Chapter 44 #2
I blinked at his odd phrasing. It almost sounded like a question.
“How did you get a hold of it? Did you ask Daddy Sinclair for it?”
I shook my head. “I withdrew it from my mom’s card.”
Drew nodded. “I told you that would be a good way. I bet the Sinclairs won’t even notice. That kind of money is chump change for them.”
“Still, stealing ten thousand dollars isn’t something I can do every day, is it? They’d eventually find out.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I can’t get more money for you, no matter how much you blackmail me or threaten to release the tape.”
Drew narrowed his eyes at me. “Why are you talking like that?”
“Talking like what?”
“Easy, Selena. Distract him. You’re flying too close to the sun, sweetheart.”
“You know that the video you have, the one of me and the men at The Cove… it was the worst night of my life,” I said quickly, hating that I had to say anything real to him.
“It looked like you were having plenty of fun.”
“They drugged me and raped me. They left lasting scars. I had no idea they’d filmed it, too. Did the police find the tape? Was it evidence from the crime scene?”
Drew shook his head. “My buddy gave me a copy, a week before the rest of the shit went down at that place.”
“Oh, so it’s not official evidence? I thought you said that the investigating officers watched it.”
Drew shook his head. “I lied, obviously. If that were true, don’t you think the police would have wanted to question you?”
I shrugged. “I guess. I don’t know. It’s hard to trust the cops.”
Drew nodded. “Most of them are on the take. Not like me. I mean, this aside, I’m a good guy. I follow the law, I protect the public. I carry out my orders and follow rules.”
“Not counting extorting me for ten grand and threatening me with a sex tape made against my will, right?”
Drew was silent for a long moment.
“Come on, you wanker, drop yourself in the shit,” Brody growled in my ear.
“Finding a way to meet up with you—I mean, what’s a guy to do? You’re beautiful, unique, and honestly, since I saw that video, I can’t get you out of my head. You captivated me.”
“Was it the crying or pleading for my life that did it for you? Or maybe the screaming in fear?” I couldn’t stop the words from leaving me. The hangdog, earnest expression on Drew’s face was getting on my last nerve.
Drew shrugged. “I could see past it. I could see potential.” He sighed and checked his watch. “If we’re going, we’d better get a move on.”
“You need to make him say something, now, sweetheart. Push him, piss him off. You know you can do it. It’s your gift.”
“And if I don’t want to?” I challenged quickly. “If I decide not to go back to your place and fuck you, even after giving you ten grand in stolen money—what then?”
“Then your little sex tape, three-men gang bang—”
“Rape,” I corrected him.
“It gets seen by the entire HHU campus, and the town, too. There won’t be a person in your life who hasn’t seen that tape.” Drew sat back and looked satisfied with himself. “I don’t think it’s a hard choice. I’m not a bad guy. I won’t hurt you like they did.”
“So, you know they were hurting me, but you still watched that tape. You still enjoyed it.”
He stared at me and then shook his head slowly.
“You clearly don’t understand what happens to a man when they watch a video like that. It’s biological. We don’t logically think about right and wrong, good and bad. It’s about instinct. Prey drive, they call it. The problem is you have no protector, Selena. So, that happened to you.”
“Not even close, Officer Dimwit, but try again.”
Drew’s eyes shifted over my shoulder. I didn’t need to turn to know who was there.
Brody’s low, mocking tone felt like a cozy blanket, making me feel safe and warm.
“Excuse me?” Drew spluttered and looked around worriedly.
“I said you’re wrong, but I’m sure you’re used to that.
That night happened because sick fucks thought they were above the law and common decency, and took their depravity out on an innocent woman.
They were fucked in the head,” Brody continued, leaning a hand on the table and getting in Drew’s face.
“And they burned for it. Either they already have, or they will. There is no other justice worthy to punish the crime. Burning comes the closest, and it has a certain poetic justice to it, after all. Men have been burning women at the stake for centuries. It’s time for a little payback.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Don’t interrupt,” Brody drawled in an effortlessly commanding tone.
“The second thing you were wrong about was your simple explanation of animal prey instincts, which I’m not going to waste my time correcting.
The third is that Selena is alone. That is wrong.
She has a protector, you see. It’s me.” He glanced at me.
“You can go, sweetheart. I’ll finish up here, and make sure the police take over.
First, my lawyer is on his way, and he’d like a word. ”
Drew went to stand, and Brody clapped a hand on his shoulder and shoved him back into his seat.
“‘Sweetheart’? What are you? Her boyfriend?”
“No, nothing so pedestrian,” Brody tossed at Drew and then met my eye. “I’m the man who loves her, just as she is.”
I had no idea how to react to those words. What the hell? Has he lost his mind? Wait… am I really smiling right now?
Brody nodded toward the exit. “Go now. It’s time. Cal will take you home.”
“I…” I trailed off, unsure what to say.
I love you, too.
It sounded ridiculous. Absurd. I couldn’t say it. I’d choke on the words and die. Even though I did. I absolutely did.
Then Brody was pushing me toward the door, while muscling into the booth opposite Drew. The police officer seemed like he was about to get up and follow me when Brody shook his head, tutting softly.
“You’re not going to want to do that, unless you want me broadcasting your entire conversation just now, loudly. It wouldn’t do your reputation much good in town.”
I turned around and made for the door. We had to stick to the plan. Cal would be waiting for me. Near the exit, I peered just outside. Cal wasn’t there. I waited at the window, scanning for him.
Oh, right, this place had two doors, strangely.
One at the front, and one at the side. I made for the one at the side, casting one last look at Brody and Drew, who were now engaged in a conversation that was turning Drew’s face beet red.
I caught a glimpse of Cal by the side door; well, his Hellions hoodie anyway.
I pushed through the door and out into the parking lot. Taking a good three steps outside before I registered that Cal’s hair was way darker than the person’s in the Hellions hoodie, their back to the diner.
It wasn’t him.
“I knew you’d sneak out like a fucking backstabbing bitch.” Nick turned around, his face wretched. He’d lost weight in the few weeks since I’d last seen him. He had dark hollows beneath his eyes, his lips chewed and dry.
I took a step away from him. I’d picked the wrong door. Cal had to be at the front. I just had to get to the front door, or back inside the diner.
I took a step back.
Nick watched me a second before lunging forward. I twisted away from him and dodged to the side, just like I had the other night at the pool, running from Brody. God, I wished I was back there. I forgot about Nick. In the rapid plan we’d come up with, we’d all forgotten about him.
I managed to avoid his hand, only just, and ran for it. I raced along the side of the diner, heading the long way around. The surprise threw Nick off for a second, but only that.
Then he was hot on my heels.
In the end, it was my hair that fucked me over.
I was getting away. I was fast, after all.
But my hair streamed out behind me. I should have shaved my head at the end of the day.
Nick’s hand sank into my hair and yanked me back.
My scalp screamed and tore. Motherfucker.
He whirled me into the wall and banged my head against it.
I tried to scream, but it was too difficult.
I was freezing up, the familiar fear lancing through me. A panic attack.
Brody had clearly taken his earpiece out before going into the diner to confront Officer Preston, as he was no longer whispering in my ear. He couldn’t hear me. Cal couldn’t see me. No one would know where Nick was taking me.
No, no, no. I couldn’t stand it again. I couldn’t bear it.
Then Nick smashed my head back on the wall, and darkness enveloped me.