Chapter 18
It’s beena week since the confrontation with Dekker in the studio. Which also means it’s been a week since I have truly talked to Damien, too. He’s texted me, asking me how my day has been, or what he missed in class.
Yeah, he skipped studio all week. This fucking sucks.
“Are you going to see him again?” Addy asks as she breaks me from my thoughts.
“What?” I look over at her standing by her bed.
She frowns. “Damien. Are you going to give him a chance to make it up?”
I bite my lip and consider the question. I like Damien. I do. “Yeah, maybe. I think he and I just need to talk and then have a redo.”
“Well, then text him. Because I think the only reason he has stayed away from class is because of you.” Addy plops down on her bed.
I sigh, “Which isn’t fair. I shouldn’t be the reason he misses classes. Like, I get why he did what he did, and it was a mistake, but I don’t want to be the reason he fails.” I shake my head.
“Then call him and tell him you want to hang out. Or shit, just talk to him.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. “Yeah, okay.” I pull up my phone and send him a text.
Me:
Hey.
Damien:
Hey. How are you doing?
Me:
I’m okay. Kinda missing you in class.
Damien:
Sorry. I just needed some space from it all.
Me:
I get it. But I was wondering if you wanted to maybe go see a movie or something?
Damien:
Tonight? The drive-in?
Me:
Yeah. I was thinking we could go see that new action movie I think they’re playing there.
Damien:
I’d love to. I’ll pick you up at seven.
I smile down at my phone, and that gets Addy’s attention.
“I take it that went well?” She raises a brow.
I nod. “We’re going to the movies tonight. The drive-in.”
Addy beams. “Well, then I guess we need to get you ready for your date!”
“You look beautiful.” Damien turns and looks at me quickly before turning his eyes back toward the road.
I play with the hem of my shirt as I feel my cheeks heat up. I swiftly look away and down at my Doc Martins peeking out of my flare ripped jeans. “Thank you.”
“You excited to see this movie?” he asks as his fingers rap against the steering wheel.
“I’ve been wanting to see Blow Back Three so bad. Reese Casen was amazing in the first two,” I say excitedly.
“A woman who likes action movies. You are something else, Rory.”
As we pull into the parking space, I instantly start to feel my nerves take over. We are at Dusty Drive-in, a place where no one actually watches the movies.
It’s just a place for making out and debauchery.
And then it hits me.
This was such a bad idea.
The dancing food is splayed across the screen in front of us. Damien tunes the radio to the station and the music the food is dancing to comes through on the speakers.
“You okay? You seem a little tense.” Damien shifts a bit in his seat, giving me a sidelong look.
“Yeah, I, uh, am fine,” I lie as I look at him.
“I don’t expect you to do anything, Rory. I just wanted to have a chance to take you out again. Make up for my asshole comments and maybe make this a more memorable date,” he says softly.
I can feel the blush creep up my cheeks. “Thank you. I really do appreciate that.”
“Do you want something from the concessions?” He points to the building off to our left.
“Actually, yeah. A Coke and maybe some Twizzlers, please? If they have it. If not, maybe some Sour Patch Kids.”
Damien smiles. “My kinda girl.” At his words, my heart beats a little faster. His kinda girl. “Okay, be right back with the treats.” Damien opens the door and jumps out of the car, heading toward the concession stand.
I watch as he gets in line, putting his hands in his jean pockets as he waits. A buzzing comes from the seat, and I see Damien’s iPhone light up.
It must have fallen from his pocket. I pick it up with the intention to move it to the dash, and the screen lights up again with a message.
Razor:
They are in. Do what you need to.
I laugh at the name. Razor. What a weird name. Well, no more weird than Seven. That’s such an odd name. But it fits him because he is an odd duck.
I place his phone on his dashboard so that when he comes back, he doesn’t sit on it. Looking around, I see other cars parked around us. Some trucks pulled in backward as people get comfortable in the truck bed. People are walking to and from the couple of concession stands they have, carrying popcorn, snacks and drinks.
From my window, I can see windows already fogging up, and I roll my eyes at the thought. Apparently, people are so horny they can’t wait for the movie to actually start.
A few minutes later, the driver’s side door opens, and Damien slides in with the food. He gives me a warm smile. “You were in luck, they had Twizzlers.” He hands me the bag, and I place it in my lap. “Here is your Coke.”
“Thank you.” I look around for somewhere to put my drink.
“Yeah, sorry. No cup holders. Did you know that cup holders were not built into cars until 1983?” He takes my Coke and places it on top of the dash.
He notices his phone there and furrows his brow.
“Oh! You got out, and I saw it lying there in your seat. I put it up there so you wouldn’t sit back on it when you came back.” As my eyes meet his, there is a sudden emptiness in them that causes a bit of uneasiness in me.
He grabs the phone and reads what I am guessing is the message from Razor.
“Fuck!” He takes the phone and throws it in his back pocket. “Don’t fucking touch my stuff,” he says with a low, even tone.
“I-I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean much by it.” I feel my throat tighten, and my hands start to shake. His eyes widen when he sees the fear he created, in me.
Damien clears his throat. “Damnit. Sorry, I didn’t mean to react that way. I just have important information on there for my family’s business. I’m sorry, Rory.”
