Skylar
My head feels like it’s submerged under water and there’s a persistent thump thump thump inside my skull.
However, that pales in comparison to the incessant ringing in my ears.
I open my eyes, but the only thing that greets me is darkness.
Probably because something’s fastened over them.
“What’s…” Holy…my vocal cords feel like they were dragged through gravel. “What’s happening?”
I have no idea where I am.
It’s as though I’m floating in a cloud of confusion. Everything’s muddled. Obscured.
All I know for sure is that something’s wrong. Very wrong.
I try to move but a sharp pain shoots up my arm. It’s quickly followed by the somber realization that even if I wanted to risk agony and make another effort, I can’t.
Metal bites into my wrists, rendering me immobile.
“You threw up on yourself and passed out.”
I know that voice. Josh.
I dry heave as bits and pieces come rushing back.
I came here to collect my things so I could be with Memphis, but Josh was home from rehab.
He threatened to frame me with Shane’s murder.
Memphis came to the mansion looking for me, but I sent him away for his own protection.
Then Josh destroyed my phone and punched me….
And now he’s holding me hostage.
“You have a pretty nasty bump on your head.”
Flashes of struggling while Josh secured me to the bed play out like a bad movie.
For a moment I thought I had him, but then he bashed my head against the headboard…
And it was lights out.
Damn it. I probably have a concussion.
Shane’s given my aunt one enough times for me to recognize the symptoms. Confusion, ringing ears, nausea.
The unrelenting thumping inside my skull.
“How long have I been out?”
Shane.
Searing light invades my eyes—or eye, because one is swollen shut—when he peels away the blindfold.
Or rather, the ice pack he placed on my face.
“Since last night. Figured I’d be nice and let you sleep.” A deep frown mars his face as he studies me. “You look like shit.”
I feel like shit.
I’m about to ask for some water, but my stubbornness seems to be the only thing I have control over right now.
Like smoke rising from a burning building, I sense him.
In the shadows. Mocking me.
Logically I know Shane’s not here, but trauma never needed proof to exist.
“You okay?”
Now that’s a trick question if there ever was one.
I might be a dumb blonde—a term Josh has jokingly used a few times to describe me—but even I know one should never give their assailant extra ammo to use against you.
I force a breath, attempting to calm myself down before it turns into a full-fledged panic attack.
“I’m fine.”
As fine as I can be considering the circumstances.
Shane’s shadow lingers behind Josh’s shoulder…almost like he’s the devil cheering him on.
A wave of nausea barrels into me. Go away.
“Are you sure?”
A cold sweat dots my forehead.
“Yes,” I grit through my teeth.
Only I’m not.
I smell him.
I feel him.
I see his face.
Appearing concerned, he grips my chin. “You don’t seem fine.”
I have to fight through this. I have to.
“I’m just…tired.”
Shane steps closer.
Please, go away. Please.
Josh’s mouth curves into a semblance of a smile that’s half sad, half sadistic. “The first time he touched you was on the couch in the living room, right?”
My lungs constrict as he raises my t-shirt past my ribs, and I realize I’m naked from the waist down. Where are my jeans?
I press my thighs together. “Stop.” I tug against the cuffs, but they don’t give. “No.”
“Relax, baby,” he whispers. “He’s not here. It’s me. Just me.”
Words that once soothed me now make me sick.
This isn’t the boy I knew.
And no matter how long I look into those blue eyes now, I can’t seem to find him.
Maybe he never existed.
“You know I’d never let anyone hurt you.”
“You are hurting me.”
My gaze travels over every inch of his face, begging that little boy to come out and rescue me.
Because he’s the only hope I have now.
However, the person staring back at me is a stranger.
“I’ll do whatever you want. Just let me go.”
“I wanted the girl I love to be loyal.”
What he feels isn’t love.
It’s a sick obsession. Control.
And I have no choice but to ignore my disgust and play into it.
“I’m yours. All yours.”
He gives a solemn shake of his head. “It’s not the same.”
“That’s not true.”
My lie only angers him more.
Nostrils flaring, he grips my throat. “You used to look at me like I was your savior.”
I thought he was.
“You are,” I croak out.
He tightens his grip. Not enough to kill me, just enough to remind me he can. “Tell me you love me.”
I try to speak, but he’s crushing my windpipe.
“Say it. Or I swear to God, I will fucking kill you right now.”
Too late.
I swallow against his grip, trying to force out the words, but I can’t.
Irate, he punches the headboard, and I realize he isn’t the one compressing my throat.
It’s Shane.
He’s toying with me like a cat toys with a mouse. Feeding on all this chaos.
“Leave me alone!”
He doesn’t, though. He never does.
“Never,” Josh growls. “I will never leave you alone.”
Terror twists my insides as my panic zeros in on two monsters. One human, one ghost.
Shane’s coming closer…twisting the knob of my bedroom door.
Desperate, I cling to the only life preserver I have at my disposal. “I love you.”
“Say it like you used to,” Josh snarls. “Like you mean it.”
He’s walking inside my bedroom with a finger over his lips, warning me to be quiet.
“Please stop. Please.”
Josh’s voice breaks through the ugliness. “Is he here, baby?”
I can’t get him off me.
“Want me to make him go away?”
Eyes welling with tears, I nod.
Taking a key out of his pocket, he brings it to one of the cuffs. “Remember all those times I held you while you cried and kept you safe?”
My heart compresses against my chest when his face softens, and I see a glimpse of that little boy. “Yes.”
“Remember how I killed your monster?”
A tear slides down my cheek. “Yes.”
He wipes it away with the pad of his thumb. “And how did you repay me for that, Sky?”
Terror is an icepick scraping up my spine when he pries my thighs apart. “No.”
“You betrayed me.”
The sound of him tugging down his zipper makes me gag.
No. No. No.
Josh saved me. He’d never do this to me. He’d never…
He’s on top of me. Inside me.
“You know what’s stronger than love? Fear.”
My strangled cry cuts the air.
His claws are digging deeper, carving me open.
Taking all the broken pieces, I fought like hell to put them back together and destroying them all over again.
In the distance, Shane snickers with triumph.
Because the boy who killed my monster…
Has now turned into one.
The fight drains out of me, and my body goes limp…like a wilted flower that will never see the sun again.
Shane stole my innocence.
And Josh stole all the armor I built because of it.
Now I’m nothing but a broken little girl…
staring at all the ugly, shattered pieces of the woman who lost the battle.