Page 63 of Lightness In My Dark

I gave him a cocky smile. He started tickling me, making me scream with laughter. Peter returned and he let me go.

“Thank you.” I tapped his glass and took a healthy swig. “When are you heading back?”

“Tomorrow. We’re merging a couple of our companies, and I need to secure all the necessary paperwork before my dad arrives. He’s a stickler for efficiency.”

I tried to be subtle while scoping out Peter. He had blond coiffed hair, hazel eyes, clean-shaven, who stood a few inches shorter than Finn. By normal standards, he was good-looking. Although biased, not as handsome as Finn.

“You got any single friends, Wren?”

He snapped me back to the present. “As a matter of fact, I do. I’ll have to introduce you to them one of these days.”

“Great. It’s been tough meeting women with me going back and forth to London. I’m hoping to return and remain here after the merger.”

Some hours in, the group shifted around, catching up with one another and toasting. I got beer spilled on me. Amanda had to let me know she still hated me. Not that the feeling wasn’t mutual. I didn’t want to waste my time on her.

She gave a fake pout. “Ooops, I’m sorry.”

Chilled in my beer-soaked dress, I ignored her to clean up in the washroom. I blotted a bunch of paper towels on the wet areas, walking into a stall.

Someone came in as I flushed the toilet. Before I could open the door, it came crashing in, almost knocking me off my feet.Him. Conner snatched the front of my dress, slammed me to the side, and slid the lock in place.

“Hello Wren. It’s been a long time.” He swept some hair from my forehead. “Did you think you’d be able to hide from me, especially after seeing me across the street from the gym?”

Conner’s jeer shot crippling fear throughout my body.Why was he here? It had been so long?My eyes filled with tears, triggering rapid, thin breaths. He grabbed my neck and slammed me to the other side. I screamed. He smacked me across the face. The warmth of blood dripped from my nose.

My shaky hands pressed against his shoulders. “Please, Conner.”

“Please what? Don’t hurt you?” He punched me in the stomach. I keeled over, but he yanked me up by my hair. His face. Inches from mine. “You left without so much as a note.” My head smashed into the stall wall.

I didn’t have the strength to fight him when I was eighteen, let alone at that moment. Conner’s body mass had expanded. His face reddened with anger. Calloused hands beat and groped, popping the top buttons of my dress and ripping it to the waist.

“You ran away from me. No one runs away from me.”

Conner’s hand still gripped my hair. The roots ablaze like they were splitting from my skull. I raked my fingernails over his hand. He ignored the bloody scratches. Kicking my legs apart, his other hand shoved up my dress. I screamed Finn’s name, infuriating him more. Conner knocked me against the stall. Punched my face. Wrapped his hand around my throat.

In a sinister tone, he said, “You’re mine, Wren. I told you a long time ago you belong to me.”

His thick finger shoved past my underwear. A destructive assault. Conner’s hand prevented my head from moving. I cried. I tried to close my legs. He withdrew his finger. From his pocket, he flipped open a knife. I screamed. He kneeled between my legs as I kicked at him. His finger pinched my core, steadying me. Finn’s name echoed.Did he hear me?My body was losing function. Conner found me. It was my parents’ doing. Finn and I…

A renewed strength rose, and my fingers tore at his hair. The knife sliced my inner thighs again; the pain biting my nerve endings. Conner wet his fingers with my blood, stood with a scathing smile, and thrusted back inside, raping my core. Raping my soul. Air cut from my lungs. Each finger a confirmation death loitered nearby. I grappled for air, marking his hand. A fog developed. Sounds muffled. White spots exploded on the back of my eyelids, and then my hands slackened.

“Ah, you like that, don’t you? You little whore.”

I coughed when he loosened his grip. His hips ground into me. My hands wrapped around the wrist at my throat.Banging. Conner added another finger, shoving in and out with such force his knuckles struck into my crotch. Another cut to my inner thigh. Fingers smeared my blood and pushed back inside. He slapped me hard enough my head bounced off the stall. Another trickle of warmth leaked down my face. He crushed his lips to mine, mashing into my pelvis. My eyes closed, and I turned away. He had me. All of me. There was nothing else to protect. Conner cut off my air while he drilled his fingers. Then nothing. He was gone.

Am I dead? Is this how I die? Why? I tried to be a good person. Finn… me… we were just getting started. I didn’t get to say goodbye.

A shout flicked my eyes open.

What’s happening? Conner is hanging from the stall. I’m not dead? I can’t stop my body from trembling. My tongue feels like a thousand bee stings. I turn my head and throw up. Confused.

Someone shouted at me. My body wobbled. I couldn’t move. A hand grasped my ankle, and I fell to the floor, pulled underneath. Dragged to the far wall, I clutched my legs to my chest, rocking back and forth, tuning everything out.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Carter and Lindsey.

What are they doing here? Why are they whispering? My eyes stare at the floor. I rock to console myself.

My head rose when the stall door opened. Conner flew out, and for the first time, I saw Finn. My Finn. Saving me. His hands flew at Conner’s face and stomach. His fists drilling holes into his body. Blood splattered from Conner. Finn was furious. His fists kept going. He stopped, and my eyes drifted to the scuffed tile floor.

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