Page 132 of Them Bones

Someone was violently shaking him awake.

“Hm?” he mumbled groggily.

“JERRY!”

“Wha? What!” Jerry rubbed his eyes. It was Dustin, standing over him and lookingfrantic,waving Jerry's keys.

“We need to go to my house.Right now.”

Dustin was looking him right in the eye, his expression so full of panic Jerry’s heart stopped.

“Dusty… what happened, boy?”

“I don’t know,” he said, “but we need to go.”

LANEY

“Nick…” Laney breathed. His pupils were too big, and he was sweating. “Nick, it’s good to see you…”

Panic was choking her, her body frozen in place.

“You left me,” he said. His voice sounded strange. “You justleft melike I was fuckingtrash.”

“I’m sorry,” Laney said, her mind spinning. “I never meant to hurt you.”Shane, where are you…

Nick loomed over her, and Laney becameveryaware of the bed. He reached out and grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling it to his nose and sniffing it.

“I was good to you…” he said in that strange voice. “I treated you good. And what did I get for it?Dumped. Fired.Run out of fuckingtown.”

“I’m so sorry,” she cried. “I’m so sorry, Nick, I swear… I never meant…”

“Never meantwhat?”he sneered, his pupils so wide she couldn’t see his irises.

“What can I do…” she whispered. “How can I help you…”

“You know what you can do,” he said, reaching for her hand and shoving it roughly against his crotch.

"Please..."

"That's right, you remember don't you baby..." He shoved her onto the bed.

“Nick!” she choked out. “Don’t…”

Her mind was racing a million miles a minute, but her body had slowed like she was under water, her muscles unresponsive to her brain’s requests. She couldn’t move, couldn’t push him, couldn’t fight back… She felt his hot breath on her neck, her skin crawling as his tongue darted out and licked the column of her throat.

“Stop…” she begged, but he squashed her beneath him, her body going limp.

“I was good to you, Laney…” he said again. “You loved it… you loved me…” When she heard the clinking of his belt, her body finally caught up with her mind and she pushed her hands against his chest. He didn't budge.

“STOP!” she shouted. “NICK! STOP RIGHT NOW! Don’t do this! You… you don’t want to do this!”

His hand found her throat and squeezed, forcing her down on the bed, that awful clinking of his belt ringing like a fire alarm, her vision warping from adrenaline and fear.

“You loved me…” he said again, his hand yanking down her pants, his fingers brushing against her pubic hair as he fought to position himself against her with one hand.

She screamed, a garbled, choking sound, cut off by the pressure of his fingers wrapped around her throat. But she kept screaming anyway.SHANE!She was calling for him with her mind.SHANE!!!!!!!!!!

She felt the tip of Nick’s erection press against her, and mustering every bit of strength she had she pulled her knees up and double-barreled him in the chest with her feet as hard as she could.

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