Her head shakes, her skin sliding over my forehead. “No. It won’t do any good.”
“We have to try, Rae.”
“I love you.” She kisses me softly.
She pulls away and waves to Nash before walking outside to her new car. Her mother left the keys on the counter but couldn’t bother to be there to see Rae’s reaction to her birthday present. I stand at the door and watch her drive away.
I turn to look at Nash, disgust forming in my stomach as I look at him for the first time in my life. “How could you let her leave?”
“We don’t share the same last name. She isn’t my kid or my sister. You’re my responsibility.”
“She’s Rae!” I point to the door like an enraged lunatic. “She’s everything to me. So if you give a damn about me, you’d care about her.”
“I do care about her. But you heard her, there’s nothing anyone can do.”
“So we just let her get raped by that psychopath?” Even saying the words makes me feel so sick I sink to the floor, leaning against the wall.
“She said he was just scaring her.” I see the sympathy on his face now.
“You believe her?”
“You don’t believe your own girlfriend?” he throws back.
I pull my knees up and look at the floor between my feet. “Not when it comes to her being afraid of me getting in trouble or doing something drastic.”
“Won’t you?”
My eyes meet his as my head lifts. “If he does it again, yeah.”
He shakes his head, apprehension sliding through his gaze toward me. “You have to be careful. Please. I’m fucking begging you.”
I swallow the thick essence of dread swelling in my throat. Rae really is everything to me. I can’t stand the thought of hands on her she doesn’t invite.
“I love her.”
He just nods in acknowledgement but doesn’t say anything. He just walks out, leaving me on the living room floor with his shoulders slumped, probably knowing he can’t stop me from trying.
Because I’ll never stop trying to protect Rae.
* * *
“You smell like him.” I close my eyes and try to will Colin away. Why the hell is he home already? And why am I? I shouldn’t have come home after leaving Lawson’s house. Not yet. But I thought I had a few more hours before my mother and Colin would be home. “You smell like a fucking whore.”
He’s drunk. I can smell it on him. “Why are you home so early?”
“Disappointed?” His mouth runs along my throat, and I want to vomit. It’s dark in the living room where he’s cornered me. He was waiting in the dark for me to come home.
“Very.”
His laugh is cruel. “Your mother couldn’t wait to fuck my brains out. So we skipped dinner.”
“You disgust me.” I try to push him away from me, but he only grasps my wrists tighter, pinning them above my head against the wall.
“Do I?” He breathes me in, and I hope he can smell Lawson on me. God, I love the way Lawson smells. I love the way he touches me. Kisses me. Loves me.
I hate the fight we just had. I hate that I can’t just spill every single vile detail of what Colin has said and done, but I’ve never seen Lawson as mad as he was tonight. And he doesn’t even know the half of it.
I’m scared he’ll try to save me.
He can’t.
No one can, except maybe my mother, but she’s useless. She’s so far gone for him. Angry tears fill my eyes as I think about the woman who’s supposed to protect me but doesn’t.
“Yes. You do. Let go of me.”
“What did you let him do to you tonight, Raelynn.” I squeeze my eyes closed tighter, trying to go somewhere else as he runs his hand over my throat. “Did he fuck you? Did you even have the decency to make him use a condom, or do you let him come inside of you like the whore you are?”
My eyes snap open and I glare at him. “It’s none of your business.”
“Everything regarding you is my business.” He licks my ear. “Even your boyfriend’s cum.”
“You’re sick.” I turn my head. “Let me go, or I’ll scream.”
“Your mom’s in a sex coma. Unlike you. I’m sure your boyfriend’s limp little dick can barely make you whimper, let alone scream.”
I struggle in his grasp, hating him with everything inside of me. “Let. Me. Go.” I glare at him. “Now.”
He merely laughs, pinning my body to the wall even harder, his vile whiskey-soaked breath intruding on my senses. “It’s only a matter of time before you give in, Raelynn.”
He’s so twisted, I think he actually believes I want him. “Never.”
He releases me, laughing maniacally as he walks out the patio door to the backyard. Probably to smoke a cigar. My mother never lets him smoke inside. And whether he wants to believe he’s in control or not, she’s really the one calling the shots around here.
I head toward my room, and as I pass the master bedroom, I stop. I take a deep breath, leaning back against the wall, thinking about my fight with Lawson. I decide to try at least one more time.
I walk into my mother’s room without knocking and don’t find her in bed. Her bathroom light is on, and the door is cracked so I push it open, startling my mother. “Raelynn?” She jumps, clutching something to her chest.
A white plastic stick.
No.
“Mom,” I breathe.
She glares at me, and I look past her to the bathroom counter where several other pregnancy tests rest. No.
“You can’t be pregnant,” I nearly cry. “You can’t have his baby.”
She rolls her eyes, irritated and angry with me like always. She tosses the test into the trash and turns to me, securing the silk tie of her robe around her waist. “What are you doing in here?”
“Please tell me you aren’t pregnant.” She can’t have a baby with that monster.
She grabs the wine glass I’m just now noticing and takes a big gulp, laughing a little hysterically. “Don’t worry about it. Apparently, I can’t seem to give him a baby.”
I step further into the bathroom and take a closer look at the tests. They’re all negative, and I feel nothing but relief. My eyes snap up to hers. “You shouldn’t.”
“And why is that, Raelynn?” Bitterness seeps through her words.
“He’s sick.” Her eyes are full of fire, bathing me in her anger. But I don’t care. I’ve had enough. “He won’t leave me alone. He’s everywhere. And the things he says to me . . .”
She stops me, her drink sloshing in the glass as she steps closer to me. “Probably tells you to keep your legs closed. It’s called being a father, Raelynn. He’s told me about how relentless you are, chasing all the boys at school and not stopping only with boys.” She sneers, “I know you want him.”
My jaw drops slightly, even though I shouldn’t be surprised she believes his bullshit. “I don’t. He repulses me.”
“Uh-huh. Sure, he does.” She backs away, leaning against the counter. “He’s gorgeous. Young. Successful. He’s perfect. But he’s mine, and you’re a filthy little girl chasing after a grown man. A man who’s as good as your father. You’re the sick one.”