———
It’s been one week since the night in the rain.
Charlie has been distant. We haven't talked about that night. He stays gone and comes back late at night. He sleeps on the couch. I feel trapped. I can’t escape my feelings for him, but I can’t take the silence any longer.
We can’t go on like this.
It’s late and he’s been drinking. We both have. It helps to dull the pain in my chest. He barely looks at me.
I stand behind his chair and rub his shoulders. “You feel tense.”
“Got a lot on my mind,” he states coolly, and I am afraid of what he might say.
“Anything I can do to help?”
“Can you make me not want you?” He looks up at me and my heart stops. He’s serious.
“Charlie…” words seem to be failing me. “Do you want me to go?”
He shakes his head and pushes the chair back. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I think you did.” I try like hell to bite back my tears. I don't know why I am being so emotional. He’s been trying to tell me that he doesn’t want me to stay. I can’t take the hint. Maybe he thought I would be gone by the time he got home today if he stayed gone long enough.
Nothing. Charlie says nothing. He runs a hand through his hair and stays silent. It is all the answer I need.
I go to the bedroom and slip my stupid fucking rooster flip-flops on and start out the front door.
“Shelly!” His loud voice booms after me but I keep walking.
Someone is bound to recognize me. Fuck Charlie. Thick fat tears well up in the corners of my eyes as I walk faster down the driveway putting more distance between us.
I hear the front door slam shut but I don't dare turn around. I can’t face him right now.
Heavy steps sound behind me, growing closer.
I start to run but he lunges for me, tackling me to the ground, crushing me with his weight. I hit my head on the ground and stars dance before my eyes. My world is threatening to go black.
Charlie rolls me over and holds my head in his hands.
I stare up at him as flashes of him come rushing at me. Only they aren’t of Charlie. The flashes are of a biker named Boogeyman.
A savage and brutal killer.
A man who takes without remorse.
A name sewn on a black leather vest floats in my mind as Charlie, a monster in disguise, kisses me. It feels so right and yet so wrong. His tongue sweeps inside my mouth and I love the taste of him. His kiss as good as it is isn’t enough to make me forget.
I bite his lip hard enough to draw blood and he pulls back and wipes at the torn skin as blood trickles down his chin.
“Fuck, princess. You scared me.”
“Get away from me!” I shriek and push at his chest.
“Never happening,” he growls and rips my shirt open, exposing my chest. My heart shatters in two as the truth of everything slams into me at the same time as he shoves my shorts down.
“No!” I push against him and squeeze my knees shut, remembering him drugging me.
I remember the cold dead look in his eyes when he wore that mask to kill my friends. The fear I felt when he stuck the barrel of his gun in my mouth.