Chapter 28
Emerson~
I knew that Ramsey was going to be pissed, but I hadn’t meant to lose my phone. Roselyn had gotten the flu, and when she had texted me during seventh period that she was so sick that she thought she was going to die, I had called her out on her theatrics. However, when I had stopped by after school to check on her, she really had been horribly sick. So much so, that I had rushed home, packed a quick overnight bag, then had rushed back to her house to sit with her.
She’d been a pale, sick, vomiting mess. While I’d wanted to call her mom or a doctor or someone, she had assured me that no one gave a fuck, and that she just needed to let it run its course. I’d been forced to believe her when that jackass stepbrother of hers hadn’t even bothered to ask what was wrong with her.
So, I had spent all afternoon, evening, and night taking care of her. I hadn’t minded in the least, but I’d started to panic a bit when I realized that I couldn’t find my phone. I didn’t have Ramsey’s phone number committed to memory, so I hadn’t been able to use Roselyn’s phone to call him. In hindsight, I could have just texted Liam or Deke from her phone to pass along a message to Ramsey, but after a while, I had put Ramsey on the back burner and had concentrated on helping Roselyn get better.
At any rate, I knew that he was going to be pissed, but now that we were a couple, I was sure that he’d let me explain, and it’d be fine, not like our previous battles. When Ramsey wasn’t waiting for me by his car, I wasn’t too worried. I was running late, and I still couldn’t find my phone.
I rushed into the school’s entrance and was immediately brought to a halt. Students were lined up on both sides of the hallway, and Ramsey, Liam, and Deke were standing in front of their lockers, arms crossed, looking pissed-the-hell-off. I did my best to ignore how everyone was looking at me, then made my way towards Ramsey.
I was five feet away when his voice echoed throughout the hallway. “I’m kind of surprised to see you, Emerson. Doesn’t fucking more than one cock at a time tire you out? I mean, I knew that you had stamina when you hadn’t shut your legs for me all weekend, but doesn’t it get tiresome when there’s more than one guy that you’re spreading them for?”
I froze.
What the hell?
I could hear several snickers around me, but I didn’t care about that-about them. I was too busy staring at Ramsey in shock. What the fuck was he talking about? Why would he talk to me like that? How could he talk to me like that?
“What are you talking about?” I asked when I finally found my voice, hoping that it wasn’t giving anything away. My stomach felt like the bottom had fallen out, and I could feel my hands wanting to shake.
“I’m talking about how you can let me use you all weekend long, but it still wasn’t enough,” he mocked. “Even after I fucked you Monday during lunch, you still dropped flat on your back last night for some other dude’s dick. You should have told me that you needed dick every day, baby. I would have made sure to deliver. I’m sure Liam and Deke would have stepped in if I was too busy,” he said scathingly. “You should have just said something.”
Anyone who believed that having your heart broken was just a figure of speech has clearly never had their heart broken. You could actually feel it, you know. You could actually feel that final thump in your chest before the actual pain started to set in. My heart was breaking inside my chest in front of all these people- in front of Ramsey -and it amazed me that no one could hear or see it.
He was accusing me of cheating on him last night when I’d actually been taking care of Roselyn. Whatever he’d thought, whatever he’d heard, whatever he’d seen or imagined, Ramsey believed that I was the kind of girl to give a boy her virginity on Saturday, spend the entire weekend talking, exploring, and falling in love, and then turn around two days later and lay with another guy.
I stood there conflicted on how to respond. Half of me wanted to demand why he was saying all this to me, but the other half of me was insisting that anyone who thought so little of me didn’t deserve any more of my time.
Pride won the battle.
For me, pride always won the battle.
I decided to ignore the trip to my locker and head straight to class. I went to sidestep him when his next words kicked off a chain of events that changed the course of my life.
Ramsey snatched my arm up, halting my steps, then seethed down at me, “Tell me the truth, Emerson. Did I fuck up Ricky, Roman, and Jamie for nothing? Were you spreading your legs for them, and then panicked when Liam caught you guys together?”
Forget a broken heart.
