Page 344 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

Marcus comes quickly—maybe a minute or two in—while Jessica’s still sobbing around the sheet he used to gag her with. When he pulls out, there’s no mistaking the streaks of blood on his dick.

I sit forward in a rush, blinking hard.

That doesn’t make any sense.Iwas the one with blood on my dick. That was how I knew I was guilty when Jessica confronted me the next?—

Marcus sits back with a long sigh, stroking a last few drops of cum from his dick, and then slaps Jessica’s ass so hard that even her muffled squeal reaches the camera.

Then he looks down, and slowly lifts his hand to study his palm.

His body tightens, and he scrambles off the bed, gaping at his hand.

He didn’t know she was a virgin, and why would he? I never told him that’s why she wasn’t sleeping with me—just that she hadn’t put out yet.

“Fuck,” Marcus’s voice comes through the speaker. “Jesus, fuck.”

Jessica slumps to the side, and yanks the sheet from her mouth with trembling hands. “You fuck!” she says through a sob. But she’s staring atmewhere I’ve passed out beside her. She thumps my chest with a fist and breaks into a string of sobs.

Marcus moves around to my side of the bed, waiting until Jessica burrows her head in her arm before climbing up beside me.

What. The. Fuck?

He unbuttons my fly with shaking hands.

No.

I begin shaking my head, my breath coming too fast, too hot, scorching my throat with every exhalation.

He pulls my dick out of my pants, and then stares at it, face devoid of emotion.

Then he begins jerking me off.

“Fuck!” I push away, closing my eyes as I slap the laptop closed.

That’s why I had cum and blood all over my fucking dick that morning. That’s why I never doubted Jessica when she said I’d raped her. How the fuck could I, with that much evidence stacked against me?

Indi

Marcus grunts as he hoists me up and cradles me to his chest. I buck, moaning into my gag as I struggle to get out of his arms. He grabs my hair and tugs so hard I see spots. I go rigid, and then relax into his embrace as he starts walking.

It’s impossible to tell where he’s taking me. It feels like late afternoon, but it could just as easily be a shady area we’re in.For some reason, I keep thinking of the church where I first met Briar, where he and Marcus were conspiring. It would be kinda poetic, him taking me there for whatever nefarious purpose he has laid out for me in his deranged head.

As I feverishly attempt to place myself, both in time and space, memories come to me. Fragments, like raindrops splashing on my face, each one jolting clarity through me.

He had a pair of sneakers in his hand when he came to my bedroom door. The same ones that were outside.

Was it him that night, watching me?

I bite the inside of my lip, willing away the feel of his hands on my thigh and shoulder. His footsteps crunch over something.

Twigs? Dry leaves?

The church then.

It’ll end where it all began.

What did he say to me in the hallway at the party last night? How peaceful someone looked. Her. She looked so peaceful.

Had he been talking about Jess?

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