “Good for you, Maddie.” Nope, not worth it. Maddie was never worth it.
“And I know something you don’t know,” she bit back.
Her comment stopped me in my tracks, and I crossed my arms over my chest, taking her in. The devilish smile on her face, the satisfaction in her eyes, her posture, it all screamed the fact she couldn’t wait for whatever she had planned to come to a head. “Whatever you have to say, just say it.”
Ollie appeared beside me and slung his arm around my shoulder. “Maddie starting her games again?” He looked down to me without so much as paying her a lick of attention.
“Trying to.”
