Oh god, why didn’t I scream?
“No.”It wasn’t even close to a yell, but it had more strength.
His smugness dropped completely, replaced by something…evil.“I’m going to give you one chance, Ali.A single opportunity.Give yourself to me by Saturday night.”
“Fuck you!”I snarled, fighting a wave of nausea, even as a part of me finally started to react.
But it wasn’t enough.It would never be enough.Please, help me.
There was no way he would do any of what he was threatening.It would be traced back to him, and he’d get busted for a felony for just having those videos on his phone.
“I’ll never let you touch me,” I bit out, glaring up at him as my entire body shook.Still trapped.Still helpless.
My fault.
“Oh, you will.Because if you don’t come to me by Saturday, I’ll post every picture I have of you.Every video I recorded of you right here in this locker room, beneath that showerhead.I will release it all, every last pixel, down to my favorite freckle.”
He took the last few steps that separated us.I was already against the wall, nowhere else to go.My fear was so thick that my fight-or-flight didn’t engage.All I could do was stand there shaking as he lifted his hand.Tracing his finger along my collarbone, he dipped his head.“I can’t wait to taste you.”
Stepping back, he winked down at me.“Talk to you soon, Ali.”
Ali
It wasn’tuntil I heard the door bang shut behind him that I finally stumbled forward.Falling onto my hands and knees, I retched, over and over, sobbing until there was nothing left in my stomach.
“Help.I need…help.Please… Help me.Help.I don’t want this.I don’t want it.I don’t want it.I don’t?—”
“Ali!”
Gasping, I clutched at the towel, still thankfully tucked around me.Through a blur of tears, I looked up to find Evan standing there.His face was ashen, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
“E-Evan,” I rasped, then sobbed harder.“Please, help me.”
His long body folded as he crouched down beside me on the tile floor, his knees landing in a puddle of my stomach acid and the few bites of lunch I’d been able to force down.“What the fuck just happened?”he demanded, his tone holding a sharpness I wasn’t accustomed to hearing from him.“I was worried about you.Kyla and Mercedes left a while ago.No one was coming out of the locker room, and I thought you skipped again.But I had this sick feeling in my gut and came to look for you.”
He was rambling, his words too close together for my brain to fully understand what he was saying.All I could do was look at him, still crying, still shaking so hard my teeth chattered.
“Then I heard Coach.”His face morphed, turning the sweet boy I’d grown up with into someone I didn’t recognize.“I don’t even know what I just heard, Ali.What the fuck?What the actual fuck?”
“D-did he see you?”I glanced at the door, afraid Gaviria might come back.Another wave of nausea hit me, the taste of fear and bile gagging me.If he saw Evan, I didn’t know what would happen.
PCC.Eight dead.Fight club.
Random details from the article I’d found the day before flashed through my head.If any of it was true, if my teacher was a cartel member, he could hurt Evan.
My fault.
“No, he didn’t fucking see me!”Evan whisper-shouted, that sharpness growing colder, contradicting the fury in his eyes.“Tell me what the hell is going on with you and him.Is he why you’ve been acting weird?The skipping, the crazy mood swings, falling behind in your classes.You’ve been all over the place, turning into an entirely different person for more than a month.Maybe longer.Fuck, I don’t know when it started happening.I was busy with basketball and only started paying attention a couple of weeks ago.”
I let him rant, giving myself a moment to catch my breath, wishing I had some mouthwash to rinse the taste away, or a bottle of water to ease the burn in my throat and chest.Evan was so laid-back ninety-nine percent of the time that he rarely got pissed.Even when people heckled him from the stands during his games, he stayed calm, laughing it off and letting everything slide off his back.
His anger was white-hot, causing a shudder to quake through me.I knew he was upset at his coach, that his rage wasn’t directed toward me.Maybe.But at that moment, it felt like it was aimed right at me.
My fault.I didn’t say no.I didn’t say stop.I didn’t tell anyone, didn’t seek help.It was all my fault.
And then I remembered why I hadn’t done anything…
“You can’t tell Sixx!”Suddenly, I was screaming.“He can’t know.Promise me.Swear on…on basketball!Swear it, Evan.”
