before moved to my breast. “Let me show you. Let me show you how happy I can make you.”
I closed my eyes, more tears leaking out the sides. My parents weren’t home, Jeremy was still in the hospital, and my cell phone was on the dresser, covered in tiny shards of sharp glass. After I’d vowed to save myself, I needed someone to save me from what I knew was going to happen. “Please don’t do this, Nate. Please.”
He shook his head, like he was sad. “You’ve left me no choice. Don’t you see that?” He moved his attention to my other breast, rubbing his thumb over my nipple. “You’ll see, Sav. You’ll see how good I can make you feel. Then you’ll love me more than you love him.” He placed a kiss to my lips, making me whimper. “I’m all you’ll ever need. I’m all you’ve ever needed. You’ll see.”
I turned my head to the side, searching my room for anything that might help me. A fork. There was a fork from the last time Jeremy ate in here. I silently thanked him for being such a slob. Nate was distracted, both his hands roaming over my body, his lips at my neck. I stretched my arms out, coming up a few inches short. I shifted underneath him, trying to close the distance to the only weapon I could see.
He took that as an invitation. He ripped my yoga pants, then my panties. It hurt, my flesh burned where the material had pulled. But it’d given me another inch. I was crying hard. There would be no coming back from this. I couldn’t explain this away. I couldn’t give him yet another free pass. Nate was about to cross a line I never in a million years imagined that he’d cross.
I was losing a piece of myself, and I was losing my best friend.
His fingers trailed over my hip, skating across my stomach and between my legs. I wasn’t ready for him, so he licked his hand, making bile rise up my throat. “Don’t cry, Sav, everything is going to be okay.” He rested his forehead against mine, his breaths coming out in ragged pants as he ruined us. “See Sav, see? I can be what you need too.”
I clenched my teeth, trying not to throw up on us both. I stretched my arm out, flexing my fingers and doing everything I could to ignore the way he was touching me, violating me. His lips met mine, his kiss hard and painful. I clamped my mouth shut, refusing to give him that when he was already taking too much. He didn’t seem to mind, instead he placed kisses along my neck, across my breasts, down my stomach. I let my head fall back, allowing myself a moment to cry and silently beg for all of this to stop. When his mouth closed over my clit, I took my opening and jack knifed up, grabbing the fork and slamming it into his side with a shout.
He jerked back, shocked, and reached for it.
I scrambled to my feet, tripping over my pants in a mad dash to the bedroom door. I could hear him behind me, calling my name, his footfall pounding so close. I raced down the stairs, throwing open the front door. Before I could take a step into the sunshine, I was hauled backward by my hair. My scalp screamed, a sob escaping from my throat.
“Why did you do that? I’m trying to help you. Why won’t you let me love you?” He slammed me against the wall, yelling in my face. His eyes were black, the way they were when he’d attacked Jeremy.
Jeremy. He forgave his brother, even after he tried to kill him. Now, he would lose him to the instability that’d plagued Nate his whole life.
Nate’s hand was once again wrapped around my throat, his lips at my ear, whispering how much he wanted me, how much he loved me, how happy we’d be forever.
I threw my arms out, once again searching for anything within my reach to stop him. He was undoing his pants button, trying to push them down with his free hand. A vase. There was an ugly vase on the small table by the door, it was full of fake flowers that my dad hated. I could feel it with my fingertips, it was so close. Nate was rubbing himself against my center, trying to gain entry. My body didn’t