counter of two-liter soda bottles.
“Coke, please.”
“You want anything in the Coke?”
I stare at him unblinking, unsure if I heard him right.
“I’m kidding!” He lets out a hearty laugh. “My parents are upstairs. They’d kill me.”
I laugh out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Rob gives me a light squeeze before letting me go.
“J?” he asks, pouring my drink.
“Same, thanks.”
We take our drinks to the living room and Marcus waves us over to the front window. We exchange pleasantries and they talk excitedly about the game.
An arm snakes around my shoulder and I startle, nearly spilling my drink. I look to my right and Steve gives me a lazy grin.
“Jeez, Steve.”
“Sorry, Sara,” he apologizes, still grinning. “I didn’t know you were coming with J tonight.”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“You haven’t before.”
“Because I wasn’t allowed to before.”
“Oh.” He stoops over, taking a whiff of my Coke. “You need something for that.” He drops his arm, unscrewing the cap of the metal flask I didn’t notice before in his other hand.
No way in hell. “I’m good,” I tell him.
“Just a little,” he insists. “It won’t kill you.”
“I don’t want it.”
He lifts the flask to my cup anyway. I move it towards Jason and his flask follows.
I raise my voice. “I said no.”
His brow wrinkles and I can’t figure out his facial expression. It’s somewhere between hurt and anger. “Don’t be a pussy.”
Jason seizes Steve’s wrist. “Back off, man,” he warns, his tone chilling. Yet another tone I’ve never heard him use before.
“I’m just trying to have some fun,” Steve explains, a jocular smile spreads over his face.
Why are the guys “just trying to have some fun” such assholes?
“She told you she doesn’t want it. Leave her alone or I’m telling Coach.” He releases Steve’s wrist and slips his arm around my waist, pressing me to him.
Steve’s fun-loving look changes to wide-eyed shock. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me,” he challenges.
We watch Steve lumber off to the back of the house.
“What’s with him?” Jason asks Marcus. “I’ve never seen him like that before.”
“His parents told him they’re getting a divorce last night,” Marcus states.
“Damn.”
My eyes remain on the hallway he walked down. “It’s not easy having your life turned upside down.”
Jason kisses my head. “He could learn a thing or two from you.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Sam listens with her usual attentiveness as I tell her about my first date with Jason.
“I felt so happy when he dropped me off. When I found my father in my room, waiting for me, I knew I couldn’t let him rape me again…” I trail off as distress seeps in.
My stomach tightens and I hunch over. I want to throw up. Trembling takes over, turning my breathing rapid and shallow. My head lolls from dizziness.
What have I done?
Sam places her hand on my shoulder. “Slow, deep breaths, Sara.”
I inhale while counting to five and peer up at her. She doesn’t look upon me in revulsion, only the same understanding and empathy she always shows me.
The breathing quells the tightness, trembling, and dizziness. Surfacing tears burn my eyes. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
She offers me a box of tissues, her expression never changing and her tone still light. “But it did happen.”
I pull a tissue out and dab my eyes as I dip my head in affirmation.
She has me detail every rape from the first one, including the pregnancy and abortion.
“You just did a very brave thing, Sara.”
“I didn’t mean to.” I sniffle, taking another tissue. Months of therapy weakened my carefully constructed vault holding my last secret. It lays around me, a crumbled mess.
“Remember the first time you came here?”
I nod, wiping my nose with the new tissue.
“This is one of those things that I have to report,” she informs me.
“No!” I protest. “Everyone will find out. They’ll think I’m a freak.”
“I’m sorry, Sara. I know you’re afraid, but this is to protect anyone else that your father might hurt and to make sure you stay protected.”
She calls Rose into the room and I repeat the story I kept hidden from them. “I’m sorry, Rose,” I say after I tell her about my last night in my childhood home. “I was embarrassed, even though you already witnessed my father beating me.”
“Oh, sweetie.” She yanks me into a tight embrace. “Never be sorry for your father’s actions. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“She’s right, Sara,” Sam says, after Rose breaks away from hugging me. “Rape is about power and control.”
He lost control when the Jerichos moved in. When I asked about boys, he