Poser (28 page)

Ivy

I thought I heard voices, the familiar kind, of the people I’d grown to love. But when I turned over and listened, I didn’t hear them at all.

It must have been a dream.

Maybe it was a dream about better days, when we all didn’t feel so separated. When we were all here in this house like a happy family.

I closed my eyes and snuggled back into the blankets, determined to go back to sleep. Tomorrow, I was going to talk with Braeden. I was going to start living my life again. I needed rest to do it; the task wasn’t going to be so easy.

I dozed off at last, slipping into quiet bliss¸ away from my racing thoughts.

#

The sound of loud, pounding music had me stirring again. It was so loud it vibrated my chest and made it so everyone had to yell over the bass.

There were a lot of people here. The party was raging, the house packed so tight if the fire department drove by, we’d get slammed for violation of code—too many bodies in too small of a space.

But no one ever thought about that. The beer was flowing and the night was young.

I took a sip of the drink in my hand, fresh from the keg in the kitchen. I liked the way it slid down my throat and hit my tummy, spreading out like a warm blanket.

“This is the best party all semester!” Missy yelled in my ear.

“I know, right!” My voice sounded funny to my own ears. It was a little too loud, a little too bright.

We started dancing right there where we were. People around us started dancing too, and soon we had our own little dance party happening right there in the center of the frat.

As I shook my hips, I glanced to the corner of the room. There was a couple sitting in a chair that looked like a throne. The girl was on the guy’s lap; she was straddling him, practically dry humping him right there for everyone to see.

All I could see of him were his large hands gripping her back and helping her move against him. Her long dark hair flipped around and they made out, and for some reason, it made me feel sick.

Why were they just making out right there where everyone could see?

“Someone needs to get a room,” said a dry voice beside me.

I spun so fast some of the beer sloshed out of the cup and over my hand, soaking my skin in the thick liquid.

“Careful now,” he said. “Don’t want to waste any of that. It’s got a little something extra in there just for you.”

Terror was like a sharp talon that swiftly ripped open my skin. What was Zach doing here? I thought he was locked away, put somewhere he couldn’t hurt anyone anymore.

He smiled like a shark that just ate a forty-pound seal. I watched him reach out with a single finger and push the cup up toward my mouth. I didn’t fight him. It was like I was hypnotized. Like I was helpless to fight. Warm, yeasty beer spilled over my tongue. This time it didn’t taste fresh.

It tasted odd.

There was something in there…

I looked down.

Dozens of white pills floated in the pale liquid.

I spit out what was in my mouth. It flew everywhere but somehow avoided Zach. He watched me, amused, a maniacal look glinting in his eyes. “It’s too late for that, Ivy,” he intoned, and my vision started to blur.

My eyes grew heavy and I was suddenly so tired.

“You’re mine now,” he whispered. “To do with as I please.”

“No,” I slurred.

He laughed and palmed my shoulder. His fingers bit into my skin. “There’s no one here to save you,” he taunted and then spun me around.

All the people who packed this room just moments before were gone. The only ones who remained were the couple in the chair.

The girl was no longer wearing a shirt, and she was making disgusting noises as she rode the guy’s lap.

“See?” Zach purred. “He’s already moved on.”

As if on cue, the girl turned and looked at me. Her eyes were full of spite.

It was Missy.

And the man whose lap she was sitting in… was Braeden.

The next thing I knew, I was queasy and pinned to a bed. I had no idea where I was or how I got there. But I wasn’t alone.

Zach was here. He was ripping at my clothes and saying the vilest things to me. I tried to push him away. I tried to scream and yell.

“I like it when you fight,” he ground out and rubbed his erect penis against my body. It protruded through his pants, and I gagged. “Makes me good and hard.”

He shoved his face just inches from mine and yelled, “Now shut up and take it!”

#

“NO!” I screamed and jolted up in bed. My clothes were damp and sticking to me, and my body shook so badly I could hear my teeth chatter.

It was only a dream. Just a dream,
I told myself over and over. But I couldn’t stop shaking. I couldn’t stop hearing him scream at me.

I shoved out of the bed. My foot got tangled and I fell. My knee hit the floor first, and I yelped. Pushing up, I stared at the closed door.

I wanted Braeden.

I wanted to feel safe again.

I didn’t even know if he was here and, if so, if he would talk to me.

If he is home, his truck will be in the driveway.
I went to the window and lifted back the curtain. The blinds were closed, so I slipped a couple fingers between them and opened up just one of the slats.

I pressed up close and peered out into the night, hoping to see the big red truck.

My eyes landed on something else.

Someone
else.

I jolted, the blinds clattering against the glass. Doing a double take, I told myself I was still just freaked from the dream.

But he was still there. Zach was standing there in the center of the driveway, looking up at the house.

Looking up at
me
.

Dressed completely in black, his body practically disappeared with the night. Just like before in the stairwell.

I’d imagined that.

Hadn’t I?

