I tried to scream, but something blocked my nose .
covered my mouth.
A high-pitched moan was the only sound to escape, my frantic calls for help trapped inside my mind.
Get off me.
Stop it! Don't touch me.
Oh, God .
please don't do that to me.
Where was Mama? Ma-ma! Nathan's hand covered my mouth, mashing my lips.
The weight of his body pressed down on me, squashing my head into the pillow.
The more I fought, the more excited he became.
Panting like the animal he was, he lunged into me, over and over .
trying to shove himself into me.
My panties were in the way, protecting me from the tearing pain I'd lived through too many times to count.
As if he'd read my mind, he growled in my ear, "You haven't felt pain yet.
But you will."
I froze.
Awareness hit me like a bucket of ice water.
I knew that voice.
Gideon.
No! My blood roared in my ears.
Sickness spread through my gut.
Bile flooded my mouth.
It was worse, so much worse, when the person trying to rape you was someone you trusted with everything you had.
Fear and fury blended in a potent rush.
In a moment of clarity, I heard Parker's barked commands.
I remembered the basics.
I attacked the man I loved, the man whose nightmares blended with mine in the most horrific way.
We were both sexual-abuse survivors, but in my dreams I was still a victim.
In his, he'd become the aggressor, viciously determined to inflict the same agony and humiliation on his attacker as he himself had suffered.
My stiffened fingers rammed into Gideon's throat.