Chapter Fourteen
Violet
I GO BACK to the apartment after lunch. Aaron told me we’re meeting the guys here and then all going to the fair together tonight.
I don’t even want to go. I’m so mad at Damon. Not really for leaving; I got over that years ago. But for coming back. For digging up all these buried feelings I had forgotten.
And also because I can’t even be mad at him. I’d do the same thing if I were in his shoes. After what I’ve experienced here, if I ever get the chance to get out of Ridgewater, I’d never look back.
After changing into a black dress and my favorite heeled boots, I sit on the couch with a book. I try to read, but my brain can’t focus. I keep thinking about Damon. And Aaron. And how the fuck I’m going to get out of all this.
Hours later, I get another message from Aaron.
Aaron:
Downstairs. Come down
Demanding, as always. These last few days I’ve been seriously thinking about how I ended up in this situation.
What I ever saw in this man. His senior year of high school, he asked me to the prom, and I was ecstatic.
He was handsome, captain of the hockey team.
Of course, I wanted to go with him. And he was a perfect gentleman all night.
He picked me up, actually knocked on the door, gave me a corsage, and asked me questions about myself.
I told him about how I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pursue writing or psychology in college, and he was genuinely supportive of both.
We danced, got ice cream after, and then he took me to a hotel.
He made the whole night feel so special, made me feel so special, that I didn’t even try to talk myself out of losing my virginity in such a cliché way.
He stayed in town to start pursuing his undergrad at the local college, so we kept dating through my senior year. Things were amazing, and I couldn’t have been happier.
But looking back, there were red flags I should have paid more attention to.
He would go to parties on the weekends without me, claiming he didn’t want me getting in trouble for being at a party with alcohol.
But even when I turned twenty-one, he still wouldn’t bring me along.
When I told him I got into my dream school, on a full-ride academic scholarship, he convinced me not to go.
He told me he would be devastated, he would miss me way too much.
So I stayed and got a two-year creative writing degree here.
When we moved in together right after I graduated high school, he convinced me to open a joint account with him for bills, groceries, and anything else I may need.
He told me he didn’t want me working while going to school so I could focus on my studies, and I thought it was sweet of him to want to take care of me.
He manipulated me into staying in this town, took over full control of my finances and living situation, and then began to reveal his cruel side.
It started with small remarks about my clothes, my weight.
I feel like an idiot for not seeing the signs earlier, for letting myself fall into this situation.
When I make it downstairs, Aaron and his buddies are high, of course.
I wonder how much of my paychecks that get deposited into our joint account go toward drugs and alcohol for them.
They drag me around the fair, stopping to play games and go on rides.
We’re in public, so Aaron isn’t out-right mean.
In fact? He shows me off like a trophy. Always keeping a hand on my low back, nuzzling my neck as we wait in line.
These touches from him used to send sparks through my body, but after the other night they make me want to crawl out of my skin.
We’ve made our way through almost the entire fair and are approaching the back corner. The main attraction. Damon’s haunted house.
“I don’t think we have time for this one, guys, the fair closes in fifteen minutes.” I try to convince them we should skip it.
“Oh, come on, Vi, this is the whole point of this fair,” Tyler counters, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t tell me you’re scared?”
I try to wriggle free from him, but Aaron is on my other side, pushing me forward.
“Let’s go, babe. I’m not missing this just because you’re being a little bitch,” he tells me.
I bite my tongue, literally, not wanting to deal with arguing. I’ve been through the first two rooms, so maybe I can get us through quickly.
There’s no line to the house, likely because everyone else is starting to head out for the night, so we’re able to go right in.
And fuck, the doll room is even creepier now. The main lights are all off, leaving only the tea lights throughout the room, which cast the already terrifying dolls in shadows.
A sinister-sounding recording crackles through hidden speakers, giving us our clue for this first room.
Shivers snake up my spine as I walk around the creepy room, and I wrap my arms around myself.
Tyler comes up behind me, pressing his hips into my ass as he grips my shoulders. “Don’t worry, Vi, we’ll take good care of you.” His proximity and rank breath in my ear send me back to that night, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying.
“Yeah, babe, if you’re good and brave, maybe we’ll all reward you when we get home.
” Aaron says it like that would be a good time, and maybe if it were men I actually loved it could be.
But it’s not. These men have emotionally abused me for years, and they raped me just a few nights ago.
Bile rises in my throat, and I have to force it down.
I just want to get out of here.
Zach picks the butcher knife off the table, and the door to the next room opens.
