Ready For It (MacAteer Brothers #2) - M.L. Nystrom Page 0,77
showing off my new talent. The liquor didn’t burn quite as bad. I giggled and flipped my hair. Robert’s attention had me thinking he might not be so bad, or maybe he was sorry about the way he treated me growing up. He was so handsome even when he was being an asshole to me. Now he saw me as a mature woman, and his equal. Someone who at last, believed I had value as a person.
“Finish it up, Mel, and Archie’ll ged choo anudder won.”
My head got swimmy, and Robert’s voice sounded like a record on slow speed. Something was happening to me. The glass slipped from my hand, but I blacked out before I heard it hit the floor.
The next memory I wish I could forget.
I had no control or choice. My consciousness faded in and out, but I knew what Robert did to me. The pain he inflicted on me while Archie and Magnus watched. Decent people stepped in to help strangers every day, but no one was there to rescue me. My parents were gone, and so was Bee-Dee. My friends were too busy at the party tearing up my house. I had no idea where Vincent had gone, or if he would have helped me. My own brother let it happen. How could he? He really didn’t care. No love lived in his heart for me. No sense of protection. Robert hurt my body. Magnus hurt me worse in my heart.
When Robert finished, he got off my prone body. “Toldja that shit works fast. Arch, you want a turn?”
“No thanks, man.” Archie couldn’t look at me. He seemed nervous and a little grossed out, like he couldn’t believe what he just saw.
Robert peeled off the condom and knotted it. “I hope you’re not plannin’ on runnin’ off to Daddy. This was payback for getting me in trouble with Coach that one time. You tell anyone, I’ll come back and do it again. This time in your ass.”
I believed him. I was alone. Nobody had my back. Nobody would stop him if he chose to follow through with his threat.
“Why do you hate me so much?” I could barely get the words out.
Magnus looked down at me, his eyes cold. “You were born.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Melanie, wake up. Wake up!”
I fought. I clawed. I slapped and punched the body that loomed over me.
“Melanie, it’s me. It’s Owen. Wake up.”
I didn’t know how long I struggled until I recognized the concerned face above mine. I gasped for breath, and my chest jerked with each hard pound of my heart.
“Owen?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Where are we?”
“Guest room at Bevvie and Connor’s house.”
“I’m… I’m… safe?”
His face turned to granite. “Yes, you’re safe. Always.”
“I had a bad dream.”
“I could tell.”
“A nightmare.”
“Yes.”
“Did I wake you?”
“You were screaming.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. It sounded pretty real. You sure it was just a dream?”
I couldn’t lie to him. I couldn’t tell him the truth. The adrenaline rush hit me, and I started to shake. “D-d-did I wake Garrett?”
“Garrett can sleep through an earthquake. He’s fine where he is.”
My teeth clicked together, and I clenched every muscle I had to try to bring myself under control. It didn’t work. Owen made a noise and settled himself to spoon me from behind, molding the shape of his body to fit. His legs crooked into my knees, his hips and torso tucked against mine so I felt every shift. His heavy arms went one under my head and one over my chest and shoulders, locking me in place. Not an inch of space remained between him and me. My shaking subsided, and my cramping muscles slowly unlocked.
“Who was it?”
God, he knows. Somehow, he knows. What the fuck did I scream? “Wh-who was what?”
“Who did this to you?”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to beat the shit out of him. Then I’m going to let Garrett beat the shit out of him. Then Connor. Then Bevvie. Then I’m going to start it all over again.”
Big neon flashing sign! He spoke in whole sentences, which told me his mind was back with me. That, or his anger was focused to a razor-sharp edge. “It happened a long time ago.”
“It doesn’t matter if it happened yesterday or twenty years ago. I’m still going to beat the shit out of him.”
“Owen.”
“No. You… Fuck, Mel, I heard your scream before I could get you awake. You said stop. You said no. You said it hurts. You said I’m bleeding. You begged for help. You fought me when