Page 118 of Dare To Take

“You think I’d fuck you if I didn’t think you wanted it?”

She doesn’t answer me. I release my hold on her and step back. “Do you really think I’m that much of a monster?”

Her silence is answer enough, and I’m not prepared for the pain that slices through me. I take another step away from her, fingers clenching into fists.

“I might be a monster, Ari, but I’ve never taken anything you weren’t willing to give to me.”

Spinning, I stalk toward the door and pull it open.

I don’t look back.

Not even when I hear a soft thud and a choked sob.

Chapter 72

Arabella

The tears come until I have no more to shed, and I kneel on the floor with my head bowed, strands of hair stuck to my wet cheeks.

The confrontation with Eli has cracked me wide open. A wave of pincer-like pain pummels my brain, dragging me down into an inky black ocean I can’t claw my way out of. I’m choking on it.

Drowning.

I told him the truth. I don’t hate him. I hate myself for being so weak.

Do you need to make me angry before it turns you on? Is that it?

Answer me, and I’ll let you go. I’ll walk away and leave you alone.

I might be a monster, Ari, but I’ve never taken anything you weren’t willing to give to me.

His words circle in my head.

I wish I could stop. Walk away, but I’m trapped. I’d expected the lash of his anger, yet he’d walked away with a bleak look in his eyes.

For a second, I try to remember feeling anything other than this shrouding misery. I can’t recall happiness, joy, or freedom. Do those emotions even exist anymore?

I climb up off the floor, swaying once I’m on my feet and walk to the diary where it’s lying. I crouch and pick it up, sliding it carefully inside my bag, and take out my phone.

Another message from Miles is waiting to be read. The relief that washes over me makes me laugh, the hysterical sound bouncing off the chapel walls. It’s only a matter of time before they contact me again. This is never going to end.

I walk out of the stone building and back toward the school. All I want to do is go back to my room and lose myself to sleep to escape the torture of being awake.

I’m almost at the dorm when my phone pings. My shoulders tense, pain throbbing in the back of my skull. My movements are wooden when I lift my cell and look down at the screen.

Unknown number: Get back to class. You have no excuse to hide in your room.

I scan the faces of the students hanging around the buildings, but don’t see anyone familiar.

Are they watching me right now? Do they know what happened in the chapel?

Biting down hard on the inside of my cheek, I taste blood.

Me: I don’t feel well.

Unknown number: We don’t fucking care. We will make you feel worse if you don’t do as you’re told.

The hopelessness swelling inside me is like a heavy weight in my head. Despair has me locked inside its cage, and there’s no key to escape.

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