And also because I can’t even be mad at him. I’d do the same thing if I were in his shoes. After what I’ve experienced here, if I ever get the chance to get out of Ridgewater, I’d never look back.
After changing into a black dress and my favorite heeled boots, I sit on the couch with a book. I try to read, but my brain can’t focus. I keep thinking about Damon. And Aaron. And how the fuck I’m going to get out of all this.
Hours later, I get another message from Aaron.
Aaron:
Downstairs. Come down
Demanding, as always. These last few days I’ve been seriously thinking about how I ended up in this situation. What I ever saw in this man. His senior year of high school, he asked me to the prom, and I was ecstatic. He was handsome, captain of the hockey team. Of course, I wanted to go with him. And he was a perfect gentleman all night. He picked me up, actually knocked on the door, gave me a corsage, and asked me questions about myself. I told him about how I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pursue writing or psychology in college, and he was genuinely supportive of both. We danced, got ice cream after, and then he took me to a hotel. He made the whole night feel so special, made me feel so special, that I didn’t even try to talk myself out of losing my virginity in such a cliché way.
He stayed in town to start pursuing his undergrad at the local college, so we kept dating through my senior year. Things were amazing, and I couldn’t have been happier.
But looking back, there were red flags I should have paid more attention to. He would go to parties on the weekends without me, claiming he didn’t want me getting in trouble for being at a party with alcohol. But even when I turnedtwenty-one, he still wouldn’t bring me along. When I told him I got into my dream school, on a full-ride academic scholarship, he convinced me not to go. He told me he would be devastated, he would miss me way too much. So I stayed and got a two-year creative writing degree here.
When we moved in together right after I graduated high school, he convinced me to open a joint account with him for bills, groceries, and anything else I may need. He told me he didn’t want me working while going to school so I could focus on my studies, and I thought it was sweet of him to want to take care of me.
He manipulated me into staying in this town, took over full control of my finances and living situation, and then began to reveal his cruel side. It started with small remarks about my clothes, my weight. I feel like an idiot for not seeing the signs earlier, for letting myself fall into this situation.
When I make it downstairs, Aaron and his buddies are high, of course. I wonder how much of my paychecks that get deposited into our joint account go toward drugs and alcohol for them. They drag me around the fair, stopping to play games and go on rides. We’re in public, so Aaron isn’t out-right mean. In fact? He shows me off like a trophy. Always keeping a hand on my low back, nuzzling my neck as we wait in line. These touches from him used to send sparks throughmy body, but after the other night they make me want to crawl out of my skin.
We’ve made our way through almost the entire fair and are approaching the back corner. The main attraction. Damon’s haunted house.
“I don’t think we have time for this one, guys, the fair closes in fifteen minutes.” I try to convince them we should skip it.
“Oh, come on, Vi, this is the whole point of this fair,” Tyler counters, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t tell me you’re scared?”
I try to wriggle free from him, but Aaron is on my other side, pushing me forward.
“Let’s go, babe. I’m not missing this just because you’re being a little bitch,” he tells me.
I bite my tongue, literally, not wanting to deal with arguing. I’ve been through the first two rooms, so maybe I can get us through quickly.
There’s no line to the house, likely because everyone else is starting to head out for the night, so we’re able to go right in.
And fuck, the doll room is even creepier now. The main lights are all off, leaving only the tea lights throughout the room, which cast the already terrifying dolls in shadows.
A sinister-sounding recording crackles through hidden speakers, giving us our clue for this first room.
Shivers snake up my spine as I walk around the creepy room, and I wrap my arms around myself.
Tyler comes up behind me, pressing his hips into my ass as he grips my shoulders. “Don’t worry, Vi, we’ll take good care of you.” His proximity and rank breath in my ear send me back to that night, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying.
“Yeah, babe, if you’re good and brave, maybe we’ll all reward you when we get home.” Aaron says it like that would be a good time, and maybe if it were men I actually loved it could be. But it’s not. These men have emotionally abused me for years, and they raped me just a few nights ago. Bile rises in my throat, and I have to force it down.
I just want to get out of here.
Zach picks the butcher knife off the table, and the door to the next room opens.
The room where Damon ate me out in the pitch black. Where he gave me the best orgasm of my life before I ran away like a coward, worried—terrified—about what Aaron would do if he found out. My cheeks heat, and my thighs clench involuntarily when I see the counter he set me on.
I can’t handle being in here for very long.
Another clue comes through, and we all glance around the room.
While the boys begin searching for the answer, I make my way to the door. Next to it, blended almost seamlessly into the wall, is the button I know will open it. But I also know that I can’t just open the door without the boys asking how I did it, so I pick up the file on the counter next to it at the same time I push it.
“The patient file?” Zach scrunches his brows. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
