Page 138 of A Little Jaded
If he’s surprised, he doesn’t show it. Instead, he continues his assault on my arm, twisting it, making my muscles scream in protest as he yanks it behind my back and drags me into him until we’re chest to chest. Face to face. I wait for the scent of alcohol to burn my nostrils, but it doesn’t. His eyes are dilated, though. Angry and dilated. Is he on something? Those stupid pain pills he’s always loved during the off-season when his precious hockey career isn’t hanging in the balance of a drug test? Does it even matter?
He jerks me harder into him, making my bones rattle with his force. “Big fucking mistake, baby.”
“Drake—”
“Shut the fuck up.” He lets me go and shoves me toward his parked car. When I nearly lose my footing, the asshole laughs. “You good, baby?” His smile is kind, but his eyes? They ooze with condescension and anticipation. The combination leaves every inch of my skin feeling like it’s painted with sticky tar. “Get in the car.”
I gulp. “I’m sorry, Drake, but I…I can’t do that.”
“Nah, I’m pretty sure you can.” His lifeless eyes scan me up and down. “Either that, or you can deep-throat me right here.”
Terror shoots down my spine, and bile reappears in my throat with a vengeance. So this is what it’s like. To be preyed upon. To be underestimated. Keeping my movements slow, I take a step to the side so it’s easier for me to beeline it away from him.
I’m not sure why he’s still playing this game. He’s stolen my taser and my only line of communication with the outside world. Now he expects me to…play nice? I hold his stare, curious—and terrified—as to whether or not he’s serious. He’s never forced me to do anything sexually. Okay, maybe I’m giving him more credit than he deserves. I’ve agreed to things, hoping to keep his inevitable guilt-tripping at bay. I’ve given in when I wasn’t in the mood because it felt easier, and we all know he recorded me without my consent. But physically forcing me to do something I’m not willing to do? This is new territory, and when all I find is hatred staring back at me in those dark brown eyes, I know he isn’t bluffing, and he isn’t afraid to take what he wants. Not when I’ve already pushed him away. Not when I’ve already left him, the same way his mom did by dying. It sounds so strange. Comparing myself to his mom. I almost feel sorry for him. For the life he’s had and the challenges he’s faced. But it doesn’t justify anything he’s done. It doesn’t justify this. This moment. This betrayal. This line.
“Drake, let me go,” I plead.
He shakes his head. “I can’t live without you.”
“You can?—”
“I won’t!” he bellows.
It’s a promise.
A curse.
I bite the inside of my cheek and take a shallow breath as a million potential responses flutter through my mind, but none of them give me the outcome I need to get out of this. To walk away. Instead, I stay quiet and silently beg him with my eyes to let me go. To leave me alone.
“I need you, Raine.” His voice is quieter now but just as unhinged. “I’llalwaysneed you.”
Always.
Resignation settles deep in my bones, and I slowly take another step sideways, when his expression twists with rage. He lunges forward and snatches my arm, dragging me further away from the front door.
Instead of fighting him, I move in the same direction, lowering my shoulder and ramming it into his stomach. Hisarms are rigid around my body, and he squeezes. It’s like a boa constrictor around my torso. We fall to the ground. With a thump, the hard surface steals my breath, and he rolls us both over, fumbling with my jeans.
No. No, no, no!This isn’t supposed to happen. Not to me. Not to anyone, but especially not to me. You hear the stories. You hear the statistics. But it’s so easy to brush it aside. To think it can’t happen to you. That it won’t.
Not because you’re special, but because…because itcan’t. Because you’re in a safe neighborhood, and you’re smart and?—
Fight, dammit!
Squirming beneath him, I kick and scream, clawing at his bare forearms until his skin cakes beneath my fingernails. He backhands me, his knuckles causing stars to blur my sight as my head snaps to one side.
Fight!
“Help!” The blood-curdling scream sounds like it’s coming from an entirely different person. His hand finds my mouth, and he covers it with his palm while his weight on my chest makes it more and more difficult to breathe.
I’m going to be sick.
Or pass out.
Or both.
Hurried footsteps echo off the pavement as I squirm on the icy ground, attempting to get the asshole off me before I pass out from lack of oxygen. Digging my heels into the sidewalk, I buck up and down, left and right, while clawing at Drake’s fingers against my mouth. In an instant, he’s wrenched off me, and I scramble away on my ass, my adrenaline fueling me. The cold pavement digs into my palms as my vision starts returning, and my mind races to catch up with what’s happening. Everett’s on top of my ex. He’s hittinghim over and over again when a pair of arms wrap around me.
“No!” Another blood-curdling scream claws its way up my throat. I twist in the stranger’s hold and gasp when I recognize Griffin. He brings me into his chest, rubbing his hand up and down my back as Everett and Drake go head-to-head. Jab, cross, hook, uppercut. Drake keeps his forearms up, attempting to protect himself from Everett’s fists until he lifts a rock from the ground and slams it against Everett’s temple. Everett’s head swings to the side, and he tumbles to his left, rolling off Drake. Sensing his opening, Drake jumps to his feet, rushes to his car, and climbs inside, peeling out of the parking lot. The world feels like it’s spinning because it all happens so fast.