Before I can respond, the screen in front of us starts up with the first movie of the double feature. Blow Back Two pops up on the screen, and the sound of the opening scene with gunfire comes through on the speakers.
As we sit there and watch the bank robbery on screen, I feel Damien’s hand touch mine. Without looking, I open my hand and let him wrap his hand in mine. It’s a small apology.
As the movie plays on, I notice the closer him and I are getting. Turning my head toward him, I see he is already looking at me and there’s a fire in his eyes.
His lips crash into mine, and my heart starts to beat out of my chest. His hands move to cup my face as his tongue pushes past my lips.
I moan into his kiss as our tongues dance with each other. His hands slip past my neck as he grips my hair.
Part of me wants to continue, and the other half of me is telling me to run. Of course I don’t listen to the side of me wanting the abort codes.
Damien groans as he continues to pull every last moan from my mouth. My entire body is heating up each minute this continues. I feel him start to push me down, and my back touches the leather of the seats.
His body moves over mine, and I can feel his hardness pressing into me. His lips trace down my jaw to my neck, as his hands move to find the hem of my shirt, slowly slipping them under it. I let out a moan as his hand cups my breast.
“Oh, I love hearing you moan for me, Rory. Fuck.”
He squeezes it and lets out a groan.
Before I can even react, his hand moves to the button on my jeans. With swiftness, he has them unbuttoned.
“Wait…” I bring my hands to his chest.
“Come on, Rory, let me make you feel good.” He begins to try to yank at my pants, attempting to get them down.
“Stop, Damien. Stop!” I plead.
“You want this. I can see it in your eyes,” he growls.
A fear in the pit of my stomach grows with every second. I don’t want this, this is not what we are supposed to do. This is a friendly date. What the fuck is going on?
“Don’t be a tease. Let me have some fun with you. I promise you will enjoy it.” He sits up, and I take that opportunity to lift my legs and kick away, trying to sit up in the process.
My back gets pushed up against the door, and my eyes widen in fear. “What the fuck, Damien? This was supposed to be a nice, easy date!”
“Are you fucking serious? It’s the drive-in! What do you think happens here? I’m fucking hard as a rock. You’d better take care of this, or you can get the fuck out.”
He moves toward me again, and my breathing picks up.
Without a second thought, I quickly turn and find the door handle. I scramble to pull on it, and the door opens. With my back to it and no time to adjust myself, I fall out backward, landing on the gravel ground.
I hiss as I feel the gravel cut into the skin on my hands.
A second later, Damien leans over and glares at me. “Fucking tease.”
He grips the door handle and slams it shut. Before I can even react, he is taking off out of the drive-in.
“Motherfucker!” I grit my teeth as I stand up and try to dust off my pants. I wince at the pain from the cuts on my hands. I need to get these cleaned up.
Looking around, I spot the bathrooms and head over to them.
I reach into my back pocket to grab my phone to call Addy. I am going to need someone to come get me. But when I reach back there, I realize two things: it’s not there, and it’s with my purse on the floor of Damien’s car.
“Fuck me!” How the fuck am I getting back? These are the times that you wish pay phones were still around.
Groaning, I walk into the empty bathroom and head over toward the sink. I wince when the water hits the small cuts. Swallowing hard, I pump some of the soap onto my hand and softly and slowly wash the dirt and dust off of me.
Once they are cleaned to my liking, I dry my hands and let out a breath. Looks like I’m walking back to the dorms. Can’t be that far of a walk; we were here pretty fast. I could use the fresh air after what happened.
And what the actual fuck happened?
I was almost raped. By someone I thought was better than that. That thought alone makes me sick to my stomach.
What was going on with him? He like flipped a fucking switch on me. In a matter of seconds. I didn’t mind the making out, but he just went feral on me. Fuck.
Walking out of the drive-in, I take a look at the area around me. It’s fucking dark and creepy. Awesome. For a moment, the thought crosses my mind that maybe I should go back to the drive-in and ask for help.
But at this point, I just want to go home. And I need the fresh air and space to clear my head.
About thirty minutes in, I instantly regret my decision to walk, but I’m committed. This is so much farther out than I remember. I would hitchhike, but I don’t feel like being murdered tonight.
A rumble behind me starts to get closer and I move farther to the right, getting out of the way of the vehicle.
Continuing to walk, I wait for the vehicle to pass me, but it doesn’t.
I turn my head, only to be blinded by the headlights. I can’t make out what type of vehicle it is, but the headlights are up high, so I am assuming it’s a truck of some sort.
This is Texas after all.
I wave my arm to the driver to let them know they can drive past me, but it just still creeps along. My confusion is probably etched on my face.
Shaking my head, I turn back and continue walking when I hear the engine rev.
At that moment, my stomach drops, and fear crawls up my spine. With the slowest of movements, I turn back toward the truck, which revs its engine again.
Whipping my head around, I take off running down the road, not sure where I can go, but trying to find anywhere to escape to.
The truck takes off, barreling toward me. A sudden pain bursts in my left side and back. I fly forward as the realization that I was hit from behind suddenly fills in the gap. I let out a grunt as my body slams into the ground, rocks and debris no doubt cutting me up and leaving marks.
I roll over to my back as a figure hovers over me. I hold out my hands and open my mouth to scream.
But a sharp pain in my head sends the world to black.