Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,112

No sign of a struggle. Because I had been too out of it—too deep inside his poisonous bite to do anything but lay there. But that part wasn’t being shown in the video. Nor were Dominic’s fangs, or the blood I had gushing all over my ripped shirt, or the petrified expression on my face.

There was only one angle, and that was the angle that told the story Nikki wanted to tell.

My jaw squeezed shut as tears stung the corners of my eyes.

“In case you’re wondering. That was Wednesday night,” she went on, the video cutting back to her. “Open your eyes, Trace. She’s been playing you since day one.”

My hands closed around the phone as the video cut, almost crushing it in the palm of my hand. The pain of what happened that night in the woods still beating over my bruised skin long after the video ended.

This was a new low, even for Nikki.

As if waking from a trance, my gaze flew toward the corridor and the living room. There was no more music playing. No more dancing. Everyone had been looking down at their phones, watching the video and then passing it around the room.

Soft chatter and cruel whispers wafted around the room like an airborne sickness.

“…Nikki’s pregnant...”

“…so, that’s what she’s been…”

“…Jemma cheated on him…

“…such a slut…”

“…can’t believe she did that…”

Unable to block them out, my gaze veered back to Trace. The air left my lungs as I took in the gutted look on his face, like he had just had his still-beating heart ripped right out of his chest. Silence fell on the entire house as everyone waited to see how this was going to play out.

“It’s not what it looks like,” I said, muddling through my words as though I had tar on my tongue. “I don’t even know how she got that video in the first place but it’s—”

He stalked off mid-sentence, leaving me standing there like an idiot.

“Trace, wait a minute.” I rushed down the corridor after him and then grabbed his hand to keep him from walking away from me. “I can explain,” I said but he pulled his wrist free and spun on me.

“I’m not doing this here,” he said, his voice as sharp as broken glass.

My gaze shifted over his shoulder to the growing crowd. They were hungry for a show. As if what Nikki did wasn’t bad enough, she’d managed to make sure it happened in front of the entire school, knowing how private of a person Trace was. She wanted to make sure the sting of humiliation stayed with him for years to come.

Without saying anything, he turned to leave again, and I followed, hoping he would let me explain this to him once we were alone outside. Unfortunately, three quarters of the party proceeded to follow us, spilling out onto the walkway as I trailed after Trace. I stopped suddenly, searching for a friendly face amongst the rabid onlookers before spotting Ben.

I gave him a desperate, pleading look.

Understanding me, he nodded and then whirled on the crowd, holding his arms out. “Alright, nothing to see here. Everyone back inside or you forfeit your entry to the party,” he said, babbling on as he slowly herded the mess of partygoers back toward the front door of the house.

As soon as I was sure Ben had a handle on it, I took off running down the steps and onto the street after Trace who had already reached his car by the time I caught up to him.

“Trace, wait! Please let me explain,” I said, breathing heavily as I skidded to a stop behind him at the driver’s side door.

He kept his back to me. His head hung low and his shoulders rising and falling rapidly, as though he were trying to control a tsunami of emotions from breaking through to the surface.

“It’s not what it looks like. I wasn’t—”

“You weren’t what?” he asked, turning on me, his nostrils flared, and his jaw set in a hard, angry line. “Letting him feed on you, or fucking him behind my back?”

I tried not to flinch at his words, because I knew he didn’t have the whole story, but they gave me whiplash anyway. “Neither. I wasn’t doing neither. He…attacked me.”

“Like last time?” he asked, his words laced with accusation because we both knew that what happened at the Blackburn estate was consensual. But this wasn’t like that time.

Hot tears sprang from my eyes and coasted down my cheeks as the chill