“Wanna… lie down.” My head swims.
The men’s chuckles come at me sounding hollow, vibrating inside my skull. “Whoa, there.” His friends snicker softly as he takes the glass from my hand and sets it out of the way.
My thoughts turn end over end, like they’re rotating through thick muck and going nowhere. Unable to hold my eyelids open any longer, they flutter closed. Surrendering to the clogged, cloudy feeling, my limbs are heavy, almost as if they’re weighed down. Nothing makes sense.
Confusion slams into me from the way the room seems to shift when I move my head.
Bradley’s hands slide over my hips and thighs, dragging me off the couch and into his lap. I’m completely out of it. “Nope. You’re not going anywhere. You’re going to stay right here with us.”
“U-us?” Vaguely aware of being carried to a new location, my lips press together.
A moment later, my back hits something soft, and Ilook through bleary eyes to find the skirt of my dress is up around my hips. Through my daze, I spy Bradley and his friends standing at the end of the bed.
Fingers claw at my panties, ripping them from me. I squirm, shoving ineffectively. “St—” I can’t even get the word out. But somewhere in the frantically slow working of my mind, I beg them to stop.
“Damn, Bradley.” Marcus wets his lips. “I can’t wait to sample her perfect pink pussy.”
“She’s my wife. I get the first taste.”
My legs are wrenched open, and something wet dives between them, touching me in ways that have my stomach gurgling with sickness. “N-n-nooo.”
“You’re mine. And you’ll do whatever I want,” he hisses viciously. I lift my head, uncoordinated limbs too sluggish to be of any help in fending him off. My mind screams as the room spins and gyrates. Color and sound shift every time I open my eyes.
A second later, my face is shoved into the mattress as I’m flipped over. Greedy hands are all over me, pawing at my skin from every direction. I can’t even tell who’s who anymore. I just know they’re everywhere.
In my hazy awareness, fear spikes within me. I want to cry out, want to scream, but all that comes out is an agonized moan. It doesn’t even sound like me. I try to buck myself free, but I’m pinned in place. Impaled asthey push inside me, filling every open space and splitting my body and soul to pieces.
Laughter echoes through the room, followed by wicked whispers of cruelty. My entire body shakes as the mattress beneath me shifts. I blink, turning my head. All I want is to escape, but all I can do is stare into nothing.
I sob at the incoherent way my thoughts are processing.Run away, Noah. Slam the door. Lock it behind you.
I’m lost inside a nightmare of my own making.
Death would be easier, because I’m broken beyond repair.
RHETT
22
My whiskey-soakedbrain hasn’t stopped tormenting me with mental images that carve my heart into shreds. I’ve had enough to drink, but I’m afraid there might be no such thing today. The bartender has just announced last call, and it’s time to take this pity party for one back to my room.
A frustrated hand drags over my face, scrubbing this fuck of a day from existence. Then every once in a while, there’s a flash of her looking up at me right before she was gone for good. It’s nearly enough to snap the branch I’m barely holding onto.
But there’s nothing to be done now. It’s over.
Drowning myself in a bottle of whiskey hasn’t helped to erase the last twenty-four hours. If anything, it’s made it worse. An aggrieved sigh heaves from me as my assslides from the stool I’ve occupied all night.Better to fall apart in the privacy of my own room.
As I reach the bay of elevators, a group of people talk and laugh as they wait. I could bypass the crowd and take the stairs, but I’m staying on the goddamn top floor. By the time an empty elevator car arrives, I’m agitated, impatient to be done with this day. As it moves upward, it stops intermittently, letting people off until I’m the only one left. The digital display reads eleven, and a loud ping signals that I’ve arrived at my destination.
On the way down the hall, I pull out the key and let myself in Flipping the light switch at the threshold, I stop. Blink.
Where in the hell did that come from?A black box sits on the bed. Even my drunk ass knows that wasn’t there before I left for the ceremony. It’s tied up with some fancy ribbon. My brows crash together with an irritated chuckle. It’s probably just some bullshit thank-you gift Bradley and Noah had delivered to all the wedding guests.
My jaw clenches as I force one foot in front of the other. At the edge of the bed, I stare down at it, a feeling of foreboding prickling along my spine. Reaching out hesitantly, my brows furrow. The last thing I need is a goddamn reminder of their nuptials to take home with me.
A curse traps itself behind my gritted teeth. Before I can think better of it, I loosen the ribbon and pluck the lid from the box. Ragged breaths heave from my chest as my feet carry me forward to inspect the contents. There’s a piece of card stock on top.
The handwritten note taunts me, but I don’t know if I can handle picking it up. It’s probably another apology, another goodbye, or a thank-you note that was sent to every guest in attendance.Which would be worse?