His hair was perfectly arranged, just like it always had been. I hated it. I hated everything about him. His face was pale and stuck out like a crow in a cornfield. The way he just stood there, unmoving, unblinking, staring right at me…

I shuddered. My mouth opened, ready to scream.

He saw. He knew.

With careful, deliberate movement, a single finger lifted to his lips, pressed in the center, and he slowly shook his head.

Shhhhh.

I started screaming, and once I began, I couldn’t stop. I fell away from the window, practically ripping the curtain right off the wall, and fell back into the bed. A blanket tangled around me and the sensation of being pinned down came over me.

I fought against the blanket, screaming even more.

He’s here. He’s coming for me. He’s going to rape me again.

I won’t be able to stop him.

The sound of the door flying open and banging against the wall barely registered. The lamp on the bedside table rattled with the force of pounding footsteps.

Braeden called my name, but even though I knew it was him, I couldn’t stop. He appeared over me, his face terrified. He reached for me, but then his arms fell short.

He turned away.

“Her eyes are open. I think she might be awake. I don’t think she wants me.” The torture in his voice couldn’t be denied, and even as I wanted to tell him it wasn’t true and I wanted him, I couldn’t stop screaming.

Not even another second passed and someone else was there. The bed dipped beneath his weight, and I was hauled up off the mattress, out of the blanket trying to choke me and against a rock-hard chest.

It felt similar to Braeden’s, but it wasn’t the same.

“It’s okay now,” Romeo said, pushing my face into his chest and holding it there. “Just another dream.”

Another dream?
The thought was so fleeting it was there and then gone.

My fingers clutched at his shirt, holding on so tight. My screams turned to sobs against him, and his arms tightened.

He cursed softly. “I’m so fucking sorry, Ivy.” I felt him rocking me gently, and honestly, if I had been in any other state of mind, I’d be embarrassed as hell. But I couldn’t find those feelings in me because I was too busy trying to forget what I’d just seen.

I gasped and jerked upright. Romeo held me tighter to keep me from falling off the bed. “He’s here!” I screeched.

“Who!” Braeden demanded.

My eyes sought him out in the dark. He was pacing nearby, his jaw tight and shoulders tense.

Drew burst into the room. “What the fuck!” he yelled.

“I think she was having a nightmare,” Rimmel said quietly.

I gasped, not even realizing she was in the room, and peeked around Romeo. She was standing just inside the door, her hair wild and no glasses on her face.

I sniffled and went rigid at the same time.

Reality slowly came pulsing back. I looked up.

Romeo’s face was so close to mine that even in just the candlelight, I could see how blue his eyes were. He searched me, a hard frown set to his mouth.

“I-I’m so-r-ry,” I stammered. My teeth were still chattering slightly. “I—”

I tried to pull away from him. It was totally wrong. I was practically in his lap.

He pulled me back. “It’s fine. Just calm down a second.”

“Ivy,” Drew said, rushing to the bed. “Are you okay? What the hell happened?”

Zach’s face and the way it seemed to glow in the dark driveway flashed before me again. “He’s outside!” I burst out, agitation working its way through me again. “I just saw him in the driveway.”

“Who?” Drew asked, confused.

“Zach.” I sobbed and collapsed against Romeo again, forgetting I shouldn’t cry all over him and clutching at his chest.

Braeden tore from the room. He was gone before I could even call him back. “No!” I yelled.

The front door slammed and I knew he was outside.

“No,” I cried and tried to scramble after him. “He’s going to get hurt. Zach’s gonna hurt him too.”

Romeo stood up swiftly, bringing me with him. He placed me in Drew’s arms and then brushed my hair off my wet face.

“Ivy,” he said firm, the authority in his voice unmistakable.

A sob caught in my throat. I looked at him with wide eyes.

“Calm down. I’ll go get B.”

I nodded.

Romeo rushed from the room, and I practically jumped out of Drew’s arms and went to the window. When my hand closed around the curtain, I took a steadying breath. I wanted so badly to look outside, but I was also terrified of what I would see.

Seconds later, the door downstairs opened and closed again.

I gripped the curtain, anticipating Romeo yelling for help or the sounds of something indicating more trouble.

All I heard were footfalls on the stairs.

Braeden was the first to come around the corner. A sound ripped from my chest, and I rushed across the room, right into his arms.

Familiar.

Safe.

Right.

“I’m okay,” he whispered.

“Zach?” My voice shook.

“No one’s out there, baby. It was just your dream. It was all a dream.”

“I wasn’t dreaming,” I insisted. “I had been, but then I wasn’t.”

“It’s okay,” he murmured, holding me tight. “You’ve been dreaming a lot.”

“Is that why when I got up to piss earlier, you were sleeping in the hallway?” Drew asked.

Braeden tensed but didn’t reply.

I glanced up. “You’ve been sleeping in the hallway?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he muttered and pulled my head back down.

Romeo stepped back in the room. Braeden shifted us toward his best friend. “Would you mind sitting with her ‘til she falls back asleep?”