Chapter Thirty-One
I woke up being hauled out of a vehicle by someone. Intense pressure filled my head, making it feel like it was about to explode. If that wasn’t bad enough, I was seeing double everything, my vision blurry and not tracking as fast as I’d like.
“Who?” I whispered, trying to look up at the person carrying me. Realizing it was Boyd, I tried to scramble, but my body was so heavy, laden with incoordination. “No!” I yelled, pushing at his jaw, bopping his mouth.
“Be quiet,” he grumbled, picking up his pace on the forest-lined trail.
“Fire!” I screamed. I sucked in as much air as I could, steeling to shriek again. “Fire! FIRE! There’s a fire! Help!”
I knew to scream about a fire, not rape, because people cared more about property damage than a woman.
With a frustrated grunt, he dumped me on my feet, hauling me close to him while covering my mouth with the other hand. I stumbled so he jerked me closer, painfully grasping my breast, dragging me into the forest before throwing me down to the ground. My wrist stung as I tried to brace myself.
Scream for a fire.
Act like you want it.
Tell him you’re on your period.
Look him in the eye.
Scratch him to get DNA.
All the stupid advice cycled through my head as I scrambled on the forest floor as he stood over me.
“I’m on my period. You don’t want me. I promise.”
His hands went to his belt to take out his gun. “Doesn’t matter. That little cunt of yours will be bleeding once I rip it fucking you.”
I clawed at the dirt, trying to get away, my vision going white in panic.
How could it end this way? Was he going to kill me first then rape me? Or the other way around?
Crows circled above us, their caws creating a building cacophony that echoed in my ears along with my drumming pulse.
He covered my mouth as he kneeled over me, pinning my bony hip bone to the earth with one of his knees, the cool dirt an icy companion in my horror. He lifted his gun under my chin, pushing it hard enough to incite a burn. “You were on the back of that bike with him, weren’t you?”
I nodded without thinking.
“You fucked him, didn’t you?” He lifted his hand with his question.
“Yes,” I whispered.
With my admission, he reeled back, pistol-whipping me in the face. Blood erupted in my mouth as the metal clanged against my lip, knocking a tooth.
“Why couldn’t you just fuck me like the little whore you are?” he roared, veins bulging on his forehead.
“Don’t do this. Please don’t do this! I’m saying no!” I pushed at his chest with my hands, causing my wrist to flare in pain, the rough canvas of his cop uniform scratching my palms. “No!”
He roughly seized my wrists, flinging them away. In the process, the bracelet Kaylee gave me snapped, beads slinging everywhere around us. My mouth gaped as white-hot pain shot up my arm, causing blood to gurgle in the back of my throat.
“You’re going to lie back and take it. Or I’m going to go take this gun and empty it into Dane’s stupid fucking head!”
His hand moved to my throat, squeezing enough to scare me. “Do you hear me?” He squeezed tighter, my vision getting spotty as I gulped down my own blood. “You embarrassed me that night at Tilly’s. Now your scrawny ass is going to pay for it.”
This was it. This was how I was going to die. Not peacefully in my bed but in this forest. Raped and murdered and left for the crows to pick out my lifeless eyes.
Unable to process my fate, I gasped in a breath. “I hate you!”
It was the only thing I wanted Boyd to know. It was the only thing I could muster from my brain.
I blinked back tears as he dropped his gun to reach down to unbuckle his belt. My entire body stiffened with the jangling of metal. My blood rushed to my head, bulging at my temples as I stared at the crows, unable to watch him trying to get an erection.
I thought of my stupid mom and Texas. I’d never see a sunset in Texas again. I’d never laugh with Kaylee over margaritas again. I’d never get to clutch Dane on a motorcycle ride again. None of it, ever again.
A light traveled across the tops of the trees. I followed it until it went across Boyd’s face, the shadows of the branches lining his homely features.
“Get off her!” a deep voice barked in the night. Boyd turned to see who it was, but I already knew. More tears ran.
“This doesn’t concern you!” Boyd yelled back.
He got to his feet, fisting the front of my jacket to yank me up. With my body stiff in shock, I crashed into him, unable to fight it when he put me in a headlock. A couple feet from us, the metal of Boyd’s abandoned gun glinted on the forest floor.
“Leave her alone and I won’t completely beat your ass,” Dane growled, inching closer to us.
Boyd walked backwards, keeping his distance from Dane. I tried to scrunch, to sink lower on Boyd’s chest to get away, but he yanked me back up, losing his balance, causing dirt to crumble beneath us as we slid deep into a ravine. I felt my clavicle snap on impact as he dragged me down with him, the grit of the rocks ripping up the front of me. Dirt filled up my mouth as it hung in silent screams.
A lantern flung past us, lighting up the forest in a ghoulish way where it landed. More dirt sprinkled down as Dane skidded toward us on the incline of the ravine. The air left my lungs as Boyd yanked me back up against his body, turning to shield us away from Dane. His heart hammered against my back. His hand painfully grasped my breast as his other arm snaked around my neck, headlocking me once more in the crook of his elbow.
I clawed at his arm, the sky getting darker before a loud, mannish roar erupted behind me.
Then something warm doused my entire head, drowning me.