She flinches, her terrified gaze zeroing in on what I’m holding. I’m close enough to see the full weight of her panic setting in, to feel her start to tremble beneath my grip.
“Your assignment,” she croaks, barely audible.
My grip on her wrist tightens and she whimpers, struggling against my hold.
“Who told you to write this?” I shout, my voice raw and ugly with accusation. It’s everything I’ve been holding in since I saw what she wrote in that paper, since I saw her leaving Ford’s room this morning, since I saw her in the weight room that first fucking day.
“Ford did!” she cries out.
It’s the wrong answer, or maybe the right one, and I don’t know which makes me more furious.
“No,” I growl, shaking the paper in her face, each movement punctuated by rage. “Who told you to write what’sin here?”
“N-nobody!” she stammers. “I was just doing the assignment!”
Again, wrong fucking answer.
I toss the damn thing over my shoulder, suddenly realizing that Ford and Wes have joined the party. They’re standing a few feet away, the sheets of paper floating to the floor between us.
Ford stoops to pick up a page, sucking in a breath through his teeth as his eyes skim the text. “You fucked up, Ava baby,” he murmurs, whistling as he hands the paper over to Wes.
I shove the back of Ava’s skirt up, ripping her ugly cotton briefs off her body in a violent frenzy. I want to strip her bare like she stripped me, make her feel just as naked and exposed as I do right now.
“Raf, stop!” she shrieks, writhing against my iron grip.
I can’t stop. The shadows are all I see. Ava struggles and sobs as I tear at her clothes, but she doesn’t know what this is like, how it feels to be fucking drowning in your own head. I can’t even try breathing or telling myself I’m in control right now because I know I’m not.
Wes’ hand suddenly clamps down on my shoulder, his voice breaking through the chaos as he wrenches me back. “You need to fuckin’ cool it, bro. Walk it off or something.”
It’s just enough to pull me back from the edge, snapping me out of the haze I’m in. I let go of Ava’s wrist, blinking as I stumble backwards.
“The fuck, Raf?” Ford scowls.
As if he’s a fucking boy scout.
I stab my fingers through my hair, straightening my posture and attempting to gather myself. I’m still shaking with anger that I can’t contain, overwhelmed by the fury pulsing through my veins.
Then my eyes lock with Ava’s, and the look on her face as she stands there trembling, her torn clothes hanging from her slender frame, is the knockout punch.
I point a finger in her direction, my upper lip curling back from my teeth in a snarl. “This isn’t over, slut,” I spit. “When I come up with a suitable punishment for this, you’re gonna wish I’d just torn you open on my cock.”
She flinches, a tear rolling down the apple of her cheek as she stares back at me in horror.
I can’t even fucking look at her anymore.
Whipping around, I storm out of her room just as furiously as I entered, taking the shadows with me.
CHAPTER 37
AVA
I pulla ragged breath into my aching lungs, shaking in the aftermath of Raf’s terrifying confrontation. If I hadn’t skipped lunch today, I’m pretty sure I’d be hunched over right now, puking my guts out all over the floor. As it is, I’m just left with the sickening roll of nausea curling in my gut, knees buckling and hands trembling.
The pages of the paper I wrote for him lie strewn across my bedroom floor, mixing with my scattered books and shredded underwear to make a perfect visual metaphor for the absolute disaster my life has become. My remaining clothes hang off my body, messy and ruined. I swipe angrily at the stray tear on my cheek as I try to collect myself, casting an anxious glance between Wes and Ford still hovering nearby.
A sob tries to claw its way up my throat, but I swallow it down, refusing to let them see me break. Raf’s words echo in my mind on an endless loop, and when I close my eyes, all I see is his features contorted with anger, all I feel is the heat of his breath as he roared in my face, unleashing his rage.
I know I’m not completely innocent in all this. I was well aware the content of that paper would strike a nerve, which was exactly why I wrote it as a littlescrew youto Raf for forcingme to do his assignment. I’d honestly forgotten all about it until Professor Turner announced she was handing them back today. I was only hazarding a guess at my stepbrother’s issues when I wrote the stupid thing– I had no clue how real and raw they truly were. I never could’ve predicted how visceral his reaction would be when he found out, and now…