Mine was shattering .
Splintering into a million irreparable pieces.
I yanked my arm from out of his hold, and that’s when something hit me. I looked around to see who was throwing things at me, and that’s when I saw Bailey’s face. It was pure calculated venom, and everyone else looked just as venomous. I looked back up at Ramsey, and I noticed how he’d taken a few steps back. He was now back in line with Deke and Liam.
Before I could speak, I felt something else hit my leg. I looked down, and I almost threw up. There were two used condoms at my feet, and my right leg was shiny with their contents. Before I could make heads or tails of what was happening, I was suddenly pelted with used condoms from every direction. I immediately dropped my backpack, then instinctively covered my face and head as the splattering sounds surrounded me.
All emotions fled.
All emotions, except for one.
Fear.
Not fear from being bullied. Not fear from any altercations that might take place. Not even fear from Ramsey.
My body was quickly becoming covered with human bodily fluids of origins unknown. There were random mixtures of semen coating my skin, covering my hair, and saturating my clothing, and I had no idea if any of it was disease ridden or not.
I couldn’t stop myself. I removed my hands from my face, hunched over, then started vomiting everywhere. My ears rang with the cruel laughter, the taunting, the name calling…but mostly, they rang with Ramsey’s sinister glee.
When I finished retching, I wasn’t quick enough with my hands, and more condoms came flying at me. Only, this time, a couple of them hit my cheek. I cupped my hands over my face, not caring about the vomit dribbling on my chin, and did my best to limit the mess.
After a few brutal minutes, everyone ran out of condoms to throw at me, and I was able to lower my hands. Even though they were covered in a slimy film, I still tried to wipe my face off.
The effort came to a stop when Ramsey’s voice froze everything inside me. “Oh, c’mon, Emerson. I know for a fact that you like cum all over that pretty face of yours,” he sneered.
The hallway erupted in laughter as Ramsey raised his chin in challenge. My eyes darted past him to Deke, and his face was completely impassive while Liam’s eyes were looking down.
I stood there, covered in disgust, looking at Ramsey, and my mind wandered to my backpack. I mentally recounted everything that was in my bag, and then my locker. It was all stuff that could be left behind, and that was important somehow. I was covered in filth, and I was going to have to walk back down this hallway, past all these people, to its entrance. Still, somehow, being able to do that without having to grab my backpack and sift through my locker was an important victory.
I didn’t bother trying to wipe the chaos from my face anymore, nor did I try to shake loose the condoms that were still stuck on my body.
Instead, I turned my back on Ramsey, Deke, and Liam, then walked back through the hallway with my head held high, and my spine straight as an arrow. I slipped a couple of times, and some students laughed, but I didn’t fall.
When I reached the school’s front entrance, I stopped, and with my back to everyone, I removed my uniform shirt and skirt while kicking off my white sandals. Once I was in my bra and panties only, I pushed open the front doors, then walked across the lawn to the parking lot. My gaze was focused on the safety of my parked car, and it never wavered. I didn’t look around to see if anyone was watching me, and I sure as fuck never looked back to see if anyone had followed me.
Once I got to my car, I got in, grabbed the keys from under the seat, and with shaky hands, turned the ignition. When my car started, I twisted my body, so that I could see behind me as I backed up, all the while never looking up back towards the school.
I drove home, then took a shower so hot that the water left burn patches on my skin. After that, I packed everything that meant anything to me, then drove to Roselyn’s. I told her what had happened, and she held me for hours as I cried and cried. The night had been a mixture of my tears, and Roselyn’s need to run Ramsey over with her car. Her outrage had been the only thing holding me together.
It had taken brute honesty to finally calm her down. I’d known that Ramsey Reed was no good, and I’d gone there anyway. This was all my fault. While I didn’t deserve what those people had done to me, I had to own the fact that I’d gotten in bed with Satan’s spawn- willingly- knowing that he’d ruin me eventually.
The next morning, I’d woken up, hugged Roselyn goodbye, then had driven out of Sands Cove. After all, today was my eighteenth birthday.
No one could stop me now.