“You stay away from me again, and I’ll upload videos of you to every porn site I can find. I’ll make you put your real name on it, so everyone will know. Do you understand me?”
The words sizzle as they enter my brain. Scorching hot. I can’t examine them, not yet. Not without burning my fingers.
“I’ve been patient up to now, but that ends today. No more boyfriends. No more dating. You need an itch scratched you come to me. Touch another boy and I’ll have him killed. You know I can do that. All I have to do is pick up the phone.”
I nod, my face streaming with tears.
“I have spies everywhere. They’ll report everything back to me. If you disobey me, I’ll know.”
He means it. Even if it comes back to haunt him, he’ll do it. Of that, I have no question.
Surprise.
CHAPTERFIVE
CAYLON
“Thought you’d signed yourself out,” Trent says when I get out of my car in the school parking lot on Monday morning. He peels off from the rugby team stragglers he was lazing about with and falls into step beside me. “Is this a special occasion?”
Not so much a special occasion as a chance to catch up with Em. It’s been over a week since I saw her, and she’s been twisting through my mind ever since.
I can’t shake the thoughts of her. The urge to tease her until those eyes spark and fire at me again is overwhelming. I can’t fall asleep without the brightness of her remembered image lighting the way into my dreams.
I’ve even found myself driving past the service station, scanning the lot for her car. Sad, much?
But I’m so grateful to feel anything after long months of unending grey that I don’t care. I’d rather make a fool of myself trying to get close to her and feel embarrassed than feel nothing at all.
“I’m seventeen,” I say, dodging his question. “I can’t sign myself out even if I wanted to.”
“Where’ve you been, then? You’ve lost your position in the first fifteen. Coach’ll keep you benched all season out of spite.”
I shrug, frowning when I get near my locker and see it sitting open.
“Guess the school secretary thought you’d gone for good, too.”
With a roll of my eyes, I spin through my combination to test if it still works. No luck. “Can I park this in yours?” I ask, holding up my bag.
“Sure.” Trent clicks through his code and holds the locker door open. “You still haven’t said why you’re back here.”
“Because I missed all of you, obviously. Zach about?”
My face is still healing from the last time I saw him, but better to get things out of the way now than let them drag on forever.
“He’s in the quad with Lily. Want me to come with you?”
I stare at him with a raised eyebrow. “You think I can’t beat Lily if I need to?”
He smirks at the bruises still staining my jaw, most courtesy of Zach plus a little tap from a private investigator who I hope to never see again.
“I’ll just come along as a precaution, hey?”
“Suit yourself.”
I amble outside, getting my bearings. It’s only been four or five weeks since I last stepped foot inside the school, but it seems like a year. We’re breaking for mid-term in less than a month. If today sticks, no guarantee, then I’ll barely adjust before needing to repeat the process.
“Hey,” I call out as I approach the happy couple. Lily frowns, then turns aside while Zach eyes me warily. “Don’t all talk at once.”
“Thought you left,” she says.
