And then she raised her hand, slapping him across the mask.
A pang of admiration hit me and I faltered, seeing more of Winter in her than I wanted to. She was a fighter.
Hit him again. Like I should’ve done to my mother long before I finally did.
Hit him again.
Hit me.
But he threw her onto the ground, her body landing on the cold, wet leaves, and she flipped over, scurrying backward, trying to get away.
Trevor lunged for her, coming down on top of her, and I cocked my head, watching carefully.
He looked like he was whispering something in her ear, but I couldn’t hear.
Then she belted, “Get off me!”
He grabbed her hair, shouting back to me, “Hold her arms!”
“No!” Rika cried, thrashing and kicking. “Get off!”
I didn’t budge.
Trevor held her hands above her head with one hand and her neck with the other, and she tried to get free of his hold but couldn’t.
She couldn’t.
She couldn’t stop what was happening.
I blinked. No. I didn’t want this. I wanted to scare her. Threaten her, frighten her, run to the edge and nearly lose my balance, but…
She fought. Like many of us should have learned how to do so much sooner.
“Enough,” I said.
But he didn’t hear me. He kept struggling with her.
I said it louder, “Enough!”
Trevor froze for a moment, turning his head.
I charged over, grabbed him, and threw him off, reaching down and dragging Rika back up to her feet by her sweatshirt.
“Stop crying,” I gritted out, holding her by collar. “We weren’t going to hurt you, but now you know that we can.”
I grabbed her by the back of her hair, her face flushed, upset, and still scared out of her mind, just like Winter that first night I broke in. “Michael doesn’t want you, and neither do we,” I breathed out. “You get that? I want you to stop watching us and stop following us like a pathetic dog begging for someone to notice her.” And then I shoved her away, seeing Winter stumbling back from me. “Get a fucking life of your own, Rika, and stay the hell away from us. No one wants you.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and she spun around and ran into the forest, toward her home, as fast as she could.
“What the hell was that?” Trevor spat out, whipping off his mask.
His blondish hair was sweaty, and he scowled at me as he shot Kai’s mask to me like a basketball. I caught it and turned away, yanking the car door open and climbing in.
I wanted to fuck with her. Maybe fuck her, too, or anyone just to get my head clear—but goddammit—that wasn’t…
He wasn’t stopping.
She wasn’t having fun.