“You have my word,” I tell him. “I don’t hurt the innocent.”
“You’ve drugged her.”
I take a step toward him. “And you slammed Demi’s face into the floor while you held her down and unzipped your pants. If she hadn’t gotten away, you would have raped her!” I scream the last part. “Your sister will wake up tomorrow with a headache and no memory of tonight, but she won’t think her friend betrayed her.”
He hangs his head, and I look at Cole. “Help Shane get her in the car.”
Bennett brings the chair to the center of the room that Melissa just occupied and hands me the rope. “Have a seat, Seth,” I order.
DEMI
I chew on my nails as Austin drives us down the dark highway. The clock on her dash reads a little after midnight. Deke sent me a message a half hour ago to head their way. They didn’t tell Austin and me much about their plans for tonight, and I’m not sure I even wanted to know them. The less we know, probably the better.
Austin slows down and turns onto the gravel road parallel to Lake Travis. She comes to a stop in front of the cabin, and my heart begins to pound when I see Seth’s Jeep parked out front. Shutting off her car, she exits, and I follow. We make our way up the stairs, and I enter behind her.
I come to a stop as I look down at the hardwood floor in the entryway.
“Seth! Please stop!” I cry as he lies on top of me. I reach out in front of me, trying to grab something, but there’s nothing there. My cheek throbs, and it’s hard to breathe with all his weight on me.
I hear his zipper lower, and then his hands are on my hips. He lifts up enough to flip me over onto my back. And I slap at his face.
“I have to.” He growls.
What is he talking about? “No.” Tears run down the sides of my face. “You don’t.” I slap at him again, and he jumps up off me.
I get to my shaky legs and reach for the door, but he grips my hair with his fists and starts dragging me across the floor. “Stop!” I cry, trying to twist in his grip. “Please,” I beg.
He kicks the bedroom door open and shoves me inside. “It’s just sex, Demi. Not like you’re not already a fucking slut.”
He reaches out for me, but I dart to the left. He gets a hold of my shirt and yanks on it, stretching it out before shoving me onto the bed. I kick and scream, knowing I won’t be loud enough. No one will hear me.
He takes a second to shove his jeans off his hips, and I ram my head into his face, smashing it into his nose.
“Fuck!” He growls, rolling off me.
I jump to my feet and run for the front door. I don’t look back. I don’t even stop to grab my bag. Nothing is more important than getting the fuck out of here.
“Demi?” I hear him scream my name as I run outside and to my car. “Demi!”
I yank open my car door, start it up, and throw it in reverse, not even bothering to look behind me.
“Demi?”
I blink to see Deke standing in front of me. “You okay?” he asks softly. His blue eyes searching mine.
“Yeah,” I lie. “Fine. Why are we here?” I look around to see a chair sitting in the middle of the living room. It’s empty, but a rope sits next to it on the floor along with a black duffle bag. Cole stands behind it, wiping his bloody knuckles off with a dish rag. And Bennett sits at the kitchen table with his phone in his hands.
I look at Deke and notice that he too has blood on his knuckles and shirt. “Are you okay?” I ask, placing my hands on his chest. His heart beats slowly, and his breathing is even. Whatever he did, didn’t even work him up.
“It’s not mine,” he says.
I swallow, immediately knowing who it belongs to. “Where is he?”
“He’s in the bedroom.” Cole is the one who answers.
I go to walk that way, but Deke places his hand on my shoulder and pulls me to a stop. I look up at him, and his blue eyes soften. “I’d rather you not.”
“But …”
“Can you trust me that I took care of it?”
“Did you kill him?” He had told me while in bed that he was going to kill him.
“People don’t have to stop breathing to stop living,” he says, and I understand. They took something from him, but it wasn’t his life.
I drop my eyes back to the chair and take a step back, letting him know I won’t go back there. No matter how badly I want to see what they did to him, he’s trying to protect me from something that he thinks I can’t handle. I like that he’s trying. That he actually cares to keep me innocent in their world filled with blood and chaos.