Chapter 146
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FORTY-SIX
MADDIE
While I had sprinted into the room, ready to swing at Spencer’s stupid fucking face, I stopped mid-swing and stared at one of my best friends on top of Alec. The bat slipped from my hands, the tears building in my eyes.
“Piper,” I whispered in disbelief. “Wh-what are you—”
Alec stared emptily up at the ceiling, lips trembling and tears streaming down his cheeks. I sprinted toward her, grabbed a fistful of her hair, and threw her halfway across the room by it, so hard that she slammed against the wall and fell to the ground.
“What are you doing?!” I shrieked. “He’s my boyfriend!”
“I-I’m sorry,” she cried. “I didn’t mean it.”
“You were about to fuck him!” I growled, lunging at her again.
But she made no move to fight back, and I couldn’t bring myself to hurt her. I had no problem hurting the man who had basically raped me for a year and a half, but Piper … I had … told her so many of my secrets, had given her so much of me.
For the second time tonight, I stopped midway and dropped my fist. “It was you.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, her hair shielding her face. “I’m so sorry.”
“Look at me!” I screamed. “Look at me and admit it! You raped him at Oliver’s party.”
Piper gazed up at me through trembling eyes. “I did.”
My hand moved before I could stop it, and I smacked her across her face so hard that my palm turned red and stung like a motherfucker. Tears welled in my eyes, betrayal rushing through my veins.
“How could you?” I scolded, shielding Alec from her. “How fucking could you?!”
“I didn’t want to do it, but my father …” Piper started, hiccuping. “My father …”
“What? What did your father do?” I screamed. “Because he’s not the one who drugged and raped my boyfriend at a party. He’s not the one who lied to me for weeks, who threatened me over text, who acted like nothing was wrong!”
“He made me do it,” Piper sobbed.
“How’d he make you—”
“She’s not lying,” Nicole said suddenly.
I snapped my gaze to her and realized that she, Vera, and the guys were the only others left in the room with me. Even Spencer had vanished. But I didn’t have time to worry about him right now. Not after my best friend was about to fuck my boyfriend in front of me.
Nicole paused, swallowed, and glanced down at Piper. “Your father is an officer, right?”
Piper nodded.
After another moment of silence, Nicole lifted her gaze to me. “There’s a sex trafficking ring. I don’t know if you know about it, but Imani and Allie do. The police traffic high school girls and force them to do things for information.”
“How do you know?” I asked Nicole.
Tears trembled in her eyes. “Because I am—I was part of it since I was thirteen.”
My chest tightened, and I didn’t know what to say to her. She’s been sex-trafficked since she was barely a teenager? What the fuck wi wrong with the people in this town?! How screwed up are they?
“Is that what this is?” I asked Piper. “Is that why you slept with Alec? And that teacher …”
“I know I fucked up,” Piper cried. “But if I didn’t, they threatened to hurt you and Vera.”
“That’s why you spent so many nights with your father? When you couldn’t hang out and told us that he was teaching you to code?” Vera asked, lips trembling. “He was forcing you to … to sleep with people in Redwood for information?”
“It’s more than just that.” Piper sniffled. “There are videos, pictures, people …”
“I didn’t think you were part of it,” Nicole whispered to her.
All Piper could do was whimper beside me.
While I wanted to wrap my hands around her neck for fucking Alec up big time, I couldn’t bring myself to do it after what she had just admitted to me. I could barely even think straight, and I didn’t want to do something to her that I would come to regret.
“Get out of here,” I said through gritted teeth. “I never want to see you again.”
“You should punish me for what I’ve done,” Piper said.
I forced myself to turn away from her. “No.”
“Please,” she pleaded, her voice filled with desperation.
“You didn’t rape me. I shouldn’t choose your punishment.”
“Maddie,” Piper said, crawling closer to me, “please, I deserve it.”
“Leave!” I shouted through the tears.
After Piper ran out of the house, I glared at the open door for some long, tense moments with my hands balled into fists. How can she do this to me? To him?! And how can she live with herself day and night? How can she look me in the eye? Pretend like nothing happened?
“Maddie,” Alec whispered behind me.
I snapped out of it and looked over at him, tears streaming down my cheeks. Once I quickly pushed them away, I dropped to my knees and wrapped my arms around Alec’s shoulders, pulling tightly.
“Don’t you ever run out on me again,” I cried into the crook of his neck. “Don’t leave me.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, lips trembling.
I pulled back slightly and took his face in my hands. “Don’t apologize.”
“I-it almost happened again,” he whispered. “I wouldn’t have forgiven myself.”
“It’s not your fault,” I reassured.
“B-but s-she’s your best friend,” he said. “How could I have lived with myself if she had done it again? Spencer was going to send you a video. He was going to use it against me to break you, and I couldn’t do anything about it.”
“Shh. Shh. Shh.”
And while I tried to soothe him, he broke down and sobbed uncontrollably. “I’m sorry.”
“Here,” Vera said, handing me a knife that she must’ve found in the kitchen. “I couldn’t untie Blaise’s binds, so I had to cut through them. You should take them off Alec before he loses circulation. Blaise’s were tight.”
I gripped the knife and crawled behind Alec to cut through the ropes, watching each thread break one by one. My heart was pounding so hard inside my chest that I could hear it in my ears. I didn’t know what a panic attack felt like, but this had to be close to it.
When his restraints were released, Alec wrapped his arms around me and pulled me onto his lap. “God, I don’t know what I would do without you, Maddie. I love you with everything that I have left.”