“Well, a couple of years ago, when I was fifteen, I was at a party with my brother. I’d begged him to bring me along. Well, he got drunk, I’d wandered off, and I found myself in a bad situation.”
I feel my body tighten at her words. Right now I don’t like where this conversation is going. Already, I know something bad happened.
“I was so stupid. I had friends at school and stuff, but I never really fit in. I don’t know how I can really describe what I did, or what I went through. I wanted to be open, like Alex and Holden. I wanted to have people like me and not think of me as the closed off nerdy girl.” She exhales.
I am more than aware of her previous crush on Holden. I’m not jealous. She is in my arms, and that is where she is going to stay. I don’t share, and I never will.
“I’ve never been so bold, and I liked the way he’d kissed me, told me I was pretty. Things escalated, and if a couple hadn’t stumbled in and interrupted I know he would have…” She pauses, her eyes wide, her fear clear. “I know he would have raped me.”
I want blood. I want to find that fucker and take him out for putting fear in Skylar.
“He ended up getting into a DUI a year later, and last I heard he moved out of state with his parents. That was four years ago. I’ve moved on, or tried to, but sometimes that fear, that suffocating feeling, tries to claim me.” She looks in my eyes. “That night I first met you, that’s what happened. All those memories rushed back with that guy pinning me. You were there, though, and for the first time in my life I felt like I could breathe, like you brought me back.” She closes her eyes. “But how I feel… I feel so ashamed of my past.”
“Hey, why do you feel like that?” I ask.
“Because it’s what we all know we should watch out for. I really thought I was smarter than putting myself in that situation.” She shakes her head. “My brother and Holden see me as being weak, I guess, as needing them to take care of me. I can’t blame them, not with how closed off I allowed myself to be.”
“It’s not your fault. Nothing was your fault.” I kiss the top of her head, trying to offer her comfort. This isn’t her fault, and it was that asshole who hurt her. “Thank you so much for trusting me with this.”
“And thank you for trusting me. This has been the best moment of my life.”
“Mine as well.” Dropping a kiss to her lips, I know we are supposed to be together.