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“Well, you know me. My life of debauchery wouldn’t be as satisfying if I didn’t add the corruption of others,”
I had more than just the scars on my arm, wrists, and ankles. I had two really bad ones on my stomach and one on my back shoulder. The ones on my stomach were from stab wounds that had almost killed me.
“Shiloh’s immune to your charm, dude. Just be nice and introduce yourself or she’ll chew you up and spit you out before you even know what’s happening.”
“I don’t know you enough to dislike you, but I don’t know you well enough to like you either. As for this morning, I was tired and I’m not nice to anyone when I’m tired.”
“That’s what it looks like when I don’t like someone.” “Noted,” I said.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like to get physical…uh, I meant exercise. That came out wrong. I was still a virgin and I foresaw being one for a long time. I was the type who wanted to love and trust the person before giving up that piece of myself.
His arm was hanging off the side of the couch, fingers lying limp on the carpet. His entire stomach had been ripped open and his insides were pulled out.
“You’re like an innocent cherry tomato.”
“No, we’re a ‘grab a plate and eat in front of the TV’ type of family.” What a shame. They didn’t know what they were missing. Then again, not everyone was the same. Everyone liked different things.
I might have overwhelmed them with the information overload but once I’d gotten started, I hadn’t been able to stop. It had felt good to vent, yet at the same time it had made me feel sick to my stomach.
I was pretty sure I had a lingerie set to represent almost all the characters in the DC and Marvel universes.
Keelan looked to Knox. “I have the sudden urge to binge watch all the Superman movies.”
“Cheese and rice. Cheese and rice,” I hissed repeatedly as I slid in. The twins were both turned around in the front seat by the time I got in and were staring at me with matching perplexed expressions. I sighed. “My mom always said a lady never swears. Because I’d been the good child who was too afraid to disappoint her, I learned how to be creative. The habit stuck,” I explained.
I was having a bad day and I had no one to talk to about it. I couldn’t go vent to Shayla about Cassy and Amber and how terrible they were. And if I had broken my hip, I couldn’t have called my mom or dad for help. The people I needed most—the people I relied on—were gone. I was on my own and today had rubbed my nose in that fact.
“Shiloh has a naughty collection of superhero lingerie.”
“Shiloh, a word,” Mr. X said as I tried to dash out of the classroom. I squeezed my textbook tightly in front of my chest as I spun on my heel, with a polite smile plastered on my face. “I have to catch the bus, Mr. X,” I said, hoping he’d let me leave. Mr. X made me feel…unsettled. I didn’t like the way he watched me or found ways to touch me.
“I’m fine,” I assured. “Don’t feel the need to put your clothes on because I’m here.”
“You’re wearing another man’s jersey, looking hot as hell, and we don’t like it,” Creed said bluntly.
“We didn’t tell you because most people bug us for free memberships or discounts when they find out,” Colt explained. “I would never do that.” I caught Creed smiling through the rearview mirror. “We know that now.”
“You don’t need a suit. Just go in your underwear. That’s just as revealing as a bikini,”
My point exactly!!!! No one gets yelled at for wearing bikini, but show up in your underwear…. They’re the same things!!!!! Ugh
“Only you would want to go swimming with us in granny panties.”
“Whenever Shayla and I were out and about together, pervs would ask if we were a package deal.”
Would anyone really want to be friends with someone whose family was murdered by an obsessed, crazed stalker who was still out there looking for her? No, they wouldn’t. If the guys ever found out, I would lose them.
My phone call with Ian had gutted me. The guilt was too much. The memories were too much. I had just wanted an escape until I was ready to deal with it—to face it. Apparently I was never going to be ready, with how far I’d pushed myself. That poor girl.
they had found the body of a high-school girl who had looked similar to me. She had been a victim of Mr. X. How they knew that was because he had stapled a picture of my face to her face and they’d found his DNA—a polite way of saying his semen—all over her body.
She was dead now because he couldn’t find me. I was here, safe and hidden, while he was out there preying on girls who looked like me. How do I live with that?
I should have let him have me because I would never be free of him.
