Page 68 of Eden's Deliverance

“No! Skylar, please. I don’t want to say, it doesn’t matter. It d—” When I pull on her hair and threaten to silence her again, she finally explains. “It’s this club we go to, Eden’s Deliverance. It’s-it’s a sex club, alright?”

Tell me something I don’t know.

“And?” I raise an eyebrow, trying to act unimpressed so she feels more comfortable sharing without fear of judgment.

“That’s where I was last night when this happened.” She tries to look down at her shoulder, but I don’t give her an inch, locking my fingers tightly in her hair. “I was with somebody. I have been for a little while, I’m sorry.”

Her chin drops in shame, but I press my thumb underneath and tilt it back. She’s apologizing, and I’m so genuinely surprised by it, my feigned indifference almost slips.

“You don’t need to be sorry, Red. You made it clear that we weren’t exclusive,” I point out, but when I see the hurt in her eyes, I deflect. “Did he do something else to you?”

Fuck, I think we really broke her last night. Suddenly, she bursts into a violent sob, the tears flowing too quickly for me to wipe them away.

“He got my phone number somehow, and now…and now…” It takes a minute before she calms down enough to catch her breath. “Now he’s threatening me. And you. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I just wanted to try something new, and everything was fine until it wasn’t, and now—”

I can’t handle the crying, I can’t handle the ranting. I didn’t want this. “Stop. Scarlett, stop,” I say, pulling her closer to wrap my arms around her. One hand cradles the back of her head while I lightly stroke her hair, and the other is pressed against her back, keeping her tight against my chest. “Don’t go there anymore. Don’t see him.”

She nestles her cheek into the warmth of my sweater and whispers, “He’ll come for me. He’ll hurt me again, or he’ll go after you.”

“Nobody’s coming after me,” I assure. “And nobody’s coming after you, I promise. I’ll make sure of it.”

“He knows where I live, though. He knows things about me. On my birthday, he broke into my room and almost killed me.”

That gets Julian’s attention.

His head shoots up, and for a second, I had forgotten he was even here. The scowl on his face proves otherwise; he’s been listening the whole time. I never told him about what happened on her birthday.

Oops.

“You know Julian and I live off campus too. We can help. Nothing is going to happen to you, I swear it. But you have to cut this off before you get hurt. Don’t go to that place anymore. It’s clearly not safe.” I know she’s considering it when she wraps her arms around my waist to hug me back. “Come on, let’s set up the couches. We’ll stay with you.”

I turn to Jules with a hard stare, making it clear that he’d better shut his mouth and follow my lead. He may have been in charge last night, but that’s not the case anymore. This is my house andmygirl.

“Yeah,” he says, meeting my gaze, however defiantly. “Yeah, Red. We’ll help out.”

Leading her into the house with my hand on the small of her back, we never break contact—not even when we reach the living room. I tuck in behind her on the couch, throwing my arm around her waist while she curls her body into mine.

Julian watches us from a couch across the room, throwing knives at me with just his eyes. He’s jealous, but there’s nothing he can do to change the facts of the situation.She’s mine.

25

Scarlett

For once, I’ve kept a promise.

The last thing in the world I’d ever expect is for Skylar Cole to be offering me help, but he’s been so amazing since New Year’s. We made a deal that he wouldn’t tell Penelope what was going on as long as I agreed to check in with him to make sure I’m safe. I made it extremely clear that she couldn’t know about what happened to me.

Call it shame or guilt, but I’d take Broody and Casanova’s wrath over Penelope’s any day. If she knew the truth about the Halloween party, my birthday, or the Post-it…she’d be furious. This is her home too, and they broke in here to defile me.Twice. My irresponsible choices have put her life in danger, not to mention my dad’s.

Lying to her has made weekends even more difficult, though. I never have a good enough explanation for why I won’t go to Eden anymore, and I can tell she’s suspicious. Whenever she asks me about what happened on New Year’s, I beat around the bush and give some excuse or another, saying I ran out of there before anything could happen.

But something did happen.

Something happened to me.

I still don’t know how to come to terms with the events of that night and what it did to me internally. Truthfully, it scared the shit out of me…but not for the reasons I thought it would.

Double penetration via two maniacal men wasn’t on my New Year’s resolution list, but it happened anyway. I didn’t go to the party expecting to get cut up, but it happened anyway. I couldn’t have anticipated for the two men to fight like wolves over blood pouring from a wound on my chest, but it happened anyway.

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