Chapter 1 #2
My dazed mind attempts to make sense of the fact that it's my best friend Josslyn on all fours, getting railed hard by a large male behind her.
My lips fall open, ready to apologize for intruding on her hookup, but then I think better of it as my mortification rises.
I take a step backward, prepared to flee, but just as I do, the male moves into my sight line, and a strangled sound escapes me.
No! No, no, no, this isn't happening, I think I'm going to be sick.
The guy continues to pound into her so harshly that I can hear the sound of skin slapping skin from where I'm standing, and the groaning bed shifting across the hardwood.
He yanks ruthlessly on the belt until her face is almost purple, and her lips open in a silent scream.
My mind is in utter shock, trying to discern whether I'm imagining what I'm seeing, or if this is real. This has to be a fucking nightmare.
Dark hair and deep, dark chocolate eyes in a chiseled face with high cheekbones, and a square, perfect jaw meet my glance.
His face is flushed from his exertion as his muscular arms flex, the belt wrapped around his wrist and between his fingers.
From my angle, I can clearly see his large cock is slamming into her pussy so hard that her asscheeks and breasts jiggle with each thrust.
I stumble to the side, my legs threatening to give out on me, and I crash into the nearest wall, knocking off a large piece of artwork that goes smashing to the hardwood and shatters.
The sound draws the fucking couple's attention from the bed, and they stop mid-motion.
Josslyn's panicked green eyes meet mine, and she immediately fights against the belt's hold, trying to dislodge the male behind her with her bound hands.
I pry my glance away from her terrified expression, and meet the shocked look on my boyfriend Noah's face.
He freezes, mid-thrust, still holding the belt like a leash and strangling my best friend further, as she tries to scramble off the bed.
"Cordelie!" His hoarse voice yells as I turn around on my heels, my feet feeling like they're numb and won't carry me, and I race out of the room toward the stairs.
Bile rises up the back of my throat, threatening to spew from my mouth, and has me grasping my stomach, and falling down the first couple of stairs.
I lose a heel in the process, but nothing could convince me to stop my forward motion and go back for it.
I have to get out of here. It's the only thought processing in my mind, and it's a shrill scream in my head.
"CORDELIE!" A panicked male voice yells behind me, but I refuse to stop or acknowledge it.
I feel tears pouring down my face, sliding off my jaw, and soaking my dress.
My terrified eyes search for someone in the crowd of dancing partiers to help me, but I can't get any words past my lips.
The sound of my harsh panting, and my blood racing through my veins, drowns out the music.
Finally, my eyes meet Sly's, then Bryan's, both instantly refusing to meet my gaze for more than a second, a look of guilt across their features, and they turn their attention behind me to the male yelling so loudly that he's breaking through my chaotic thoughts.
They knew, the thought whips through my mind amongst the bedlam, and it makes the tears stream even faster down my face. How could this be happening to me? Did everyone know but me? Has everyone been laughing at me behind my back this whole time?
Faye races forward, shock and worry across her beautiful features.
Her panicked blue eyes meet mine as she grabs onto me and pulls me into her arms, enveloping me in a tight hold, and I feel others closing ranks around us.
Does she know too? Has she also been lying to me?
"What the hell happened to you, Cordie? Cordie, girl, breathe, please!
" She tightens her hold and questions me, her voice rising with anxiety.
As I sob pitifully into her shoulder, my legs finally give out, and only her grip around me keeps me from collapsing to the floor, as my whole world implodes around me.
"CORDIE! Please, oh my god, please let me..." Josslyn's hysterical voice is so loud, and I realize that someone has turned off the music, and that everyone is now watching this all go down. I don't dare to look behind me, not wanting to see either of them, and how they've fucked me over.
Faye reaches down, grabs my face, stares into my eyes, then looks behind me.
I watch the reactions cross her pale complexion, and as her expression turns from shock to fury, I get my answer on whether she was party to what they were doing together, and relief fills me.
"WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK, JOSS! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HER, YOU'RE HER BEST FRIEND!
" Faye screams over my shoulder, her body trembling with rage, as she holds me so tightly against her frame that I'm having a hard time getting any oxygen into my lungs.
