“Am I supposed to believe you?”
I huffed. “You’re crazy if you think I’m in charge of my brother, or if I know where he is most of the time.” That part was the truth.
“Well, you’re crazy if you lie to me.” He reached out and ran a hand across my polo shirt, stopping when his palm fell over the Center logo on top of my collarbone. His touch made my skin crawl, and I could tell by the look in his eye that he knew it. Got off on it.
“I’m not lying.”
Chi-chi smiled. “I’ve seen you before, you know,” he said, smoothing a circle over my neck before pulling his hand away. “I know all about Johnny’s little sister, who gets straight A’s and volunteers at the Center.”
The reprieve from his touch didn’t last. I held perfectly still as he ran his right palm over my knee to the bottom of my baggybasketball shorts. His left hand came up to circle my throat, which he pressured gently.
“Stop.”
I moved my eyes around the room, searching for anything I could use as a weapon. My phone was sitting on the bed, but I figured my best bet was a tried-and-true knee to the balls. I just had to wait for the right moment.
“You want me to stop?” The hand on my leg began sliding up under my shorts, inching toward my inner thigh. “Then tell me where Johnny is.”
“I don’t know.” I gulped beneath his hand on my throat. “You’re hurting me,” I gritted out.
Chi-chi pulled his hands away and stood abruptly. “Fuck.” Looking down at me, he spat, “I believe you.”
Check me out, being an effective liar!Now I had to get him away from my house.
My phone buzzed again.
Chi-chi snatched it off my bedspread before I had a chance to. His eyes went wide at the preview. When he looked back at me, there was pure malevolence in his gaze.
Shit!Had Johnny been dumb enough to text from someone else’s phone?
Chi-chi turned the phone screen to me.
DECK:You need to text me back! Please baby. I’m so worried.
DECK:*heart emoji*
Baby? A fucking heart emoji? After all this time and Chi-chi sees it first? Jesus Christ.
Chi-chi tossed the phone across the room. “Are you…Deck’s girl?”
“No.” I shook my head vehemently. “Just friends. He’s like a brother to me.”
The air grew heavy. The clanking of metal filled the room like a cannon shot as Chi-chi loosened his belt buckle. “This time, I don’t believe you,chica.”
I scurried up to sit against the headboard. “Well, you should.”
Chi-chi tsked. “Of all your friends, Deck is the one I’m the most disappointed in. I picked him out myself, personal-like, but he never really appreciated it. Maybe if I fuck his woman, he’ll get the message of who he owes.”
Only in Chi-chi’s fucked-up mind did that possibly make any sense.I registered his eyes again. He was definitely on something.
“I’m only sixteen.” I was grasping at straws here, and I knew it.
He laughed. “I don’t care.”
Chi-chi popped the button on his pants and pulled the zipper down. He put one knee on the bed and used his hands to grab my ankles, pulling me toward him. The underwear came off my foot, staining the bedspread bright red.
“This is rape,” I tried. A rush of adrenaline kicked in. I thought of my mom, battered and shaky in the other room. Chi-chi might win, but I wasn’t going to make it easy.
He laughed even louder this time. “Still don’t care.”
