up. Badly. I don’t handle rejection well.”
“I-I never rejected you, Tyler.”
“You can’t remember, but you did. I asked you to be my girlfriend—to date me—and you said no.”
“What did you do?” I hiss.
“Well, the drug kicked in sooner than I thought,” he says, stroking his chin. “You most likely fell somewhere and got hurt. I don’t know,” he shrugs carelessly. “I stopped walking when I noticed you were getting woozy and could barely stand. That’s when I asked you out and you told me no.” He glares down at me before running a hand across my cheek. “Rohypnol. Ever heard of it?”
I frown. “No.”
“It’s a date-rape drug. Knocks a woman right out. I could have done whatever I wanted to your precious body . . . but I thought it’d be better to just let you go and leave you alone until next time. This is our next time, Natalie. I want you to give yourself to me willingly.”
“You’re fucking crazy,” I spit at him. I shove him against his chest but he doesn’t budge. I try to duck beneath his arm but he catches me and pins me against the wall again. “Tyler, let go of me.”
“No,” he says, smirking. “I spent all of that time with you. I liked you a lot but you fucked with someone else at my fucking party. At a place that I had invited you to. You owe me this much, Natalie.”
“I don’t owe you shit. You think I can’t report you for this?”
He laughs silently, his shoulders shaking. “I’m moving tonight, anyway. I doubt anyone will find me.”
“Is this what you did to Brittany?” I ask, my voice wavering again.
He laughs again, taking a small step back. “Brittany was a doll but she started to get interested in someone else. I liked her, too, but unlike you where I’m giving you the opportunity to give yourself to me, I took hers away from her . . . twice. She wasn’t too bright.” I gasp but he shakes his head, placing a finger against the fold of my lips. “I told you there’s just something about you. Something I like. Something different.”
“I didn’t want to be more than friends, Tyler. You agreed on that—”
“And I could understand it but what did you think I was really trying to achieve? Did you really think a guy like me was really going to stick with just being friends? Hell no.” His voice raises a notch, turning abrupt. He glares at me and then grabs my wrist. “It’s obvious you aren’t going to do this willingly, so let’s go.”
“No!” I growl, clawing at his fingers. “Let go of me!”
“The more you struggle, the longer I’ll be inside of you, Natalie. Let’s make this as painless as possible.” He pulls me against him and cups my ass with his hand. He aims to press his lips against mine but I shove his face away.
“Tyler!” a voice yells from down the aisle.
Tyler flinches before pulling away from me quickly. My thudding heart comes to a sudden halt as I turn to find who the voice belongs to. Standing down the aisle is Sharon. I can’t believe it. What the hell is she doing here?
“I can’t believe you,” she snarls at him, marching down the aisle. She shoves him against his chest and I gasp as I watch tears form at the rims of her eyes. “You swore—you swore you wouldn’t do this again. You’re not Dad. You’re better than him.”
“Fuck you, Sharon. No one told you to come check on me,” Tyler growls.
“I had no choice. I told you to befriend her but I knew you were gonna fuck up again—even when you promised me you wouldn’t.”
“It’s not like I hurt them after I’m done with them. I’m careful,” he says, laughing. She shoves him against his chest again and he stumbles backwards.
“Get the fuck out of here. I don’t want to rat my own brother out but I will if it means you won’t stoop down to shit this low again.”
“Is everything alright?” the woman from the front desk asks as she peeks around the corner. I nod at her quickly, hoping she’ll get the cue to run while she can. Sharon and Tyler look at her, nodding as well. The woman lingers for a quick second before pressing her lips and going back for the front of the library.
As soon as the woman is gone, Tyler turns to look at Sharon. For a moment, he’s frozen