CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Blair
The car stopped right in front of me, and the passenger’s window lowered. William’s leering face greeted me.
“Hi, Blair. Why don’t you get in?”
I shivered, resisting the urge to rub my arms against the goose bumps spreading there. “I don’t need a ride. I’m catching an Uber.”
“This is not about giving you a ride.” His tone and expression told me precisely what this was about, and I thought about what Dad had told me.
Dad was ruining my life as well.
Every part of me was against getting inside William’s car, but this was about Melody too. If I didn’t do it . . .
I took a deep breath and told myself it would be over soon. Before I knew it, I’d be back home, and this would be just another memory I’d work damn hard to suppress. I could do this.
I slipped into the passenger’s seat and tried not to wince when the door closed with a soft click.
William’s gaze landed on my breasts, and I shuddered. “I missed you.” He started the car, and I reached for the seat belt, but he stopped me, placing his hand over mine. “No need. We won’t be going far.”
I dug my teeth into my cheek, expelling a choppy breath when he released my hand to put it on the stick shift.
He drove around the corner to an empty alley hedged by two buildings.
There were no streetlights, and when he turned off his headlights, it was as if it were the middle of the night, with the dark gray sky above us.
Even if anyone were passing nearby, they wouldn’t be able to see us.
His face was a set of harsh lines that had me shudder.
He placed his hand on my thigh, unzipping his pants with the other. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
I cringed inwardly, willing myself to breathe evenly as his hand moved upward to grope my breast. I ignored the loud pounding of my heart and the bile rising in my throat, reminding myself this had to be done.
That this time was no different from all the times before.
That if I pretended I wanted this like I’d always had, it would be over more quickly, and I wouldn’t have to see him again for the foreseeable future.
Except no amount of pretending would erase the fact that I didn’t want this.
I thought of Zach and what he’d said to me about the things I was ready to do to keep my family’s reputation intact. If he knew just how far I was willing to go . . . A sick feeling coiled inside me. He would hate me even more for it.
William squeezed my breast hard, and I flinched, pain radiating through me.
I fisted my hand. “Does my dad know you’re making it difficult for him only because that’s your ploy to get me?”
He chuckled, his eyes shining in the dark as he removed his hand from my breast to pull his pants and underwear down. “Does it matter? It’s not like he has a say in it. Whatever I say, goes.” He crooked his finger at me, beckoning me closer. “Now let’s get down to business.”
I closed my eyes shut and took a deep breath, hoping he couldn’t see I was shaking. I leaned closer, willing my eyes toward his hairy cock.
What was I doing here? Why? Just why did I have to do this?
Dad’s words to obey rang in my head.
William spread his legs as wide as he could and fisted his length, his eyes half-closed. His breathing picked up as he watched me, and it was all I could do not to grimace. His repugnant scent hit my nose.
“Take my cock into your mouth.”
Why?
I made sure to keep my eyes on his face and not his dick as I turned to face him in my seat, my heart thundering too fast and loud in my ears.
Only now, as I was about to take him into my mouth, did I see how different this was from what Zach had done to me.
I’d never truly abhorred the things Zach had coerced me into doing.
I had every reason to hate them, but I didn’t, not really. But with William . . .
I closed my eyes and imagined Zach. This was Zach. This was him in this car seat, with his gaze full of desire trailing over me and urging me to pleasure him with my mouth.
My fingers dug into my palms, then relaxed before I placed my hand on William’s thigh to support myself, ignoring how wrong his skin felt against my palm. This would be over soon.
Opening my eyes to look at some spot above his navel, I moved my mouth above the swollen tip of his dick—
I can’t do this.
I can’t go through with something so wrong yet again.
I can’t keep obeying or turning a blind eye to everything. I can’t be an accomplice in Dad and William’s schemes.
People had lost everything because of them. I couldn’t keep being part of the problem. There had to be some other way to keep Melody protected from this.
Just as I was about to pull up, the driver’s door was ripped open. I snapped my head up to find Zach standing right outside, his face livid as he took us in.
I scrambled upward, horror and shock blowing up inside me. “Zach—”
He didn’t even look at me, grabbing for William. “You piece of shit.”
Before William had time to put his clothes back on, Zach yanked him out of the car and punched him right in his face. William crashed onto the pavement.
