Page 71 of The Lies We Believe

Someone to my left—or at least I thought it was my left—scoffed. “We’re not stupid enough to get caught. You, on the other hand, are a loose end we can’t afford.” No sooner had he finished talking, then the sound of two muted gunshots rang out into the night, followed by a loud thud as a body fell to the cold, hard ground. I’d know that sound anywhere.

“Carter, hide the body.”

“On it.”

“Help him, Eli, then the fun can really begin. This little whore is ours now.”

Bile surged into my mouth, contained only by the tape. I tried to swallow it back down, but some seared its way up through my nostrils and trickled down my face.

I was about to die. I knew it with the same certainty I knew the sun would rise tomorrow. There was only one person I wanted—no, needed—to see before I took my last breath.

Bane.

It was the last thought that flowed through my mind before I gave up fighting and succumbed to whatever drug was slowly coursing through my veins.

One moment,I was curled up on the couch with Bane’s hard body spooning me from behind, his hand draped around my waist, holding me close like I was the most precious thing in existence. The next, I was falling unceremoniously through the air and crashing into the frozen ground, smacking my already pounding head against a something hard as twigs and stones dug into my side.

Stars danced behind my eyes, and a scream tore from my chest, muffled by the tape covering my mouth. I jerked as hands grabbed hold of my hair and yanked my head back. A figure appeared in my line of vision, but the world swum around me, making it hard to focus. My face felt like it had been coated in gasoline as the tape was wrenched off my face, tearing the delicate skin off my lips.

“Open up, slut,” the figure in front of me growled. The pressure on my scalp increased as he forced the blunt head of his dick between my bleeding lips.

Bane, I’m so sorry.

“That’s it, you worthless whore. Take it. Take all of it.” Without warning, he started to ruthlessly fuck my throat until my lungs screamed and all I could taste was a toxic combination of blood and piss.

Forgive me.

Never had I hated Joelle more than I did tonight. All the things she’d spent weeks teaching me did little to help me now. If anything, it made me more vulnerable, because I couldn’t dissociate like I once could. I couldn’t shut myself down, so I felt everything they did to me. I wanted to set my mind free and be with the boy with one eye as blue as the sky and the other like the darkest depths of the forest. With him, I was safe and free, surrounded by a dream-like world filled with possibilities.

But that safety net had been stolen from me in the name of helping me heal. With tears streaming down my face, I wasforced onto all fours. Twigs and stone cut into my skin, but it had nothing on the pain ravaging my throat.

They ripped my sweats down my ass and sliced my hoodie off my back. The blade caught on every nodule of my spine as it went, and I mourned the loss of my layer of protection when it fell off my skin like water off a duck’s back.

My head was floating the longer I was starved of oxygen. My lungs burned like an icy inferno as I was pushed to my limits.

Something solid and cold dragged down my spine. I could feel every rough splintered edge as it dug into my skin, slicing it until warm blood trickled down my sides. The burning pressure at my entrance stole the last of my strength, and the world went black.

I’ll never be worthy of you now. I never was. You were always too good to be mine.

Cold water hit my face,forcing my heavy-lidded eyes open. Not that I could see anything. But I could feel every-fucking-thing. The rope that burned around my neck, the fibres chafing against my skin. The feel of the bark slicing against my back with every forceful thrust that stole the air from my lungs. The bite of something sharp around my wrists as it cut into my skin until I bled, and the ache in my shoulders from holding my body weight.

“Fuck you,” a voice growled before pain exploded in my temple.

“This isthe best fucking feeling ever.”

The voice sounded like it was miles away. Everything hurt. My fingers wouldn’t move, and I couldn’t feel my legs. I wasn’t even sure if I was breathing.

The steady beat of my heart was absent. There was just the occasional buh-bump, but it felt like minutes passed between the faint sound. I was so cold. So, so cold.

“What should we do with the…”

Voices faded in and out, just like the wind.

Don’t give up.

“Leave it…”

“No one will find it…”

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