Chapter 34
It’s like all hell has broken loose, everything happening at once. Mom is frozen in the doorway, screaming while James immediately puts himself back in his pants, babbling the entire time.
Mom is hardly listening, too busy reacting to what she walked in on. “What the fuck is this? What are you doing? Leni, what is this? James!”
“I can explain. I didn’t mean for this to happen!” James insists while the guys offer their own excuses behind him, frantically pulling their clothes on.
She knows. She’s seen it with her own eyes. She can’t tell me it didn’t happen because she’s seen it. I’ve never felt this ashamed in my life. My heart is breaking, and I haven’t stopped crying yet, but at least she knows and can’t pretend otherwise.
“She’s been doing this from the beginning!” James thrusts his arm toward me when all I’m trying to do is cover myself up with the blankets as best I can. “She’s been seducing me from the minute you brought her here! I’m so ashamed.”
My insides go cold. After all the things he’s done so far, how did I not see this coming? “That’s not true!” I scream over him. “Mom, that isn’t true at all!”
“She tried to get to Colt, but he turned her down, and she’s been using me to get back at him. From the very beginning, she did everything she could to turn me on and get me to look at her and not you, sweetheart.”
“Mom, he’s lying!” I’m still sobbing, but now it’s for a different reason. “Mom, they hurt me. They made me do this!”
“Please.” James shoots me a filthy, cold look. “Everybody in town knows you’ve been obsessed with this family, with my sons, for years. It’s disgusting. I’m only sorry I was weak enough not to call you on your pathetic little blackmail scheme.”
“What blackmail scheme?” I look at the guys, but they’re turned away from me.
“You’ve conveniently forgotten the recording you made the night of the rehearsal dinner?” He even has the nerve to glare at me. He’s that devoid of a conscience. “When you seduced Colt, recorded it, then threatened to take it to the police and say you were under the influence, and he raped you?”
I can’t breathe. There isn’t any air in the room. My mouth moves, but nothing comes out. He would stoop this low?
And not only him. Colt speaks as he pulls a shirt over his head. “He’s telling the truth.”
“What?”
He won’t look at me, the coward. “She said we had to do things to her, or else she’d go to the police.”
“Look at the tattoo on her ass,” Nix continues. “Alistair. She had our last name tattooed on her ass. That’s how obsessed she is.”
“None of this is true! Mom, they drugged me while you were gone. That’s when I got that—”
“Shut the hell up with your lies,” James warns.
“I’m only glad your mother came back when she did.
I’m sorry she had to see what a filthy degenerate she raised, but at least she’ll see what you’ve been doing to us all this time.
You can’t stand to see us happy. You need to have your way, no matter who it hurts. ”
She won’t look at me. Why won’t she look at me? I have to get through to her somehow. “Mom. You know that’s not what I’m like. I swear, I didn’t want any of this.”
“You certainly sounded like you wanted it when I walked in.”
That’s it. That’s the gut punch. I’ve lost. I never stood a chance.
She folds her arms over herself, and I can see she’s shaking. I guess she would be. She just walked in on her husband and stepsons using her daughter. While her daughter cried out and begged for more. Jesus, could this be any worse?
“I swear, I didn’t want any of this to happen. Please, believe me.”
“You know what? I’m through with you. I don’t want to hear another word out of your lying whore mouth.
Get the fuck out of my house. Pack your things and go.
I don’t care where you end up. I don’t care if I never see you again.
In fact,” she adds, viciously ripping the comforter away from me, so I’m fully exposed again.
“It would be better for you if I never do. Because if I set my eyes on you again, I will kill you. Do you understand? I will finally be rid of you, one way or another.”
I don’t know what to think. How to feel. All I know is I need to get out of here.
I run out of the bedroom without looking at any of them, fleeing for my own room and slamming the door.
I tear the flimsy garment away from me and throw it on the floor, stepping on it on my way to the dresser, where I quickly pull on a hoodie and a pair of leggings.
After that, I grab my backpack and jam in as much as I can.
It’s the best I can do in a hurry, and I am definitely in a hurry.
My brain never stops turning the entire time.
I hear them down the hall, still arguing, with James defending himself while his sons back him up.
I would say I can’t believe it, but that’s not true.
I wouldn’t put anything past them. It’s like they rehearsed the whole damn thing.
Like they had their excuse already and waiting just in case we ever got found out.
And, of course, she didn’t believe me. Why would she?
She never has. From the beginning, she’s been sure I would ruin this relationship for her.
And the thing is, even now, after she’s rejected me and basically kicked me out of her life, I still want to warn her about who he is, how he is.
I seriously doubt I’m the only person who brings this out in him.
Eventually, those dark needs of his will have to be fulfilled.
Either he does it with her or somebody else—either way, this isn’t going to be the last time a situation like this happens.
Even though she’s hurt me more times than I can count, I really hope she’s not the one he decides to hurt.
Once I’m sure I have everything that matters, I put on my shoes and listen at the door to see what’s happening now.
I don’t want to run out into the hall and come face-to-face with her.
I don’t even want to know what James has told her since I left the room, but I imagine it’s much worse.
God, how can he live with himself? And how can his sons live with themselves, for that matter?
Lying the way they did. They know damn well how I ended up with this stupid tattoo, but they’re willing to pretend it was my idea, that I’m obsessed.
