Page 68 of Caged in Flames

Chapter Thirty One

What a stupid bitch. Molly and her muppets look so proud of their work. The rage working through my body is blinding.

I genuinely believe that women should fix each other's crowns. We should empower each other. Some women need to be taught that lesson.

Molly isn't one of them, though. She will never know what it means to support someone out of love and loyalty. She will only ever destroy.

"You see, Diana, I thought something about you seemed a little familiar. It was a little hard to place you without the overwhelming scent of poor desperation surrounding you.” Her voice is filled with pride over her discovery.

She approaches me and twirls a lock of my hair around her index finger before flinging it away with disgust.

Molly turns away, speaking to her audience. “I could still smell a bit of it on you, though. You can dress it up, but you can’t escape it. Then when you had the hottest guys in this place watching your every move, I realized it was probably because they had to be joking around with a new mousey little girl."

Sophomore year, I would have sworn that Molly was the female version of Charlie. Now I second guess that, but only a little.

Molly turns to catch the devil’s reaction to her show and I do the same. When my eyes meet the hard emerald color of his, I’m thrown back to the day these pictures were taken.

Sophomore Year:

Laughter. The sound is so loud that eventually all I can hear is a buzz in my ear.

Sawyer led me into the storage room behind the auditorium stage curtain. Last night, he told me to meet him back here when I was done performing my solo for this year’s closing ceremony.

He talked me down to my bra and underwear. He said we were playing. Nothing we haven’t done before.

He put a blindfold on me and gave me a deep kiss. Just when I thought we were going to try and bring some fantasy alive, he pulled away fromme. And then the door clicked shut.

I feel my heart beating faster. Right before I give into the urge to shout for help, I hear the door open. I exhale my relief too soon.

“Well, well.” The voice sounds like it was woven from strings of hellfire.

I know Charlie hates that I've gotten close to Jude and Sawyer recently, but I thought maybe he didn’t completely despise me anymore. “Daddy’s girl, what exactly are you doing here?”

I hate when he calls me Daddy’s girl. He knows better than anyone that my father left me and my mom behind years ago.

“Daddy” has been playing house with Charlie and his mom ever since.

I hate that he’s seeing me like this. At most vulnerable. But there’s something twisting in the air. Something dark and destructive.

“Charlie, what is going on? Where is Sawyer?” Just as I ask my last question, I can hear the sounds of more footsteps approaching us.

“You see, Diana. My friends and I made a little game this year.” I can feel his body heat getting closer and I wish I could back up. I wish I weren’t tied up and at his mercy.

“At first, we made you invisible. Considering you’re a useless nobody anyways, it wasn’t too challenging. Then my boys played nice. Made you think there was more to us than the devil on the surface. I heard they both took a little taste."

He leans in close to my neck and inhales. "I can imagine exactly what a pathetic cunt like you tastes like, too. Fucking bitter and desperate. The best part was making you think that this was all real. As if anyone could ever really want you. We fucking hate you.”

The tears start to fall uncontrollably. He's right. After months of alienating me from other students, locking me out of classrooms, fucking with my dorm, and even damaging my violin, things got a little easier.

Jude approached me at my locker and all but demanded a date with me. I went along with it just to be a petty bitch the entire time, but he did show me another side. He made it up to me with soulful dates where we painted and talked about anything and everything.

And after last night? I can't believe they would stoop so low.

Sawyer's betrayal is less surprising, but it still hurts. My rebel came along and taught me to be free. We snuck out and watched funny movies together. He taught me fun on a level I had never experienced. When I admitted my love of raunchy romance books, he volunteered to help me explore the desires created from the stories I adored most. He told me he would help me on my path to sexual exploration, and he truly had. Late nights of him taking every ounce of pleasure he could pull from my body. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Charlie's been keeping his distance. Distance I wish I had back now. “What should we do with you, Daddy’s girl? My boys say you are into some weird shit. I think a plain bitch like you just sluts it up for attention though. Should I take a turn?” He runs a finger down my cheek.

I turn my head away. “Do not touch me, Charlie. Let me down and let me leave.”

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