The room where Damon ate me out in the pitch black. Where he gave me the best orgasm of my life before I ran away like a coward, worried—terrified—about what Aaron would do if he found out. My cheeks heat, and my thighs clench involuntarily when I see the counter he set me on.
I can’t handle being in here for very long.
Another clue comes through, and we all glance around the room.
While the boys begin searching for the answer, I make my way to the door.
Next to it, blended almost seamlessly into the wall, is the button I know will open it.
But I also know that I can’t just open the door without the boys asking how I did it, so I pick up the file on the counter next to it at the same time I push it.
“The patient file?” Zach scrunches his brows. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
I shrug. “The door opened, so . . .”
The boys all file through to the next room. I catch a glimpse of what looks like the inside of Dracula’s castle, but just as I’m about to follow, the door slams shut. The lights dim, and I try the button again, but the door doesn’t open.
Fuck.
A hidden door on the other side of the room opens, and Damon comes in wearing his mask. Even though his face is covered, I can tell he’s not happy about me using his secrets to get through this place.
His long strides carry him quickly across the room to me, and he corners me, filling my space. I’m enveloped in his scent, and I almost sigh at how comforting it is.
Damon has always made me feel safe, secure. Even after all this time, I know he would never hurt me.
His big hand is in my hair, tugging ever so slightly to make me look up at him.
“Do you know what happens to people who try to cheat their way through my house?” His deep voice rumbles through the modulator on his mask, and I almost moan at the way it practically vibrates through me.
“Wh-what happens?” I ask innocently, blinking up at him.
He steps into me further, pressing a strong thigh between my legs and tightening his grip on my hair—not enough to hurt, but enough to let me know he’s in charge here. “They get punished.”
“And what would my punishment be?” The same boldness from our first encounter in this house fills me again.
His sadistic chuckle tells me he likes it, and a subtle thrill runs through me at the thought.
“If you pull that shit again, I’ll tie up those idiots you came here with and fuck you in front of them.”
I swallow hard. Is that supposed to be a threat? Although, I suppose whatever repercussions I would have to face at home with Aaron are a pretty good deterrent.
“Do you understand?” he asks.
I nod, as much as I can with his hair still gripping my hair.
His free hand caresses my jaw. “I need your words, darling.”
“Yes. I understand.” I hold his gaze, letting him see I mean it.
“Good girl. Now, go enjoy the rest of the house.” He turns me and plants a light slap on my ass that makes a whimper slip out.
I get to hear his electronic chuckle one more time before the door to the next room opens and I come face-to-face with a very angry-looking Aaron.
“Violet, what the fuck happened?” His nostrils flare as he grabs my wrist and pulls me into the next room.
“S-sorry, the, uh, door closed before I could get through, and then it gave me another clue. This one was harder to figure out.”
“Well, you held up the whole fucking operation. We just got our next clue.” He turns and moves away from me to look for the clue. “Maybe if you weren’t so fucking dim, you would have figured it out faster.”
“I figured out the last one, didn’t I?” I snap.
His head whips back around to me, and he storms closer, clutching my bicep hard enough to bruise. “I’m not sure where this fucking attitude of yours has come from, but speak to me like that again, and you won’t like the consequences.” The look in his eyes tells me he’s right.
I look down at the floor. “Sorry.”
“I found it!” Zach’s excitement cuts through the tension as he picks up an ornate cross.
The next door opens, and Aaron pushes me ahead of him. “Not letting you fuck this up again.”
I swallow down a snarky remark as I step into a catacomb-themed room, complete with skulls lining the walls and a cold stone coffin.
Once we’re all in, the speakers give us a clue.
Fuck. This might be the hardest clue yet. We all begin searching for what it could be. Aaron and Zach are on one side of the room, messing with a prop, and Tyler comes up to me.
“We were all talking about how fun the other night was,” he murmurs next to my ear.
I try to step away, but he doesn’t let me get far.
“How much we liked sharing you. Aaron said we could do it again, said we could all take turns fucking you. I hope we get you knocked up, that way you’re stuck with us forever. ”
I fight the sob that tries to wrench its way out of me. I will not cry in front of these monsters. I will not let them see me as a coward.
I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep biting my tongue, fearing the consequences of every little slip. And I certainly can’t let them trap me with a baby.
I slip away from Tyler, toward the door. I hope Damon was serious about his punishment. Maybe if he fucks me in front of them, Aaron will see me as damaged goods. Or maybe he’ll kill me. Either way, this fucking nightmare ends tonight.
I push the button to open the door, not even bothering to pretend I found the actual key.
Once again, the boys go through first, and then the door slams shut before I slip through. A muffled bang on the door tells me Aaron’s pissed at me again, and then I’m plunged into darkness.