You need to get out of here, Mila.
Panic bleeds into the darkest part of my soul. My breathing speeds up until it’s all I can hear. My eyes are wide, even though I can’t focus on any of my surroundings.
Justin drags me to the side of the club where the dumpsters are. Knowing I’m in deep trouble, I let out a scream, but it’s muffled by his clammy palm. I taste the salty sweat from his skin, and it almost makes me gag.
The music is nothing but a muted beat as pure terror grips my hammering heart. Justin throws me to the cold ground, and I quickly push to my hands and knees, but then he’s on top of me, shoving me to my side. My hip hits the ground with a splintering pain, and Justin uses his body to force me onto my back. It rips another frightened scream from me.
He moves fast, slapping his palm over my mouth, and it snaps my head back against the hard ground with brutal force, which makes me bite my tongue as my teeth clatter. The blow stuns me, and my vision begins to blur until all I can see are shadows.
Dread makes the dark reach at me with claws. It makes the air thin, and time eerily slows down. The horror of my situation makes my insides quiver and my mouth dry.
Justin’s dark frame towers over me as he rips at the fabric of Fallon’s dress. I no longer feel the bite of cold air.
“No!” I try to cry against his palm.
All I can feel is Justin’s fingers as he grabs hold of my breast and squeezes until I scream against his hand.
“You owe me, Mila. You think you can tease me and just walk away?” Justin’s voice is a vicious growl that agitates my nerves and leaves my insides quaking with fear.
Sinking my teeth into the palm of his hand, I bite down as hard as I can. It draws a roar of pain from Justin, but at least he yanks his hand away from my mouth.
I suck in a breath of air, and I’m just about to scream for all my life’s worth when there’s a blow against my cheek. It makes bright dots explode in my vision, dazing me.
The blows keep coming engulfing me in a world of pain, but I don’t stop struggling, hitting at anything I can as I wildly try to free myself from under him. Dread takes over every part of me, and in this terror-filled moment, one thought is crystal clear – I have to survive this. Somehow.
The music from the club suddenly gets louder, and I hear Halsey sing, ‘I’ve tasted blood, and it is sweet. I’ve had the rug pulled from beneath my feet.’ And then her voice is muted again.
There’s a blow to my side, and it feels like my ribs shatter. My breath is knocked from my lungs, and I’m unable to draw in another. Fire spreads through my side and licks at my lungs, and I don’t have time to process the pain as a harsh bite sinks into the sensitive flesh of my breast.
Daddy! Ryker!
Desperately my soul cries for my father and brother to save me from this hell. It only fills me with a devastatingly desolate feeling because I know they won’t come to help me.
Jase.
Jase, I need you.
An anguished cry tears through me, and I wish I had stayed and fought with him. At least I would’ve been safe.
Wildly, my eyes keep darting around for something I can use as a weapon. My nails claw at Justin in my desperation to get free while I keep sending up silent prayers that someone will come to help me.
Instead of my prayers being answered, all I get is another slap, another bite, another punch until I feel like nothing but broken shards of pain.
Blood fills my mouth, dribbling out the side and down my aching jaw. The excruciating pain all over my body begins to drag me into a bottomless pit filled with nightmares and soul-destroying horror.
Justin yanks at my panties, making a tsunami of frightening terror crash over me, and I drown in it. It sucks the fight from my body.
I feel his hand slip between my legs, and I let out a despairing cry as a demoralizing feeling engulfs me, erasing all the light and color from my world.
My mind shuts down, and my soul escapes to the farthest corner of existence in an attempt to flee from what’s coming.
And then there’s nothing.
No muted music from the club.
No light shining down from the moon and stars.
No dreams of a bright future.
No hope of ever being with Jase.
There’s nothing but Justin as he hurriedly tries to position himself between my legs.
This is not how my first time was supposed to be. I wanted Jase to have my virginity, but all that will be left is a piece of trash, discarded where I belong – right by the dumpsters.