77. Haven
Chapter 77
Haven
An incessant ringing drives me awake. I push an arm off my shoulder. Off my hip. Off my leg.
Sit up and drag fingers down my face.
Day has come, and it struggles to fill the room with light through Bastian’s tinted windows and the pouring rain.
Fuck, I need to pee.
I have to tug the metal chain attached to my collar out from under Bastian’s shoulder before I can wriggle off the bed. I pause for a second to stare at his and Kai’s limp bodies where they lay sprawled on the bed.
I’m smiling when I go into the bathroom.
But my smile evaporates as soon as I start peeing.
“Fuck!” I whisper, squirming around to find a position on the seat that doesn’t make me sting.
I flush and turn to the vanity mirror.
There’s blood on my jaw. More on my hands.
And when I put my hand between my legs, I feel more blood there.
Fuck.
Did my period start last night?
I grab toilet paper and wipe, groaning when I just see more blood.
Are you fucking kidding me? My eyes dart to the towel rail, and thank God my underwear is hanging there. Bastian must have put it on there after I showered last night.
I grimace as I slide it up to my knees, because it’s still stained with paint. If there’s one thing I’ve absolutely despised the past couple of months, it’s the handful of times I was forced to wear dirty underwear.
Wadding up some toilet paper, I lay it on my underwear and pull them up all the way, yanking the chain out when it gets caught in the elastic waistband.
I pad back into Bastian’s bedroom.
Maybe climbing back into bed isn’t the best idea. Then again, there’s already blood streaking his sheets.
I’m so fucking drained. So fucking…empty.
All I want to do is sleep.
I wince as I walk back, desperate to climb between those bodies and just forget about everything until I’m ready to deal with?—
Ring, ring.
Ring, ring.
I detour to the living room, and stare at the wall phone near the kitchen.
Stop it right now.
But the power of my mind does nothing.
I pad over, lift the receiver, and I’m about to set it down when I hear a tinny, “Hello? Mr. Rooke? Are you there?”
Have no reason to answer, but whoever’s on the other end of the line sounds almost frantic. Panicked. I can’t just put the phone down on them. They’d probably just call back. And I don’t know how to disable this phone. Does it have an off button or something?
“Hello?” I croak into the handset.
“Oh, hello. Is this Mr. Rooke’s residence?”
“Yeah.” I wipe my eyes with the heel of my hand.
There’s a condescending pause. “May I speak with Mr. Rooke?”
I’d laugh, if I had the energy.
No, sorry, he’s recovering from the bender we had last night. There were drugs involved, and, briefly, a revolver.
“Yeah, he’s, uh, not available right now. Can I take a message or something?” Fuck, even the rain’s too loud right now. And this woman’s voice is screeching right through my brain.
What are those Egyptian beetles? Scarab. Scarab beetle.
That’s what her voice sounds like.
“Yes, well, this is very urgent. I’ve been trying to reach him since six am. If he’s there?—“
“He’s not here right now.”
“Please tell him to call The Eden House. He has our number. It’s about his mother.”
“What about his mother?” I stifle a yawn, take my collar’s chain and thread it through my fingers.
“She…passed a short while ago. Please have him call us as soon as he gets this.”
My hand feels numb when I set the receiver down.
What. The. Hell?
But I barely get a second to process before the phone rings again.
I lift it without thinking, answer with a shaky, “Yeah?”
“Hello…?”
It’s not the same woman. And for some reason, I recognize the voice, but I can’t place it.
“Hi?”
Man, my head is still reeling from the first phone call. I’m supposed to go in there and tell Bastian his mother’s dead?
“Who’s this please?” the woman asks.
I clench my hand, the chain biting into my fingers. “Uh…who are you looking for?”
“Is that you, Haven?” As she says my name, I recognize Nora from the college help desk’s voice.
I come so close to slamming down the phone, but I know immediately how bad that would be.
“Uh…yeah. Hi.”
“What are you doing at Professor Rooke’s house?” I hear papers shuffle on the line as Nora mutters, “Did I call the right number?—?”
“Study group.”
The papers stop. “Oh. On a Saturday? This early?”
“Yeah, well, rather now than Sunday afternoon, right?”
Nora laughs, and the knot my stomach tied itself into unravels. “Oh, yes, well, I agree. It’s actually good I caught you. I was going to ring you next.”
My stomach clenches. “Yeah?”
“Sweetie, I know you said your father’s away, but I can’t quite remember when you said he’d be back. Was it this weekend?”
“Uh…no. I’m not sure, actually. Why?”
“Oh. Well, if you could ask him to call me next week as soon as he can, I’d appreciate it.”
“Is it more paperwork stuff?”
“The dean wants to have a meeting with him.”
“What?” I grip the phone so tight the plastic creaks in my hand.
“Nothing to be worried about, I’m sure. Just a formality. Could I give you my direct line, sweetie?”
“Sure, sure,” I mumble, my eyes squeezing shut as Nora starts reading out her phone number.
I don’t write it down.
Because my dad isn’t phoning anyone.
I push my fingers through the collar around my throat, tightening it until I can’t breathe.
“Okay, okay, thanks. I have to go.”
“Oh, sweetie, is Professor Rooke there? I need to speak to him.” Nora chuckles at what a silly little girl I am, forgetting that the reason she called was to talk to Bastian.
Silly, silly, girl.
“I’ve been trying to reach him on his cell for the past?—“
“Yeah, uh, he probably turned it off for the study group thing. He, uh...” I swallow, pull my fingers away from the collar, take a big breath. “He actually just popped out for a sec. I’ll give him the message.”
“Oh. Okay. Thank you?—”
I slam the phone down, tears pricking at my eyes.
Fuck.
My legs shake as I hurry over to the sliding door leading into Bastian’s back yard.
Fuck!
The rain hits me like a sluice gate opening, but I stand there and tip my head back and I bear it.
My past was bound to catch up with me.
I knew it would happen.
But, fuck, I somehow convinced myself that everything would be okay.
Silly, silly fucking girl.
A hand slides around my throat, and until I reach up to touch it, I’m not sure it’s even real.
The world feels…odd.
I feel…different.
And not because I’m not a virgin anymore.
Everything’s wrong that should be right.
Everything’s broken that should have been whole.
I wait for whoever’s gripping my throat to speak. To command me. To comfort me.
But they say nothing.
Do nothing.
They just stand behind me, watching as my tears merge with the rain pounding down on my face.
They grab my hair, yank back my head. I’d be able to see who it was if the rain wasn’t slamming into my eyes.
I close them. Protect them. But it doesn’t stop the tears from leaking out.
The hand on my throat tightens. Cold metal from the chain still attached to my collar brushes my jaw a moment before a thumb peels down my bruised lower lip.
But I still don’t know who it is.
I shiver.
Wet. Cold.
But my body’s coming alive at their touch.
I don’t want to know who came to find me when they woke up and I was gone.
It doesn’t matter.
In a few days, this will all be over.
Haven, Kai & Bastian’s story continues in Cruel Lessons, the second book in the Lessons in Cruelty series.