Page 51 of Toxic

"After it was over, he ran away and came back with $5,000. I screamed and threw it in his face. I said I was going to the police, but he fell on his knees crying, saying he’d pay my dad’s medical bills, all of them, and the rest of my tuition. I refused, so he made a money transfer to the admin office in my name, paying the rest of my tuition. I couldn’t stop it or order them to return it since the transfer wasn’t from my account, so the refund wasn’t possible at my request. He begged me to give him the account number where the debt money was going, but I refused. I told him I was going to report it, but he literally lay on the floor and cried for hours, begging me to forgive him."

"I hope you didn’t," I whispered, clenching my jaw.

Soren cursed. "I sat here and thought while he sobbed and pleaded with me. And I came to the conclusion that I just don’t want people to know. I don’t want to deal with it. I don’t want to be the raped beta on campus, used during some strange heat incident. A freak. Don is well-liked, and I’m hated. I have no friends. I’m here just one semester longer than you. How would this turn out for me? So I just gave up, said I wouldn’t reporthim, and told him he couldn’t say a word about this. But that’s all. Unfortunately, that idiot hasn’t left me alone since then, thinking that if I let it go, nothing really happened, and that I forgave him. He still tries to give me money, but since that situation, I haven’t taken a dime from him."

I spat out angrily, "Nothing happened? That was textbook heat rape, Soren. And he walks free?! If you didn’t want it, and he forced you into it, there’s nothing redeemable about the situation!"

Seeing he could barely sit, I stepped closer and knelt beside him, and he was trembling all over.

"Yes," he whispered. "It was rape. I hate him for it, but he keeps coming back, begging and apologizing to me."

My anger was almost blinding. It took everything I had to stop myself from hunting Don down like a rabid beast. I had heard before about the plague of heat rapes on campuses, but now it seemed even more unsettlingly real. I had proof that fuckers like Don could get away with stuff like that, as long as they had money and a 'likability' factor.

"What a bastard, such a piece of shit! I'm sorry, Soren. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like that—like I was pushing you. I’m just now realizing how it might’ve come across… I really apologize, for everything."

Soren laughed bitterly. "Don't even compare the two! You never even touched me. Your pushiness and his are worlds apart. And you actually stopped when I told you to. He crossed a line, but honestly, I don’t know what I can do about it. It was so sudden—he came when I was only half an hour into my heat. His eyes changed immediately, and went red. Some alphas get like that during a rut, and he went into a powerful one—growling, sniffing, making all sorts of sounds I couldn’t understand, speaking in your stupid AO language. He probably asked me something in that way, but since I couldn’t answer,he just went with it. There was no getting through to him—he was like a feral animal. Afterward, I tried to normalize it in my head, and I even managed for a while, telling myself nothing happened, that maybe I was overreacting or being unreasonable. I even pretended to him that nothing significant had taken place, brushing it off. But it did… and now I'm paying the price for it."

"He doesn’t know about the—?" I made a gesture toward his abdomen.

"Of course not! And you have to keep your mouth shut. He’d be even more persistent and going crazy!"

There was one more thing I wanted to ask, "Soren, when did it happen exactly?"

Soren made a snorting sound. "One day after the semester started. The irony is, the next day I saw you for the first time. I was devastated and broken and full of enmity. You approached me and wanted to sit next to me, and I hated you. Seeing that flicker of interest in your eyes, I had this thought—no, not another asshole going after me…"

I lowered my head. "I’m so sorry, I didn’t know."

He grimaced and waved his hand dismissively. "Doesn’t matter anymore."

His skin seemed almost sickly translucent. He had deep, dark shadows under his eyes, and today his long eyelashes seemed to add a tragic, sad aura to his gaze, instead of giving him a seductive look as it usually did. I gently took his hand and kissed the top of it.

"I see you are trembling; you should not sit here any longer. Please lie down, Soren."

He obeyed without protest. I helped him up and moved him to the bed. He lay down next to the bloodstains, which I hastily covered with torn pieces of paper towel.

"I'm sorry to ask, but is it over now? Did… everything come out?" My voice was soft and quiet.

He shook his head. "Unfortunately not, the bleeding's just begun. It usually lasts all day."

That didn’t sound good.

"You know you should be in the hospital, right? What if something's left inside?"

"I don't want to go to the hospital. I've already been there twice, and it was the same each time—nothing stayed inside. My uterus is really small and contracts very strongly, expelling everything."

"Alright, I won't force you. You’ve had enough of people making you do things you don't want to do," I added bitterly, "But I’m staying here with you. I’ve got that broccoli soup you like. I’ll make sure everything goes as safely as possible."

He growled softly, "Why would you stay? We're not boyfriends, and I’d object to sharing this even with my best friend, Liam."

"Maybe it's for the best that I’m almost a stranger. If I stay, I’ll keep you company. It’s like you’ve hired a nurse. I can’t believe anyone would want to be alone in a moment of such suffering."

He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but then hesitated and fell silent, just lying on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"Whatever, but I won’t be much of a talkative companion."

"I’m cool with that. I just want to make sure things don’t get worse than usual."

"You don’t owe me anything."

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