I feel…different.
And not because I’m not a virgin anymore.
Everything’s wrong that should be right.
Everything’s broken that should have been whole.
I wait for whoever’s gripping my throat to speak. To command me. To comfort me.
But they say nothing.
Do nothing.
They just stand there, watching as my tears merge with the rain pounding down on my face.
They grab my hair, yank back my head. I’d be able to see who it was if the rain wasn’t slamming into my eyes.
I close them. Protect them. But it doesn’t stop the tears from leaking out.
The hand on my throat tightens. Cold metal from the chain still attached to my collar brushes my jaw a moment before a thumb peels down my bruised lower lip.
But I still don’t know who it is.
I shiver.
Wet. Cold.
My body should be shutting down in self-protection, but instead it’s coming alive at their touch, somehow already conditioned to respond even when my mind is screaming to run.
I don’t want to know who came to find me when they woke up and I was gone.
It doesn’t matter.
In a few days, this will all be over.
Chapter 20
Kai
Everyone around me is jamming to a sick beat, the heavy bass echoing through my head. It’s raining, but I don’t feel wet or cold. I’m warm. Heavy. Sluggish.
It’s time for another dose of molly, but I need to get off the dance floor first.
Bodies glowing with neon UV paint block me as I turn to look for a way out of the crowd.
I spot the back of Haven’s head, and make a beeline for her. At first I’m all polite, looking for gaps between couples and friends that I can wedge into. But Haven’s slipping away, and I’m not catching up, so I start pushing, then shoving.
People are yelling at me, grabbing me, trying to hold me back.
Why the fuck is everyone so aggro?
I shake them off, plunge forward. There’s another guy in front of me, and I can’t get around him. Every time I try, he moves in the same direction. It’s intentional, but his back is turned, so how the hell can see me?
When I shove him out of the way, I hear a familiar laugh, but all I want is to find Haven.
Where the fuck did she go?
And how do I keep getting turned around?
