more conviction.
Slowly, I pulled myself to my feet, stumbling a little until I got my footing. The first thing I did was look in the mirror. My shirt was ripped open, exposing my bra that had been shoved above my breasts. My skirt was pushed up around my waist. My eyes bounced to all the places I saw blood. My face. My hands. Between my thighs.
I did my best to smooth down my hair and put my clothes back in place. I had to tie my shirt closed with a hair tie I found in the bathroom because too many buttons were missing. As I got most of myself covered, I thought of what needed to happen next. I needed to get out of here, but I couldn’t go home. I couldn’t let Brody see me like this. He’d blame himself for letting me go to Becca’s tonight, when really, we'd snuck off to a party. I didn’t want Stefan to find out either. He was out of town until tomorrow and I didn’t want him to rush home because of me. I needed time to figure this all out… to process.
What do I do?
I remembered Tyson had taken my phone and tossed it into the bathtub when they ambushed me in here. Pain ricocheted through my whole body as I bent over to reach into the tub to retrieve it. I took a seat on the lid of the toilet and sent a quick text to Brody.
I’m going to spend the night at Becca’s. She caught her boyfriend making out with another girl at school today and is a mess.
Becca and I had come to the party together, but she'd quickly ditched me when her boyfriend had arrived. I hadn't been surprised. We weren’t really friends. We had an arrangement. Her parents didn’t like her boyfriend and I wasn’t allowed to leave the house without Stefan’s goons following me around unless I was dropped off at a friend’s house. She used me as an alibi, saying she was hanging out with me when really she was sneaking around with her boyfriend. And I’d have Stefan’s goons drop me off at her house, wait for them to leave, then sneak off to a movie or do whatever the hell I wanted to do, alone.
I'd been so excited when Becca texted me about this party. She and I had snuck away to a few before and I’d always had a good time. Like the last few parties, I'd drunk only canned soda and had a blast dancing my butt off in the living room with other kids from school before the urge to pee pulled me from the dancing crowd. I'd gone upstairs to avoid waiting in line for the bathroom downstairs. I'd done my business after I'd found an empty bathroom and before I could fully open the door to go back downstairs, Zack and Tyson had shoved their way in.
My phone beeped, notifying me of a new text message. It was from Brody.
Okay. Call me if you need me. See you in the morning. Be safe.
I was covered for the night. But what now?
There was only one person I trusted to help me. Convincing him to keep quiet for a while would be a challenge. Not impossible, though. Shaking, I dialed his number and put the phone to my ear.
The line only rang twice. “Hello?”
“Jamie.” My voice chose that moment to crack. Get it together.
“Maura?”
Tears started spilling from my eyes. There was nothing I could do to stop them but quickly wipe them away.
“I need you to come get me,” I said, doing my best not to sound like I was crying.
“Okay. Where are you?”
To be honest, I'd expected a million and one questions from him. So I was a little surprised that he'd agreed to come get me so easily. “You can’t tell Brody or Stefan you’re coming to get me.”
“Damn it, Maura. Just tell me where you are,” he snapped.
“Promise me you won’t tell them,” I shot back.
“Jesus Christ. I promise.”
I told him where I was, and he told me he was fifteen minutes away.
The party was still raging on downstairs. I did my best to keep my head down. It took a few minutes to calm down enough and find the nerve to leave the bathroom. I didn’t look around for Zack or Tyson. I didn’t look at anyone. I kept my eyes to the floor as I tried to slip out of the house unnoticed.