Chapter 12 #2
After I finish, I curl up in bed, spending the next hour or so listening to music and scrolling social media, my eyelids heavy. I wonder if maybe I have time to nap before Nolan gets back.
Before I set my phone aside and close my eyes, I'm flooded with text notifications, one after another.
They keep going…and going. I probably receive thirty separate pictures before they finally stop. I scroll to the top, my heart in my throat.
When I get my hands on you, I'm going to teach you how to deep throat a knife.
The last girl didn't like it very much. But I think you know you deserve it, Saige. After what you did.
There's a photo of me at the party last night, and then a dead animal. Another photo of me at the party, and then a dead animal. And on. And on. And on.
There must be at least twenty separate blurry photos, all taken from the backyard through the sliding glass door. The last is of me sitting on Dax's lap in the living room this morning.
It takes the air right out of my lungs.
The door was open this morning.
I shoot up in bed. My dog. They were out there with my dog.
The door is still open right now.
Adrenaline surges through me, my hands shaking, and I drop my phone on the bed.
I have to close the fucking door.
I step out into the hall, scanning the area, terrified that I'm not alone down here. I rip off my headphones, letting them fall to the floor, and run into the kitchen, indiscriminately pulling a knife from the knife block on the counter.
"Elias?!" I call out.
But his own music blares in his bedroom. He's not going to hear me.
Gripping the knife tightly in my fist, I make my way to the open door.
Arcadia's in the yard, stretched in the grass under the sun.
I step outside, scanning the small, fenced-in space. "Arcadia!" I call, my voice cracking. "Arcadia, come on, let's go inside!"
She gets up, running toward me and the open door. I exhale in relief, but then a hand falls on my shoulder.
I scream, turning with the knife in my hand.
"Easy, killer!"
Elias quickly grabs my forearm, twisting it until I release the blade and it falls onto the concrete patio. "Ouch! Fuck."
"Well, what the fuck did you think was going to happen? What the hell are you doing?! You called me down here to try to stab me?"
"They…they were out here. The door was open."
"There's no one out here, Saige."
"They were! I got some more messages! They were taking pictures of me from the back of the house—through the door."
He shakes his head, pressing his fingers to his temples. "Okay…just get in the fucking house."
Sighing, I go back inside with Arcadia on my heels. This time, I close and lock the door behind me.
"Show me the messages," he says.
"My phone is in the bedroom."
"Okay, and? Go get it."
I turn, and he follows me to the bedroom, both of us stopping when I hear something crunch.
I gasp, my mouth gaping as Elias moves his foot and picks up my headphones, one of the ear cups now dangling by a wire.
"You broke them! I love those headphones, and you squished them with your giant fucking foot!"
He holds them to his ear and shrugs. "They still work."
"I can't wear them like that! You did it on purpose, didn't you?"
"No, but I wish I did. Don't you have bigger fucking problems? They're just headphones."
"That's kind of the point! I have a lot of fucking problems, and I really liked those headphones. They probably don't even make them anymore."
"You think I give a fuck?" he shouts. "You literally broke almost everything I own!"
I blink quickly to hold back tears. I know they're just headphones and that I shouldn't fuck with him, but the texts, the emotions, what I did—it's all too much, and it completely deregulates me. It's pushing me over the edge.
"I didn't do that! Someone else did it because you're an asshole. Because you slept with his wife or whatever, which is pretty fucking rich coming from you! I'm sure there are a lot of people who want to break your shit, Elias. And I don't fucking blame them at all! God, I fucking hate you."
His jaw ticks. "I warned you about mouthing off to me, Saige."
"I don't—"
Before I can finish the sentence, he drags me into the living room. I struggle against his hold, but I know it's fucking pointless. Elias is enormous; hell, I went after him with a knife just minutes ago, and he disarmed me without even blinking.
"Get off me!"
He sits on the couch, pulling me over his lap. "You don't get to tell me what to do, Saige."
He holds me like that, face-down, while pulling down my shorts and underwear. "Please don't! I'm sorry!" I yell as I struggle against him.
