I feel numb. Numb and cold all over. The rational part of my brain is telling me what they’ve done to me, but the rest of me isn’t listening to it. All I can do is close my eyes.
I feel sick. Nauseous. My head hurts. I want Quill.
I must have spoken those last words out loud, because Liam sniggers.
“Quilltoldus to do this, you dumb slut. Don’t believe me? He’s been wanting to kill you since the moment he met you.”
I can’t fathom what’s happened to me tonight, butthatI can understand. Because it’s not true. It’s a horrible lie, and I don’t believe one word of it. Quill loves me.
“He’s my… silent protector,” I whisper in a broken voice.
“Get dressed,” mutters Dane, throwing my clothes at me, averting his eyes. But Liam laughs again heartlessly.
“He’s been fighting the urge to kill you ever since fifth grade. Told us all about it, too. Why’d you think he bullied you so hard?”
Somehow, despite my foggy state, I manage to grab at my clothes and wriggle into them. There’s no blanket on this bed. I’m naked, and every ounce of energy goes into covering myself. And into not listening to the cruel words coming out of Liam’s mouth.
They’re not true. I don’t believe them. I don’t believe them.
“The only thing I can’t understand,” adds Liam, as I groan, feeling pain lancinating from the space between my legs all the way up my stomach, “is how anyone can be as fucking dumb as you are. Thinking the guy who stuck your head in the toilet, humiliated you in front of everyone, called you every fucking name under the sun—could ever possibly love you. Didn’t it ever occur to you that your so-called relationship was just one more way for him to knock you down a notch, or twenty? He’s been planning this day for months.”
I’m shaking my head furiously, blinking away the tears that areblinding me, as I search frantically for my shoes.
“Enough,” snaps Dane as Liam opens his mouth, probably preparing to find more words to hurt me with.
But they don’t hurt me. I don’t believe a single one of them. I can’t.
“Come on, Piper,” adds Dane in a voice I could almost picture as regretful, “I’ll drive you home.”
But I shake my head again and push past them, then stumble past all the guys and girls in the main room who are currently in the midst of a full-blown orgy. I can feel their eyes on me as I click on the elevator button, aware as I do that I never did put on my shoes.
No one stops me as I reach the main entrance, and the receptionist turns the other way while I hobble out, throwing myDevil soldier plus onebadge onto the floor.
I’m not even aware of the blood dripping down my thigh as I walk down the street in the middle of the night, my feet bare. I know it will take me a long time to reach his home, but nothing will stop me until I get there.
He’ll make it okay. He’ll say the words that will prove to me how much he loves me. How much he would never actually hurt me. I don’t believe he would, but I need to hear his words. I need him to hold me in his arms. As soon as he’s holding me in his arms, everything will be okay.
I’m so focused on needing his arms around me that I never even think to take my phone and give him a call. What would I even say? How could I even begin to find words to explain what’s happened to me?
He’ll see me, and he’ll understand. The way he always understands everything about me. He’ll make it okay, like he always makes everything okay.
But I can’t tell him. I don’t think I’ll ever find the words to speak of this night.
Suddenly, I feel my phone vibrate in the pocket of my skirt. Maybe he knows already. Maybe he understands me so well he realizes something’s off, and he’s coming to get me.
I stop at a traffic light and grab my phone, wanting to read the words that will stop this nightmare.Needingto read them.
Needing them, and him, with every cell in my body.
But instead, the letters flashing back at me spell:
You fucking worthless whore. If I ever see you again, I will kill you.
35
Piper
Present Day