“Zach, no!” I rushed out and around the car.
My hands reached for him, but he swung again, hitting William in his jaw, sending him to the ground.
“Zach, stop!” I caught Zach’s arm from behind and yanked. It would be a lie if I said I didn’t revel in William getting hurt, but he was going to get in serious trouble for this.
Zach glared at me, as though he thought I was defending William. If only he knew how worried I was about him.
He returned his furious gaze to William. “You sick fuck. She could be your daughter. I’m going to break every fucking bone in your body.”
“No, you won’t,” I said to him, tugging him back.
William spat blood on the pavement and curled his lip at Zach, scrambling to pull his underwear and pants on before he hoisted himself up. “You’re going to pay for this.”
Zach released a humorless laugh. “You’re asking for it.” He lunged for William again, but I yanked him back with all my strength.
“Don’t. Come on. Let’s go.”
He let me pull him away, but he never took his eyes off William, his chest rising and falling with short breaths. “If you ever touch her again, I’ll kill you.”
I shuddered, fully believing him capable of doing just that.
William rushed to get in his car, and within seconds, he was gone, his tires screeching on the pavement as he tore off.
Zach yanked his arm out of my grasp and grabbed my hand, charging down the pavement.
“Zach. Zach, wait! Where are you taking me?” He kept going, cutting across a parking lot, and I couldn’t break his hold.
“What were you doing there? How did you find me?” I asked.
“I was coming to get you after you finished when I saw you get into his car. That’s how.” His voice was quivering with rage, and I shuddered.
“You made a huge mistake when you hit him.”
“Why? Because I interrupted you? I didn’t know you wanted to suck his cock so badly.”
I jerked away from him like he’d hit me, bile climbing up my throat. He couldn’t be serious. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I, really? Because all I see is how much you defend him. As if you’re in love with him or something. You’re fucking sick.”
My heart swelled with pain. I shouldn’t have expected understanding or concern from him, but it still hurt. “I told you that’s not it!”
“Then what is it? What were you doing with him then?”
I dropped my gaze. I couldn’t tell him what that was about. I couldn’t handle him hating me more.
“William . . . he’s Dad’s business associate. He just offered to give me a ride home, that’s all.”
“And you were about to take his cock into your mouth just by accident, right?”
I grimaced. “It’s complicated.”
“It’s complicated?!” He shoved me against a wall in the dark corner of the parking lot, pinning me there. “Was this the first time? Or has he fucked you already?”
“Zach, get your hands off me.”
He got in my face, his eyes as black as the dark sky above us. “I believed you when you said you weren’t like that. I believed all your bullshit. How you fucked only those who looked like me. How you changed.”
I winced, my heart splitting further open. “I didn’t lie.”
“Yes, you fucking lied! You’ve always been two-faced. A worthless cunt.”
I gasped for breath. With each word, he shoved the dagger of pain deeper into me, and I felt like my whole world was starting to collapse around me.
“And to think that I’d actually considered not following through with it.” He released a laugh, a haunting sound that reverberated deep inside me. “To think that I almost fucked it all up.”
“Not following through with it? What are you talking about?”
“You’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. Because your time has run out.”
I stiffened. “What?”
“Yes, Blair. It’s finally your turn.”
My blood went cold. “No.”
He pulled out his phone.
“What are you going to do?”
“First, I’m going to reveal to the world who you really are. And this time, you won’t be able to keep it under wraps like you did when you burned me.” His hate cut into me, chilling me from the inside out. “This time, it’s going to hurt even more than that tabloid article.”
Something went off deep inside me. “That was you? You’re behind that article?”
“Of course I’m behind it.”
“How did you manage it?”
“I know the girl you met in the trailer park. I went there after you told me you had visited there and came across her. She mentioned meeting you, and with how angry she was with you, it wasn’t hard to convince her to get in touch with the tabloids and lie about you.”
I gaped at him, his cruel words rendering me speechless. Why was I surprised? Did I really think sex and the tender moments between us meant something? How could I be so stupid?
“But this time, what I’m going to release won’t be a lie. Because this is all you.” He let go of me and pulled out his phone.
My pulse skittered. “What do you mean by that? Are you going to post that video of me?”