But as I struggle, wriggling on his lap, his dick grows harder beneath me, rubbing right between my legs. I freeze, and he works my shorts down below my cheeks.
"I'll try to go easy on you, Saige," he says, my skin crawling while he rubs his hand over my bare cheeks. "But I want you to remember this for the next time."
He spanks me—once, twice, and then I'm not sure how many times.
And it hurts. Tears sting my eyes, and I squeeze them shut, clenching my teeth to stifle my cries.
I try to stay still, but I can't—it's not like I'm trying to grind on him; my clit pulses from the pressure, but I'm not getting off on this.
I'm not participating. He's the one who got hard.
"Let me go!"
He groans and then starts rubbing against me. The hand holding my back down moves to the top of my ass, pushing me down harder on him while he grinds the hard ridge of his dick into me, still spanking me.
"Elias! Stop! It hurts!"
But the truth is my ass cheek is numb, and I haven't been paying attention to the pain for minutes now. I'm listening to his heavy breathing, the pain eclipsed the way he's rubbing his cock on me. It's terrifying. He's going to make me touch him. Or worse.
Smack. "Just accept your punishment, Saige," he says, his voice strained. Smack. "Fuck. This definitely hurts you a lot more than it hurts me." Smack. "I think you're right where you belong."
"Please stop…" I whimper.
Of course, he doesn't. He keeps going…gripping my ass after he brings his hand down on me, grinding between my legs harder. I try again to get free, but of course, it doesn't work, and then I start mentally preparing myself for whatever he tries next.
But then, he groans loudly, his body convulsing under mine. "Oh…fuck."
I freeze, terrified.
He just came. In his pants. From spanking me.
Neither of us moves for a few seconds, both fully aware the other knows what just happened. Then finally, he climbs out from under me, storming out of the room and up the staircase.
What the fuck just happened?
Shaking, I pull up my shorts and walk back to the bedroom, closing the door behind me.
But there's a knock on it just a few minutes later.
"…What?"
Nolan opens the door, out of breath. "Hey. You ready to go?"
"Yes," I tell him, practically jumping off the bed. Suddenly, the prospect of spending the night at Nolan's family home isn't so daunting. Just get me the fuck out of here.
"Well, hold on. I still have to shower and get my stuff, but is something wrong?"
My heart sinks. "Oh…no. I just got some more texts."
"Let me see."
I open the messages, and he scrolls through them, shaking his head. "These were taken in the backyard. Jesus, Saige. Are you okay?"
"Yeah," I lie. "I just want to get out of here."
"I'll be quick," he says.
"Okay," I say, hugging my knees to my chest.
"Are you sure you're okay? Saige?"
"I had a fight with Elias. I just need some space from him."
"Did he hurt you?"
"No."
But that's not true, either. My skin still stings even now. And…I think he violated me.
"Okay," he says. "Give me five minutes."
He leaves the room without shutting the door, and I quickly get up and close it. I pack my bag and wait what ends up being seven minutes for Nolan.
Yeah, I kept track.
We're just about to leave when Elias stops us. His voice chills me, and I barely manage not to grab Nolan's arm.
"Wait," he says.
He barely looks at me when he thrusts his biology book and a folder into my arms. "Everything is in the syllabus. Did you get Arcadia's food?"
"Yeah," I mutter. "Nolan already put her stuff in the car."
"Okay. See you tomorrow."
"See ya, bro," Nolan says.
I don't say anything; I just grab Arcadia's leash and follow Nolan out to his old Jeep. I let her into the backseat, and then sit in the front, rolling down the window when the engine roars to life.
I wish I could lean into him. I wish I could ask him to hold me, but I can't.
"Elias told me about your headphones. You can put whatever you want on the stereo."
"…Is that all he told you?"
"He told me you guys got in a fight about it, and he didn't see what was in the text messages. I told him it was a bunch of pictures from the backyard, and he said maybe we could get another camera."
"Oh."
"Why? Is there something else you want to tell me?"
"No. I'm just going to go to sleep, if that's okay."
"Yeah, of course."
I curl up against the window, shifting my weight away from my throbbing left ass cheek, and sleep for the entire drive.