“Wait!” I shot back. “Get me out of these things.”
His dark brow arched, emerald irises gleaming, and a sinister grin curled the edges of his lips. “You sure you don’t want to continue this when I get back?”
“No, you asshole. I’m not letting you leave me here strung up against a wall where any psycho could take advantage of me.” Those dark memories surged to the surface, and I blinked quickly, chasing them away.
For a second, his expression softened, the hard set of his jaw, the thinned lips, the rage carved into his unfairly beautiful face vanished. As if he’d read something within the depths of my eyes, the trauma I fought so hard to keep buried. He crossed the space between us in one long stride and yanked the cuffs apart. The metal bit into my flesh, and I barely repressed another squeal.
“You couldn’t have just used the keys?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know where they are, and I have to go.” He spun on his heel and darted out the door without another word or a single glance back.
I slumped back against the wall the moment he was gone, my lungs sagging.What the hell, Lexi?Drawing in a deep breath to still my rioting pulse, I tugged at the hem of my dress and dragged it back down my exposed thighs. Heat still simmered between my legs, and a flush of embarrassment coated my cheeks.
That jerk wasn’t wrong; I did like it. Why was my body so fucked up? How could I desire that darkness?
Shaking my head of the dismal thoughts, I forced my feet forward. I had to find Cordelia and get the hell out of here. I peered out into the hallway and readjusted my mask. I definitely did not need anyone down here finding out who I was. That would be a disastrous first impression. Not only was the new girl poor, she was also a total slut getting gang-banged by a bunch of rich dickhead frat boys.
I snuck out into the corridor of silk curtains and searched the dimly lit space for the steps back up to the main level. Damn, this place was a freaking maze. I turned down a few wrong paths,the moans still thick in the air. Shit, had no one else heard that scream? Or did they just not care? Hitting a dead end, I let out a frustrated huff.
“Damn it,” I hissed through clenched teeth.
I spun around, but a familiar deep voice stopped me mid stride. My breath hitched, recent memories of the masked frat boy’s hands on me flitting to the surface.
Then another male. The new voice sent ice splashing across the building embers in my core. Its cocky timber seeped through the cracks in the mahogany door and sent a wave of goosebumps cascading down my arms. The hair on the back of my neck rose, and just like that, I was paralyzed.
No. It couldn’t be him.
I hadn’t seen the man who had broken me, ruined me in that car on the highway for four long years. And why the hell would he be at some college frat party?
I was hallucinating, that had to be it.
Inching closer, I pressed my ear to the door.
“What the fuck, Bass?” Panic raised the male’s pitch a few decibels, except this wasn’t the first voice I’d heard, but it was definitely the voice of my masked assailant from the sex room. Or protector, in his deranged mind.
Then, faint whimpers and a strangled cry. A girl.
My heart catapulted against my ribs. I had to do something. If there was a woman in there getting raped... or worse... I couldn’t just stand here.
“It was an accident, bro.” Oh hell,thatvoice again.
Darkness seeped into the corners of my vision. The scent of cigars and scotch filled my nostrils as I descended into nightmares of the past. My stomach dropped, four years vanishing in an instant.
“She asked me to choke her!” he hissed. I forced my mind to focus on the present as my stomach churned, acid oozing up my throat.
More crying.
“Shut the fuck up, you little cunt.”
A slap and a choked sob reached my ears. Shit, I had to do something. My hand curled around the doorknob. If I opened that door, I might see something I’d never be able to forget. But could I look myself in the mirror ever again if I didn’t?
“Don’t take this out on the drunkass girl, Bass, this is your fault. You fucking killed her friend.” The last words were nothing but a whispered hiss.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Killed?
My blood went cold. My ribs laced around my lungs, squeezing until I couldn’t drag in another breath.
“Hey, what are you doing down there?” A voice echoed down the dark hall from the opposite direction.
