I darted past him and took a few long strides down the slope. His thudding steps were at my back in moments.
“Gotcha!” Dylan tackled me to the ground. We slid through the rotting leaves and careened to the base of the hill.
We rolled a few more times until I landed on top of him and tried to scramble off, but he gripped my throat and slammed me onto the ground before climbing on top of me.
“No!” I fought, scratching at his wrists, his neck.
He batted my hands away and unzipped my jacket. Then his warm hands were on my thighs, hiking up my dress.
“Dylan, please stop. What are you doing?” I let go of his neck and pushed at his shoulders, as if that simple movement would snap him out of whatever dark daydream had taken hold in his breast.
“What I have to do.” His light brown eyes, the same ones I’d trusted, shown through the mask.
“No. You don’t.” My mind tumbled, the thoughts not connecting. I squirmed and tried to get out from beneath him. “Stop.”
“I do. This is what you need. What I need. Mom was right. I need to stop having a fucking schoolboy crush.” He squeezed my throat and reached between us with his other hand.
“Dylan, no. You aren’t one of them.” I could barely push the words past his palm at my neck.
“No, Stella. You aren’t one of us.” I felt his hard tip pushing against my thigh.
He gripped my breast so roughly it hurt, and a strangled scream burst from my lungs. I thrashed, fighting with all I had left, but he was too big, too strong. I didn’t have a chance even at full strength. He reared back and slapped me, dimming my vision. My body stilled for a moment at the force of the hit.
“That’s better.” He squeezed my throat as my eyes watered. “One fuck when we were kids?” He shook his head. “God, I was such a fucking pussy. I should have taken all of this a long time ago. Every time I stood over you as you slept. Every time your dad left the house and I jerked off as I watched you shower. I should have fucked you like you deserved. Like the little cunt you are. But I didn’t, because I was trying to be something I’m not.”
“Please don’t, Dylan. Please.” I cried, my tears flowing in a never-ending river as I hit and kicked at him to no avail.
He leaned closer, his eyes boring into mine. “But I’m going to make up for it now. I’m going to show you what a filthy whore you are. And I can’t wait until I get you back to the house so everyone can see how I treat cunts like you, especially Lucius. I want him to watch while I fuck you until you pass out from the pain.”
The rough stones dug into my back and the smell of peat and earth sank into my pores as he crushed me. “Please.”
“I like you this way.” He smirked down at me as his cock pressed closer to my entrance. My skin screamed as his palm tightened at my throat, his fingertips digging into the back of my neck. His hot mouth was at my collarbone, and I thought I might vomit.
“Stop!” I screamed.
And then his weight was gone.
Another masked man stood over him, a pistol in his hand, butt out. Dylan had gone completely limp next to me. I skittered back, kicking at the leaves as the man advanced, his steps sure and steady.
“Please, don’t.” My progress stopped as I backed into a tree trunk and I put out a shaking hand. “Please, I’m begging you. Please, I won’t survive. I can’t survive it.”
“Stella. It’s me.” He gripped my hand and pulled me up.
“Sin?” I couldn’t trust my senses anymore. I glanced at Dylan’s prone form and then quickly back to the man. I couldn’t trust anyone.
He lifted the mask. It was him.
I wanted his warmth, his strength. I couldn’t move.
He yanked the mask back down over his face.
“Are you going to do it?” I stared into his eyes, the tempestuous blue so familiar, the man behind them so strange.
His eyes narrowed, as if I’d hurt him. He stepped toward me, but I had nowhere to go. My stomach twisted in a knot as he glared down at me. Then he bent over and threw me over his shoulder.
“Play along or we’re both dead. Got it?”
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t even know what he meant. The blood rushed to my head and my vision swam.
He slapped my ass, the sting worse because of the cold. “Got it?”
“Yes.”
I heard shouts at the top of the ridge. More men coming for me.
He kicked a break of leaves down on top of Dylan and lumbered up the slope, me swinging limply at his back. “I raped you. You hate me. I’m going to take you back to the house and rape you some more. Oh, and I’m Lucius. All that clear?”