Before I could react, he grabbed my hand.
“Chase, stop.”
He tightened his grip and dragged me down the hallway. People laughed, mistaking it for flirting.
He shoved me into a room.
The door slammed shut behind us.
The room was empty.
“No Lynda?” he mocked, locking the door. “You wouldn’t have come if you didn’t want this.”
My heart slammed violently against my ribs.
“Where is she?”
“I’ve been patient with you,” he said, undoing his pants. “Hot and cold. Always teasing. No one’s here now.”
Fear flooded my body, freezing my limbs.
“What the hell are you doing?” I shouted. “I’m leaving.”
I tried to move past him.
He grabbed my shoulder and threw me onto the bed.
The impact knocked the air from my lungs.
“You want to play innocent?” he sneered, climbing over me. “Girls like you always do.”
His weight pinned me down. I couldn’t move. His pants were halfway off.
“Get off me!” I screamed, struggling uselessly beneath him.
He laughed.
When he leaned down to kiss me, something inside me snapped.
I drove my knee upward with everything I had.
He cried out, collapsing forward. I shoved him away, scrambling off the bed as he doubled over, clutching himself.
“You bitch,” he hissed.
Rage burned through the fear.
I kicked him hard in the back. He cried out again, curling onto the floor.
“Say that again,” I said, my voice shaking but steady. “Next time, I won’t stop there.”
I walked out, my body trembling but my head held high.
People stared. Smirked. Judged.
Chase stumbled out behind me, pants still undone.
I ran.
