In my car, in the brutal rain, I bawled my fucking eyes out for long while. Time lost its edges and became blurred, just like the world outside. Every time I calmed down a bit, my neck would ache as if his hands were still on me, and it would set me off again. I couldn’t stay in this parking lot forever, but I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t go back home. Calling the police seemed daunting and likely useless. Piper was out of town. Ade was asleep on the other side of the world.
She’d lose her mind if I told her Cory attacked me. She’d cancel her shows to fly over here on the first plane out and take care of me. Everything I’d done since I left for college was in service of making sure this kind of situation never happened, yet here I was—helpless, weak, afraid.
I sniffed and wiped the wetness under my nose with my sleeve. At least one thing was different. This time, I couldchooseto not be a burden on Ade.
Slapping my cheeks a few times, I blew out a breath and shrugged off my blood-stained sweater. I rolled down the window, stuck my hands out into the rain, and rinsed off Cory’s blood. I just needed to get through the night, and tomorrow first thing in the morning, I’d go grab my things from my place.
Pull it together. Find a cheap motel, take a shower, and go to sleep.
But as I drove past neon signs screaming vacancy, I couldn’t make myself stop at any of them. The peeling paint, the flickering lights, the silhouettes I didn’t know…
My throat had dried out. I felt like a husk of a person, fragile and about to snap. I drove and drove for what must have been hours before somehow finding myself in Kaz and Mason’s neighborhood. The clock inside the car read eight minutes past eleven, and when I stopped across the street from their house, I could see there was a bunch of people inside.
Maybe I could just get one drink at their party before heading out. I didn’t need to tell them what happened. I could pretend I was fine. I just couldn’t be alone right now.
A girl with red hair bumped into me as soon as I walked in. “Still pouring out there, huh?”
“Yeah.” I brushed the rain drops off my shoulders and followed her into the kitchen in search of something strong. She offered me a beer, but I shook my head. In the freezer, I found Kaz’s half-finished bottle of vodka, poured it into a red solo cup, and took a throat-burning sip.
“You came back.”
I whirled around in the direction of Kaz’s voice. He was looking at me with a dark expression, his jaw tight.
“I finished the thing I needed to do more quickly than I’d expected,” I said, trying to look anywhere but his eyes.
“Right,” he said in a tone I was too tired to decipher.
“Going to get some air.” I snuck past him and hurried to the door at the end of the hall, doing my best to blend into the wall. The covered deck had stayed mostly dry except for around the edges, and to my relief, there weren’t any smokers lingering. I collapsed on the backless bench propped against the wall, put my elbows on my knees and took another sip from the cup. The jittery, nervous energy beneath my skin felt like an itch only alcohol could scratch.
The rain had slowed to a drizzle, and the sounds of crickets filled the air. I stared at the wet, untamed greenery of the backyard, taking deep breaths through my nose to try to calm down.
When the bench moved slightly beneath me, I sprung up.
“Whoa, it’s just me.”
I pressed my hand to my chest. “Jesus.”
Mason had taken the seat beside me. His hair was messy, as if he’d been running his hands through it all night. “Kaz told me you came back.”
“Sorry. I hope the invitation still stood,” I said, sitting back down.
“You’re always welcome here.” A second later, he produced an awkward sounding laugh. “I didn’t mean to say it so offhandedly. I know I didn’t make you feel very welcome here for a while.”
I couldn’t hold a conversation with him, or anyone, at the moment. My body had decided to give up on me. I was so tired. It was as if my limbs had turned to lead. My hair fell into my face, the mere touch of it against my cheeks irritating. I brushed it back around my neck, savoring the cool after-rain air that snuck a caress across my hot skin.
Mason sucked in a harsh breath. “What the hell is on your neck?”
Shit. I wrapped my palm around the area that still burned. Cory must have left a mark on me. I’d been so disoriented, I hadn’t even bothered to check what I looked like in the mirror.
“Is that a—“ His voice cracked. “Molly, is that a handprint?”
Rubbing at the tender flesh, I looked in the opposite direction from him. What was I supposed to say? My throat prickled with fresh tears, and my eyes stung. I didn’t want to tell him.
He got on his haunches in front of me, placing his palms on the bench and bracketing my thighs. His eyes swam with horror. “What happened? Talk to me.”
I pulled my lips into my mouth and shook my head. One word, and I’d break apart. He’d see me for all the stupid things I’d done, for how I’d let myself get into this bad situation. Why didn’t I listen to Sandy when she told me to get the hell out of there?
Mason pried my hand away from my neck gently, so gently, and hissed at what he saw. “Who. Did. That?”
