My heart stops.
Bryden:I promise.
I send, though I’m not sure it’s one I can keep.
Collins:He attacked me.
Those three little words stare back at me, and I stop breathing.
Collins:That night at your party, he offered me a drink. I said no, but he insisted.
The next line tightens something inside me until there’s no slack left.
Collins:So I took it but I didn’t drink it.
Collins:Then he asked me to follow him outside to smoke. I went but drugs aren’t my thing.
My jaw locks, my pulse slamming through my neck. I don’t want her to continue, can’t stomach knowing what’s next, but I need to know.
Bryden:Did he hurt you?
Sucking in a breath, I brace myself.
Collins:No.
The exhale that escapes me is a heavy one, a grateful one. But my spirit tells me there’s more. And it’s right.
Collins:But, when I wouldn’t drink, he got upset. That’s when I saw that he’d slipped something in my cup. He got defensive before I even called him on it, then he snapped. Got aggressive, started cursing me, grabbing me.
My hand jolts out, white-knuckling the desk to ground me. Reading this sends my mind racing and I think back to last term, to the party that got shut down. Someone claimed to have been raped. They never shared who made the accusation, or who did it. And then it was labeled a lie, swept away like it never happened. No charges ever came about, only a curfew to reprimand us for daring to break the rules.
Collins:And when he tried to choke me, I blanked. I wasn’t trying to hurt him. I swear. But I just saw darkness and I wasn’t about to let him hurt me.
Bryden:I believe you. And I hate myself for not asking the truth sooner.
She smiles gingerly.
Collins:What would you have done? Fought him?
Bryden:We need to report him.
Collins:You don’t think I tried? I did. But of course, he lied, and they believed him. And now I’m sentenced to work with the team until the end of the season as punishment.
Bryden:What do you mean they believed him?
Collins:He’s rich, Bryden. And I’m a nobody next to him. Who do you think they’ll believe? Not some poor girl from the “wrong” side of town. It’s a boys’ club and women are just collateral damage.
I want to tear this desk in half. I want to put my fist through his face. No, I want to shove that smirk he wears down his throat.
Bryden:Then I’ll handle it.
Collins:And get caught up in something that could mess up everything you and your family’s worked for? No. I know they love you around here, being the best goalie and all, but please don’t.
My nerves get the best of me, and my leg bounces under the desk, the metal bracket digging into my thigh. The pressure’s the only thing keeping me grounded and from losing my mind.
I could kill him.
He touched her, tried to hurt her. He intended to rape her. And she’s had to just exist in his orbit, pretending that he didn’t violate her.
