And by then it would be too late.
My lecherous foster father was going to have me all to himself for the night and I was under no illusions about what he had planned for me.
EIGHTEEN
“Been waiting a long time for this,” Gary Spaulding said, as he dragged me out to the barn behind his house. The car ride home had been excruciatingly long and horrible, broken only by my foster father’s off-key singing as he sang along to the Country Western music he was playing loudly on the radio. Clearly he was in a good mood about finally getting his way with me.
It was nighttime and dark when the BMW’s tires crunched on the gravel driveway and he dragged me past the house and out towards the barn. But dark or not, by now the way was so familiar to me I could have walked it in my sleep. I had been sleeping out here in the heat and humidity of Summer and the chill of Winter for the last two and half years. My sad collection of clothes was still stored in the same broken trunk and the thin, inadequate foam pallet still served as my bed.
Nick had managed to get the two of us some sleeping bags, which were a little better than the dirty sheets and ragged blanket Nancy Spaulding had first presented me with, but the fact was, we had basically been camping out for what felt like forever.
At first, I couldn’t figure out why Gary was dragging me out to the barn—he had always had Maria go into one of the spare bedrooms upstairs. Then he turned to me and grinned.
“This isn’t as comfortable as fucking in a bed, but I think it’ll do. After all, what Nancy doesn’t know won’t hurt her, right?”
“You better leave me alone!” My voice quivered more than I liked. “If you touch me I’ll go to the police and ask them to do a rape kit!” I threatened him.
He sneered at me.
“Yeah, that’s what your foster mother says. But I say—how are they gonna know who did the deed as long as I wear this?”
Digging in his pocket with the hand that wasn’t clamped around my arm he pulled out a square foil packet I recognized as a condom, though I only knew what it was because some of the boys in my Biology class had been flashing some around.
“You see,” he continued, “The way I figure it, you’re probably already having sex with that little shit, Nick, right? So you can complain if you want, but then Nancy and I will just make a report and tell them we caught the two of you fucking.” He grinned savagely at me. “And since Nick is almost eighteen, that would be statutory rape, now wouldn’t it? You don’t want to send your sweet big brother to jail for the rest of his life, do you?”
I felt like he had punched me in the gut. Of course Nick and I weren’t sleeping together—I was still a virgin. But how could I convince the police of that if Nancy and Gary started lying about him? Would they really send him to jail? Would I ruin the future of the one person in the world I cared about most if I said anything about what Gary was about to do to me? Would I send the boy I loved to prison if I dared to tell?
Gary Spaulding obviously saw the indecision on my face because he grinned hugely, his hand tightening on my arm.
“Yeah, you know it’s true, don’t you, you little slut? You put me off a long time but tonight you’re just going to have to spread your legs and take it! I’m finally going to get what’s mine!”
“I’m not yours, you sick fuck!” I snarled at him. But he just laughed and pushed me down on top of the thin foam mattress that was my bed. Then he crawled on top of me.
I fishtailed under him desperately, trying to fight and claw my way free. I wished that I could Shift into one of the huge, hairy wolves I sometimes saw in the dreams I had of my father and the pack. But I knew instinctively that females weren’t able to do that—only male Weres had wolves inside them. I had no inner weapon I could use.
But maybe I could find a different one. I still had those shards of mirror at the bottom of my trunk, I suddenly remembered—the ones that had been left from whoever had it before me. I hadn’t known why I had kept those long, silver shards—not until now. But as I stretched desperately with one hand to flip open the lid and fumble inside, I knew that some deep instinct had told me to keep them for a contingency just like this.