The hallway is empty, thank god. I take off running, dashing down the stairs with my backpack slung over one shoulder. At least I get to leave. I don’t know where I’m going, but I have a little bit of money in the bank. I can figure things out once I’m away from here.
But the sight of my two worst enemies standing in the driveway makes me stop short and backpedal a little. Nix is standing at the open driver’s door to the truck while Colt steps forward, closer to me. “Come on.”
“Go to hell,” I fire back. “Like I would go anywhere with the two of you—you fucking liars. You sick fucking liars.”
“Get in the truck,” Colt growls. “Or I’m going to put you in it.”
“You know where you can put your truck? Right up your ass. See how you feel.” I begin to walk around him in a wide arc, but of course, it does me no good.
He picks me up and unceremoniously dumps me in the back of the truck before slamming the door.
By the time I sit up and reach for the handle, Nix has already engaged the locks.
“This is kidnapping, you assholes. What, do you want to add that to your list of crimes? It wasn’t enough to rape me. Now you have to fucking kidnap me? I bet this is your father’s way of keeping me quiet forever, isn’t it? Are you supposed to take me somewhere, leave me there to rot?”
“Are you finished?” Nix mutters as we drive away from the house.
I don’t bother looking back. I’ll never see it again, anyway.
Not once they’re finished with me. Considering everything that’s happened, I don’t think the idea of them murdering me at their father’s command is that far outside the realm of possibility.
It’s not a very long ride, but it’s a silent one.
I don’t say another word until it’s clear they’re not taking me out to the woods or anything like that.
No, in fact, we’re rolling through a cute little college campus with pubs and shops sprinkled around the outside.
People are all over the place, wandering in and out of restaurants and cafés, hanging out at tables on the sidewalk.
This is where I’m supposed to be starting school. Not for another few days, but this is the place. “Why are you bringing me here?” I finally have to ask.
“Why do you think? A deal is a deal.” Nix pulls to a stop in front of a long, three-story building on the edge of campus.
Colt turns in his seat and holds out a key. “Your room number 312. This is the key to your door.”
I feel like I’ve walked into a movie halfway through, and I’m the only one who isn’t caught up on the plot. “I don’t get it.”
“You’re here. You’re at school. And you’re all set—everything is paid up, and there’s money in your account, so you can go to the cafeteria, the bookstore, or whatever. It’s all there.”
“Like I said, we had a deal,” Nix reminds me. “And we confirmed everything is set up for you. Go ahead. Take the key and get out of here.”
Can this be true? I want it to be, but it all seems so sudden. Like being thrown from one insane situation into another with hardly any time to gather my thoughts in between.
“You’re sure about this?” I whisper, staring at the key in my palm. “This isn’t a trick?”
“You’d better hurry,” Nix grunts, staring straight ahead. “We’ve got to get back home. We’ll be missed.”
“It’s for real,” Colt tells me in a quieter voice. “Go on. Go, like, be a college student.”
Even though I should be happy, all I can do is hate them. They’ve even taken this from me. I should be joyful, full of hope, and looking forward to the next phase in my life. Instead, I’m afraid to get out of the truck because I just know I’ll end up finding out this was all a trick.
Still, I have nowhere else to go, do I? I guess I’ll find out whether they’ve been fucking with me all this time if I try to use this key and it doesn’t work.
Maybe I didn’t really believe they would follow through with their part of our agreement.
I mean, it’s not like they’ve ever given me a reason to believe they’re sincere.
I climb down from the truck without saying a word and slam the door for good measure before starting up the pathway toward the entrance to the building.
People walk in and out, some carrying boxes, and the energy is happy and upbeat.
Even though class doesn’t start for another few days, today was the first day we were allowed to move in.
To think, all these people were finishing last-minute stuff before moving in while I spent the day dreading having my ass fucked.
I take the elevator to the third floor and walk down to room 312.
I’m still holding the key in my palm, my fingers closed tight around it.
Is this for real? If I try this key and it doesn’t work, that might be what breaks me.
I might finally fall to pieces here in this hallway with a bunch of strangers wandering back and forth.
But it does fit, and it turns in the lock, and the door opens to reveal a room that’s actually a hell of a lot nicer than I ever would have expected.
There are two beds, one on the left-hand wall and one on the right, two dressers, and two nightstands.
There’s plenty of space, lots of room in the closets, and the windows overlook the campus.
There are also two desks; on one sits a new laptop and a new phone. I can’t believe I forgot my old laptop. Luckily, everything is saved on my cloud.
Since the other side of the room contains no items—the closet’s empty, and nothing is in the dresser—I’m assuming it’s supposed to be mine.
Is it really over? Did they really let me go and make sure I’m set up comfortably here?
There are even clothes in the dresser and hanging from the rod in the closet.
All of it is new, with the tags still attached.
Like whoever bought it went by the sizes of the clothes in my room.
But which one of them would be that thoughtful?
It’s almost too much to be believed, but the evidence kind of speaks for itself. I’m still waiting for somebody to jump out and yell Gotcha and laugh themselves sick while I fall to pieces, but that’s not happening. The bed even has clean sheets on it, the whole nine yards.
I think this is it. I want this to be it.
But instead of releasing the breath I’m holding and letting myself relax, all I can do is sit down on the bed and stare at the new computer and wonder if this is all part of their fucked-up game.