"Cordelie, baby, please. I can... I can explain!" Noah's voice causes more tears to slide down my face, until I'm positive that I'm soaking Faye in them. Explain? How the fuck is he going to explain this? Does he think I'm stupid?
"Yo, bro, I think it's best you back off!" I hear one of the guys, slightly ahead of me, uttering with anger and authority, and feel movement as they step between my body and Noah's.
"Explain?! How the fuck you gonna stand there naked, with that bitch's juices on your nasty cock, and try to explain you fucking her best friend at a party she's at with you, Noah?
!" Faye screams and pushes me behind her, and someone else's large arms wrap around and squeeze me.
"And you! You nasty fucking bitch! You knew she was here, you came with us!
Who the fuck does that to their best friend?
You're trash!" My head spins, and the lack of oxygen getting to my lungs is causing the dizziness to get worse, and my vision is filling with white spots.
"Cordie! Shit! Breathe, girl! Fuck, Faye! Faye, she's not breathing!" The gruff, panicked male picks me up like a child, and cradles me in his massive arms, as he moves away from the crowd. Air, I need air! I can't breathe, and my heart feels like it's trying to explode out of my chest.
"Cordelie!" Noah's voice continues to scream for me, and I feel jostling behind us as he tries to get to me.
"Stay the fuck back, man, this is not cool," someone else shouts, but it's all background noise to my heart shattering into a million pieces, and slicing me open.
"Cordelie, please, baby!" Noah's voice is shrill with desperation before I'm hauled out of the space, and all I see is the night sky.
I shake my head, clearing the nauseating memories, and feeling a coat of sweat slicking my body beneath my clothes.
"Cordie, girl, breathe, snap the fuck out of it!
" Faye's grip pulls me closer to her, and finally, I come back to the here and now.
"You can't let them keep doing this to you.
You're giving them the power to ruin your life. They don't deserve it."
"I know," I whisper weakly as I take a deep breath.
"I just... I need a moment of fresh air, Faye, then I'll be alright.
" I fake a smile and squeeze her hands that are now gripping mine as I meet her worried glare.
In them, I see sympathy and grief for me, as well as the anger that is always just simmering for what Noah and Josslyn did to me.
What they did, or what you allowed to happen 'cause you're weak, ugly, and undesirable?
"Uh uh, nope, none of that. Whatever you're saying to yourself in your head right now, fuck that shit, Cordie.
They are scum, and you didn't do anything to deserve any of that.
" Her hand rises, and she gently cradles my cheek.
"You're a beautiful, intelligent, gentle, and loving human, and you did not deserve any of that.
You need to listen to me, 'cause you know I'm right. "
The crowd parts around us for a large body, and I instantly feel a sense of relief as I get a whiff of his soothing cologne.
"Hey, what's happening? You okay, Cordie?
You look pale as fuck right now," Sly's voice questions, and then he must look over my head with his towering height, and get a glimpse of what's freaked me out.
"Unfuckingbelieveable." His thick, muscular arm wraps around my shoulder tightly, and he and Faye help steer me toward the doorway, as if he can sense the panic radiating off of me.
"Let's go for a walk and get some air, pretty girl.
This place suddenly smells toxic and rank. "
"Okay," I whisper weakly, and allow my body to be maneuvered through the crowd.
Just before we exit the glass shop door, I turn my head at the last minute and glance back, and a pair of dark eyes meets mine.
My eyes slide down, taking in his stiff features: his dark eyebrows are furrowed over a pair of obsidian eyes glistening with malevolence, burrowing holes through me.
His square jaw is locked tight, and his lips are in a straight line, a look of unfriendliness radiating toward me.
I force my eyes to keep going, following the line of his large body to his arms wrapped around my former best friend's chest, pulling her tight into his body as she chats with the girl next to her.
Yup, I'm not strong enough for any of this.
"Faye, I need a fucking drink now," I demand as I push my way out of the space, grabbing onto Sly's arm to prevent my legs from crumpling, and making me face-plant on the concrete, as the crisp early February air hits my clammy skin.
I've made enough of an ass of myself today already by allowing him to witness the scars he's left behind, and how he's still impacting me.
That's all he gets. He doesn't get to feel further satisfaction from how I'm bleeding out, from the way he tore my heart out and stomped on it.
"Sly, take me somewhere to drink, and then take me home to fuck my brains out."