Page 9 of In the Air Tonight

“Come get me if you need me during the night.”

“I will.”

My dad is in the family room when I cut through on the way to the stairs. “What’s up? Thought you’d be out for hours yet.”

“Not feeling good.”

“Oh, too bad.”

“Yeah. See you in the morning.”

“Feel better.”

“Thanks.”

I close my bedroom door and slide down to the floor, burying my face in my hands, sobbing harder than I ever have in my life, even after my grandpa died. Every part of me feels sick. We were wrong to leave Neisy there. I’ve been raised to treat others how I’d want to be treated. If something like that happened to me, I’d hope someone would help me.

What I couldn’t have known then was that the sick feeling would stay with me forever.

Chapter 3

Neisy

THEN

I’m in shock. That has to be why my arms and legs refuse to cooperate with my brain’s instructions to get up and get out of there before someone finds me half-naked and bleeding. The thought of having to explain what happened provides the impetus to sit up and try to collect myself. My hands shake violently as I pull up my underwear over thighs streaked with blood.

Ryder Elliott raped me.

Even as those words filter through my mind, I still can’t believe it happened.

The hideous smell of beer on his breath made me gag. I retch into the dry leaves on the ground next to me. I hate the smell of beer, and now I always will.

I get up on shaky legs, shove my feet into the sandals that came off at some point, pull my skirt down and make my way through thick brush to the road where I parked my car. By the time I emerge onto the pavement, my arms are scratched and bleeding.

I’m numb to the pain coming from every part of my body, especially between my legs. Contrary to the rumors about me, I was a virgin.

I’m not anymore, which breaks my heart into a million pieces.

I struggle to breathe as the weight of that new reality settles on my chest. Kane’s smiling face appears in my mind. He wassupposed to have been my first. If I think about him now, I’ll lose the composure I need to get myself out of here.

Oh God, where’re my keys?

Somehow my purse is still slung across my body, but my keys aren’t in it. They must’ve fallen out.

I can’t go back there to look for them.

I just can’t.

In case I got locked out, my dad put a hide-a-key under the back bumper of the white Honda Civic he bought for me. I feel around for the magnetized box he put it in and manage to knock it to the ground. I have to get on my knees to retrieve it, thankful for my safety-first dad.

A sob erupts from my chest.

He can’t ever know about this. He’d kill Ryder.

Tears roll down my cheeks as I get into the car, crying out as my tender flesh connects with the seat. As I lean my head on the steering wheel, my body shakes with sobs and tears clog my throat. When Ryder said he needed to talk to me about Louisa, it never occurred to me that I shouldn’t go with him to find a quiet place to talk.

Everyone knows he’s madly in love with Louisa and how good he’s been to her during her illness.

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