Page 40 of Crush
I register the voice as Belle’s. Curious, I crouch until I can see three pairs of feet huddled in the stall.
“I-I’m disfigured!” Aurora wails. “Look at me. Fucking look at what he did!”
“It’s not as bad as you think.” Delaney’s voice now. “So many people are rocking shaved heads these days. What’s that actress who did that series on Hulu? You know, with the girl whose mother was drugging her and making her sick in order to gain attention.”
“Oh my God, are you serious with that shit right now? You couldn’t have mentioned Angelina Jolie or Amber Rose or Kristen Stewart? ” Belle asks. “That ended up in murder, you ignorant bitch. Aurora’s traumatized enough. ’Rora, babe, you look just like Kristen Stewart. I swear.”
A gasp ricochets against the ceramic tiles of the bathroom. Too late, I realize it was me.
The stall bangs open. Furious, gray metal eyes meet mine. Aurora, with an auburn-colored wig askew, spits out, “Wrong day to step into my path, Cum Bucket.”
I have time for my lips to part before she fists my hair and drags me to the sink. Screeching, I reach out and scrape my nails across the exposed skin on her arms, kicking out at her, too.
But Aurora has pure fury on her side, and that gives her superpower strength to bend me beneath the faucet, knotting my hair behind my ear and raging close to my face, “You deserve so much worse than what I endured.” She turns on the faucet, cold water bucketing my face, causing my mouth and nostrils to clog with water. Coughing and sputtering, I try to push her off.
“How’s this for payback?” she screams. “You take my hair, I’ll fucking take your—” Aurora lifts her head to scan the bathroom as if searching for an idea. She lands on the maintenance supplies stacked in a corner inside the handicap stall. “Belle, give me the mop. We can use its handle and make her a cuntsicle.”
Belle and Delaney had trotted out after Aurora, keeping mute as she forced me to the sink. Through the tangled strands of my hair, I see Belle’s face blanch. “Uh, Aurora…”
“I said give me the fucking mop! This bitch deserves it.” Aurora’s cheeks turn puce-red when Belle doesn’t move. She shouts, “Fine, you won’t do it? D, give it to me.”
Delaney holds up her hands in surrender, somehow turning paler than she already is. “Look, I’m all for revenge and drowning her face in a toilet, but I’m not about to assist in sexual assault.”
The fact that Delaney voices my fear spears adrenaline through my veins. With water running into my eyes, my ear, and choking my voice, I keep struggling, but Aurora holds me firm.
This isn’t like it was with Thorne. There’s no pleasurable tension coating the air or the painful wait before erotic release. No, this is cruelty in its purest form, and I have every confidence Aurora means it.
“Aurora—please,” I sputter. “I didn’t ask him to do that to you. I didn’t know. Thorne—”
She smacks my temple against the faucet, the burning pain blinding me in one eye. “Don’t say his name again. He’s not yours to voice. And I’m not his to fucking command. I’m a princess! You hear me? You mutilated the princess of the Virtues, and I have every right to exact retribution. No guy has ever wanted to touch you, and I’m about to make sure they never do.”
“Aurora…” Belle tries.
“Shut up! If you won’t give it to me, then hold her down while I go get it. You’re no better than her. A pussy. A wimp. And you’re supposed to be my marquess.”
“F-Fine!” Delaney pipes up, her dark eyes wide. “I’ll go get it. Just—just keep her under the tap so no one hears her screams.”
“What? No!” I wrestle harder, twisting beneath Aurora’s grip and pulling with all my strength. I don’t care if I lose a patch of hair over this. She can’t do this. I won’t let her.
Delaney elbows Belle out of the way, who swallows audibly but stays frozen and useless. I watch Delaney through blurred vision as she crosses behind Aurora and heads back into the stall.
“No—no, Delaney, please!” I wrap my hand around Aurora’s wrist, pinching, twisting, hurting, but she doesn’t relent.
“What do you think, Cum Bucket?” Aurora angles her head into my vision. “Ass or vag, first?”
“Don’t! Don’t!” I can’t recognize my cries anymore. They’ve turned into ones of pure, tangible terror.
Belle’s eyes fill with tears. “Aurora—”
“Stop saying my name! If you’re not going to participate, watch the fucking door. Make sure no one comes in for this.”
Belle moves, and I try to catch her eye. “Belle, you can’t let her. There’s no turning back after this. Do you understand? I’m not—I’m not staying quiet. The Virtues can’t make me endure this and say nothing. Your life will be ruined—”
“Shut uuuuuup.” Aurora shoves my face farther into the faucet’s stream.
“Actually, the Virtues can indeed make you stay quiet, Ember,” another unfamiliar voice says, the tone laced with the softest, most expensive silk. “But this is not something you will endure. Aurora, release her now.”
Aurora’s fingers stiffen against my neck, her nails cutting into my skin. She’s forced my head at such an angle that I can’t see who’s talking, but the owner of the voice is clear.