Chapter 44
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
ATHENA
Head throbbing, I pressed my hand against it and whimpered. What happened?
My body was cold … extremely cold, the ground underneath me like ice. I turned onto my side and curled up into a ball, not wanting to open my eyes.
Last thing I remember was …
What was it again?
I had been at Heather’s to get ready for the party, and then I bought wine and saw that video and—
My heart began thumping so loudly that I could hear it in my ears.
And the last thing I remembered was Derek standing over me.
Oh my God.
After willing myself to open my eyes, I tried to adjust to the sudden rush of sensations. There were bright lights pointed on me from all directions, and beyond that, there were people in the darkness.
Faceless men and women. Laughing, drinking, and … fucking.
“Oh my fucking God,” I whispered to myself, eyes widening.
Using all my strength, I pushed myself up to a semi-seated position, resting all my weight on my left arm. Moans drifted out from all places. I spotted glimpses of fur and lace and mesh, ropes and swings.
This can’t be happening. This really, really can’t be happening.
This wasn’t any party. No, this was a sex party.
And Derek had brought me to a sex party? What kind of sick family were the Eastons?! Had Charlie grown up around this? Why hadn’t he told me? No, surely, if he had known, then he wouldn’t have decided to come here at all. They must’ve been planning this for a long time now.
Another cold gust of air hit me, and I looked down to see that I wasn’t just at a sex party. I was sitting in a cage, naked, at a sex party, in the center of the room, as if I were entertainment. Or maybe … Derek planned to use me as the main event.
Maybe Charlie’s father did.
God, at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if Charlie’s mother did too.
“She is finally awake,” someone shouted from across the room, which was large enough to be a ballroom.
The crowd parted and quieted like we were in some sort of sick movie, and Derek Easton walked toward me with a smirk stretched across his face.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
I scrambled to the back of the cage to keep my distance as he approached.
No. He’s going to … he’s planning to …
Derek pulled off the key around his neck and pushed it into the lock on the cage, opening it up enough to step inside it with me. He closed it behind him, the bright lights bouncing off his dark, sinister features.
He grabbed my ankle and pulled me toward him. I kicked at him, but it was no use. He easily flipped me around and dropped me on my stomach.
“Charlie!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Charlie, please help me!”
“Charlie isn’t going to save you this time,” Derek murmured into my ear from behind. “Why? Because you’re mine. Every woman he’s ever been with has become mine, one way or another. You just had to be difficult.”
“Get off me,” I cried, slamming my shoulder into his chin.
“A difficult bitch,” he spit, taking a fistful of my hair and shoving my head down against the bottom of the cage. With his other hand, he grabbed at my hip and pulled them up into the air. “One who will learn how to behave.”
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, but that was exactly what Derek wanted. So, I made sure that none of them fell. I made sure that he didn’t have the satisfaction of seeing me cry because of what he planned to do to me.
Instead, I closed my eyes and prepared myself to deal with all the emotional damage that this would bring. I pretended that it was Charlie behind me and not Derek, that the people watching were those from Radiant.
It was the only way that I was going to get through this. I had to believe that Charlie had figured out what had happened to me, that he was doing everything in his power to save me, even if he didn’t make it in time.
“Don’t have nothing to say now?” Derek growled into my ear from behind, his hand moving across my ass. He smacked it hard enough to definitely leave a bright red handprint. “Hmm?”
I bit back a whimper. “Anything,” I corrected.
“What?”
“It’s, Don’t have anything to say now? Not nothing to say.”
Derek smacked me hard across the cheek—hard enough that I saw stars in my vision. Then he grabbed my hips and lined up right behind me. “I’m going to fuck the bitch right out of you, Athie. If you’re not going to cry, I want to see the tears fall from my brother’s eyes.”