“It’s a GPS anklet tracker. If I’m ever taken, Logan can use this to find me wherever I am as long as I have it on,” I explained.
My thoughts wouldn’t let me drift off completely. Being held by Colt had helped calm me greatly and I had been able to pull myself from the toxic spiral I had fallen into.
That girl’s death hadn’t been my fault. I was not responsible for a psychopath’s actions. But even though I tried to remind myself of that over and over again, a tiny part of still me didn’t listen.
Without really thinking, I pulled my sports bra over my head. When I had it off, I found them both staring at my chest. I crossed my arms over my breasts. “Don’t look!” “There was no warning!” Creed argued as he spun around.
I knew what my limits were, and I’d pushed past them anyway because the pain that had followed was better than the pain I was feeling.
“No!” I blurted loudly. Everyone froze and my cheeks burned. “Nothing scary, please,” I said in a normal volume. I couldn’t handle the suspense. Especially when it came to slasher or home invasion horror movies. They triggered episodes of PTSD.
ended up going with the TV show Game of Thrones
After the first episode ended, we had to watch the next one and the one after that. Six episodes later, it was one in the morning and I was tired.
“You’ll have to come over tomorrow night so we can binge some more episodes. I don’t think I can wait long to find out what happens,” Keelan said.
“If you keep being amazing, I don’t know how I’m going to be okay sharing you.” They gave me confused looks. “What do you mean?” Creed asked. I scratched one of my blushing cheeks. “I doubt you two are going to be single much longer,” I said. “A couple of girls are going to snag your attention one of these days and I don’t know how I’m going to handle it. I guess that makes me selfish.”
“You matched your underwear to your pajamas?” Creed mumbled tiredly. “I was feeling Wonder Woman vibes this evening and wanted to represent with every layer,”
I was kissing my friend while my other friend was sleeping behind me.
“I’m a fucking mess,” I forced out with a wobbly voice. “I’m waiting for you to realize it and walk away.” Creed’s eyes went wide. “You just said ‘fucking.’”
“You two should go.” They both looked stricken. “If you don’t go now, I’ll grow more attached.” Neither of them moved. “Please!” I cried. “I’m more trouble than I’m worth. I cry more than I smile. I have nightmares—” Creed grabbed my face with both hands and slammed his lips onto mine. At first, I was so taken aback that I was frozen like a statue. Creed pulled back a little to look me in the eye. “I’m already attached,” he said before returning his lips to mine.
They both frowned at me. “Why?” they asked at the same time. Frustrated, I rubbed my cheeks dry. “You know why. There’s two of you and one of me. You’re going to make me choose and I refuse to do that.”
“Everyone is a mess. Some are just better at hiding it than others,”
Someone had sped through a red light and T-boned him. His car had been reduced to a crushed tin can and he’d died instantly.”
“What I’m trying to say is that the four of us know what it’s like to struggle in the trenches of our grief. It’s how we know that’s what you’re going through now.”
“Whoa, there. Why don’t we put the spatula down?” Colt took the spatula from my hand, allowing Knox to leave the kitchen safely.
“What do you think of my bacon jam now?” He kept his face impassive and just cut off another bite of pork chop with extra bacon jam on it. “Thought so,” I mumbled to myself triumphantly and began digging into my food. Keelan looked around the table, confused. “What’d I miss?” Colt and Creed laughed, then gave Keelan a play-by-play of the verbal showdown Knox and I had had earlier.
“Don’t you have something better to do?” I bit out, my irritation quickly building. “You all need to get a life and stop obsessing about mine.”
“You just put hands on me,” I said directly to Amber and loud enough for others to hear. “If you do it again, I’ll make you eat the floor.” I was strangely calm standing against five girls who were undoubtedly getting ready to attack me. Maybe it was because I'd survived something so much worse or maybe it was because I knew I would not be a victim in this fight. I knew how to defend myself. That gave me a little bit of confidence and a sense of control I wasn’t used to having.
“Your zero tolerance didn’t stop five girls from cornering me in the gym,” I snapped.
