Page 40 of The Damaged Billionaire's Obsession
Maeve and I decided that we’d go to debs anyway, seeing as how we’d invested so much time and effort. Besides, it was the only opportunity we’d get to have a night out with our classmates since no one ever invited us to parties.
On the day of debs, which was also the day for the dummy youth retreat we convened, we'd joined the twenty other Sect kids who'd signified their interest in participating.
By nightfall, Maeve and I snuck out of the group meditation and headed back to school. It was only going to be for a couple of hours and we would slip right back in before anyone noticed we were gone.
We changed in the school bathrooms. The tight, white bandage dress accentuated my tiny waist and dark features, and I had to take my bra off since the dress was strapless.
I also took out the clips and shook out my waist-length, curly black hair, which was usually up in a bun. Maeve had taken makeup from her mom’s secret stash, which we used to imitate the other girls in school. When we were finished, I could barely recognize the girl looking back at me. I looked… almost sexy.
“Siobhán, you look amazing,” Maeve had said.
I had to nod in agreement, speechless. I ran my hands over my flat belly and over the curve of my hips and couldn't resist turning around to admire the swell of my ass. I was no Margo O'Hara, but I knew I looked very good. I hoped Jake would like it.
Jake went crazy when he saw me and immediately broke things off with Fancy, which was a dick move, but I didn't care because he was plastered to me all night. He kept trying to get me alone, saying he’d been wrong about me all that time. He no longer wanted to talk about him but was suddenly interested in me, holding my hand in public, and sharing dances with me.
I felt disbelieving and envious eyes on me all night, but I was on cloud nine. Even Maeve kept shooting me worried looks and subtly reminding me that we needed to get back before the camp noticed our absence, but I didn’t care.
I didn’t like the taste of the drink that Jake kept encouraging me to finish, but I continued taking the sips just to make him happy. Jake didn't hold back with his own drinks.
Finally, he broke. “Siobhán, sweetheart. I need to ask you something. Not here. Can we go somewhere private?” he'd begged.
Heart in my throat, I couldn’t think of anything else left to ask except for me to be his girlfriend, so I went eagerly with him. It didn’t occur to me at that point that a relationship might not even work between us, considering my background.
I wasn’t allowed to date. And intimacy of any kind before marriage was a grave transgression.
Although I noticed sniggers from his rugby friends as we left the hall, I didn’t think it was directed at us.
He took me to the backseat of his Chevrolet. There, he finally asked me to be his girlfriend. He used flowery words, telling me how much he’d come to need and love me. How he couldn't imagine life without me.
With tears of joy, I'd thrown my arms around him, only too glad to be his girlfriend.
When he started kissing me, I was over the moon.
I’d never been kissed, but always imagined my first time would be with Jake Tyler. Only, somehow, I imagined that it would be a softer melding of lips rather than a rough clash of teeth and lots of slobbering and tongue.
Pushing me roughly down, he kept whispering praises against my skin, nibbling and biting me in between words.
Desire mixed with fear. I enjoyed his touch but wished he’d just slow down a little. Instead, he'd moved faster, his hands rougher, his words got coarser, then mocking.
When he started snarling harsh, insulting words, I was confused and frightened.
And he wouldn't stop. Not even when I begged him to wait. My limbs felt useless, like jelly, and I couldn’t push him away.
He told me he was finally giving me what I’d been begging him for every day for many years.
After that, everything went dark. Try as I might, I still can't recall what exactly happened in the backseat of his Chevrolet but by morning, it became crystal clear what he'd done.
The next morning, I'd woken up to a pounding headache. Besides the too-bright morning light, the first thing I saw was my father’s disgusted and enraged face. I looked around and noticed that I was sprawled on the steps of our porch. I was half naked and barefoot, feet painful and blistered, my white dress soiled…
The vibration of my phone brings me back to the present. I drain the remaining, now-cold coffee, and I fish out my phone from my back pocket.
Blinking away the dark memories, I fan my misty eyes and check the phone screen.
It’s Sabrina.
“Hey, girl.” Her voice sounds cheery. “Where are you?”
“At work, where else?” I clear my clogged throat, so my voice doesn’t sound so hoarse.