“If you’re going to call me something colorful, save your breath. I’ve gotten enough thrown at me today. I really don’t have the energy to entertain you.”
She shook her head, her dirty blond hair sleek and shining as it coasted over her shoulders. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry that he did that to you.”
I felt my eyes widen. “Excuse me?” My voice was threadbare. Of course, I knew what she was talking about, but as far as I knew, nobody had seen Trevor attacking me. Sure, the rumors on how he’d gotten his ass kicked had run rampant, all painting me in an awful light and making him out to be the victim.
She took another deep breath and looked down at the ground, tracing the edge of a tile with her Mary Jane. “I heard what that big man kept saying to Trevor. He was shouting loud enough the entire house could hear. They act like they didn’t know what Trevor was doing to you, but they do. They all know because this isn’t the first time he’s done that to a girl.”
She looked up at me then, that sadness something I instantly was familiar with. She empathized with me. Because she’d gone through the same thing.
She lifted her hand to her throat, and I could see her fingers shaking. “He did the same thing to me last year. We were at a party. We all had too much to drink. The only difference is…” She turned away from me and gripped the edge of the sink, staring at her reflection. “I didn’t have somebody to protect me.”
“I’m sorry, not only because Trevor tried to take from you what you weren’t offering, but because everyone thinks you’re to blame.” My voice was soft, my tone laced with all the empathy I had for her.
My heart was racing, and I took a step toward her, but she faced me and shook her head, putting on a fake smile that I knew she probably perfected to hide how she really felt. The truth was in her eyes.
“Nobody knew what he’d done to me. I told no one because he said nobody would believe me. And he was right. Not only is his father a judge, and a corrupt one at that, but Trevor is adored in the school.It doesn’t matter that what he did to me was wrong. Doesn’t matter that he took things from me I didn’t consent to. I could’ve shouted it from the rooftops, and it wouldn’t have mattered. Because it was my word against him and his family.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered again, but she cleared her throat and shook her head. “What’s your name?”
She hesitated before finally answering. “Bree.” She smoothed her hands down her skirt. “This school is a cesspool, and everyone in it are piranhas. Guard yourself and know that the only person who has your back is you.”
With that, she scurried out of the bathroom, and I was left standing there in stunned silence.
By the time I left the school, there was still half an hour of last period left. My mind replayed what she’d said.
At first, a small part of me had felt a little bad that Trevor had gotten the shit kicked out of him. But now? Fuck him. I hoped he didn’t make a full recovery.
I was lost in thought when motion in front of me had me stopping and glancing up.
A dark luxury SUV pulled up to the curb. Everything happened so quickly as the passenger front door opened and a beefy man came out.
The back passenger door was already open, and another large man dressed in a suit stepped out. I retreated, instinct in me screaming something was wrong.
And then they grabbed my arm and started pulling me forward.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I struggled, about to yell for help, when I was shoved inside. I let out a gut-wrenching scream just as the door shut.
“Shut the fuck up, you little bitch.”
The venom in his voice was tangible.
“The glass is soundproof. You can scream all you want. It’ll only accomplish pissing me off more.”
The locks clicked into place, and I pressed myself against the back passenger side door to see an older man staring at me with hatred.
He was overweight, his suit stretched across his body so his potbelly stuck out. His salt-and-pepper hair was slicked back and thinned at the top.
He watched me as if he knew me, as if he hated me.
“Who are you and what do you want?” I reached behind me blindly and tried to pull on the door handle. He exhaled in exasperation and ran a hand over his lapels. Was he going to kidnap me? Would he do something heinous to my body?
But the car didn’t move. It just idled at the curb in front of the school, which was a slight consolation that maybe I’d actually get out of this vehicle in one piece.
Faster than I expected, he reached out and grabbed my wrist, tightening his hold so hard I cried out and started pulling back.
“You’re hurting me. Let go.” But his grip was iron.
“I don’t know what kind of hold you have over Hades to where he bites the hand that feeds him, but my message needs to be heard loud and clear.”