“Don't be. I won’t tell anyone.”
Her smile widens, and she tucks her hair behind her ear, her robe slipping away from her again and unravelling to the point of indecency. This time, she doesn't seem to care that her body is on display for me. The way she's acting around me should set off alarm bells in my head. For someone who's just been assaulted, she's looking at me in a decidedly flirtatious way. I'm not sure how to read it. I know I need to get the fuck out of this hotel room and back home, before I do something I'll regret. Standing up to leave, I pocket my phone, hoping like hell she doesn't notice the tent in the front of my slacks.
“Get some rest,” I order, moving toward the door. “I'll see you tomorrow at school.”
She pouts, biting her lower lip and staring at me as though she’s put off by my sudden need to leave, but I have to go before this situation gets any more complicated. She’s my student and I am her teacher.
There's nothing but bad decisions and regrets waiting for me if I stay.
I leave the hotel room, running a hand through my hair and breathing a sigh of relief as I close the door behind me and stride decidedly down the hallway. My phone chimes as I approach the elevator with a text message. I take it out to read.
It's a message from Isaac:
Just checking you’re okay.
I have to laugh at that. I have a barely legal student staying in a hotel room under my name, my wife trying to run halfway around the world and taking my child with her, and nothing but stress to promise many, many sleepless nights in my future.
“Yeah,” I mutter to myself.
My heart is racing, and my cock is so hard it hurts. I close my eyes and let the descent of the elevator and the soothing music try to calm me down.
“Life is fucking dandy.”
CHAPTER5
CHLOE
Stepping into the shower, pain throbs through various points of my body as I relive the blows that were delivered to me only hours earlier. My chest aches like I’ve got the weight of the world crushing down on me, and anxiety sends my pulse into a gallop that I just can’t seem to slow down. My head pounds, no doubt from the knuckles colliding with skin and the aftermath of the attack—an attackIorchestrated.
I study the little bruises on my thighs and stomach, my lips spreading into a thin smile. I made sure Sam could see them while he watched me sleep, just to add another layer of credibility to my story. He has no reason to doubt me. I mean, what kind of person would pay a junkie a hundred dollars to pound the shit out of them and then cry rape?
Well, aside from me, that is.
A lifetime ago, I might have asked what the fuck is wrong with me, but now I don’t give a damn. I’m the first to admit that I am damaged. I’m a mess, an empty shell of the person I used to be. There’s not a glimmer of hope, happiness, or anything good left inside me. There hasn’t been since I was a kid. I am living, breathing proof that sometimes bad things happen to good people.
“Fuck.”
I release it in a slow hiss as water streams down over every inch of my body. I try and will the stress coursing through me to leave with the air in my lungs, but everything stays tightly wound up, like I’m a spring coiled, ready to fly off.
Stepping out of the shower, I wrap the cheap hotel towel tightly around my body, noticing the burn of the scratchy fabric as it digs into my flesh. Then I stand in front of the mirror and smile at my reflection, taking in the dark purple bruising that’s beginning to colour around my left eye. I widen my smirk when I notice how the puffy swelling in my lip is becoming more prominent, taking away all attention from my features. Everything hurts, my head might be on the brink of exploding, and my body might just give out on me, but that’s a small price to pay.
I’m not used to doing things to hurt people, but I don’t feel bad for a second about what I’m doing. Sam was a creep back then, and it’s clear nothing has changed. He proved that when he took a near-naked photo of me, his teenagedstudent, while I pretended to be asleep.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what that was for.
My skin crawls at the thought and I shudder. I gently poke the swelling in my lip, wincing at the sharp pain that bursts from the point of pressure. Fuck, it hurts. Still, a few bruises and some physical pain are a small price to pay. This time,I’mthe one doing the taking. Sam is a predator who deserves everything that’s coming to him. I’m going to steal his life away from him, and by the time he realizes what’s going on, it will be too late.
A knock on the door jolts me out of my thoughts. For a second, my pulse spikes, wondering if Sam’s back, but I dismiss it. He wouldn’t be that stupid. Rushing to the door, I pull the white wooden slab open, forgetting I’m wrapped in only a towel for a second. The tall, good-looking guy with dark, wavy hair and chocolate eyes stares back at me and my whole body relaxes. Throwing myself into his arms, I can’t hold back a smile as he hugs me tight.
“Is he gone?”
Jake picks me up and carries me back into the room, and I swing the door closed behind him. He puts me down, and I nod, gesturing around the room with a little squeal of pure, uncut joy.
“You like my free room?”
Jake scowls, and my heart sinks a fraction of an inch in my chest. He’s upset, and that makes me anxious because I don’t want him to be upset. My brother is the only person in the whole world that I give a shit about, and his happiness means everything to me.
“Yeah, sis. It’s great.”