Page 33 of Bleed for Me

Tyler sat on my other side and leaned toward me, making my body tense. “Why is Seven Price staring at you like you murdered his grandma?” he whispered.

I glanced up, locking eyes with Seven from across the room. His scowl deepened when he captured my attention and the hair on the back of my neck rose. “I don’t know,” I murmured. Ididn’t know what his problem was with me. From the first day in group therapy, he acted like he was too good to talk to me. Now, he was giving me dirty looks.

“Yikes,” Cheyanne said. “You might want to stay off his bad side. He’s fucking insane.”

I couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out of my mouth. “Isn’teveryonehere insane?” My eyes widened, realizing what I’d just said, and I quickly backtracked. “I-I didn’t mean?—”

Cheyanne snorted in amusement and waved a dismissive hand. “You’re not wrong.” She shrugged, turning her attention back to her food.

Ryder turned to Shaylynn, interest flashing across his face. “Day and time?” he pressed, referring to the party. “And will there be alcohol?”

I sputtered, choking on my own spit at the mere mention of alcohol. Alcohol ruined my life in more ways than one. I’d been surrounded by it my entire life, and nothing good ever came from it. My mom was an alcoholic, as was Gentry. From the brief mention of my biological father, he had been one, too. He left when Mom was pregnant with Daisy, opting for someone younger.

“Friday night at eight,” she replied, cutting through my thoughts.

My stomach turned when everyone looked at me, but Ryder was the one who spoke. “Are you planning to go?” he asked.

I shifted uncomfortably, dropping my gaze to my food. Just because there was alcohol, didn’t mean I had to drink any. But that would also be opening myself up to the possibilities of peer pressure and temptation. Then again, it might have been the only chance I had at fun. My stomach turned as I tried to sort through my options.

Blowing out a breath, I brought my gaze back to Ryder’s. “Sure. Sounds like fun.”

I sat on the edge of my bed, coloring a picture of a Pegasus that was flying through the clouds. I’d made the creature’s body purple with a rainbow mane—a lot like Cheyanne’s hair. The clouds were white, obviously, with a blue sky. I still wondered who gifted me this coloring book. I wanted to thank them for it, but if they sent it to me anonymously, there was probably a reason for that.

I flipped to the next page once finished. This picture was of a girl, bowing her head against a Unicorn’s in a loving embrace. They were surrounded by trees, indicating that they were most likely in the woods. I started on the woman, grabbing a yellow crayon out of the box and coloring in her hair.

When I was younger, I often wanted to escape in the Barbie movies I watched. It would be so easy to get sucked into another realm, surrounded by loyal friends without all the pressures of the real world weighing you down. In this life, I was alone—forced to endure the hardships of reality all by myself. Alex was the only thing that had been constant since he entered my life. But now that I was here, stuck in this place, he wasn’t, and that wasn’t his fault.

Just as I was moving onto the girl’s skin tone, my bedroom door swung open, slamming against the wall with a loud bang. My heart jolted into my throat as I glanced over at the intruder, fear coiling around my stomach instantly. Seven let it close behind him, securing us alone in the room. His jaw was tight with tension, his blue eyes darker than usual. He seemed erratic, unhinged as he slowly stalked toward me.

Ms. Catalina was around the corner all the way down the hall the last time I saw her. Even if I screamed, she wouldn’t hear it from there.

As he drew closer, I scrambled backwards on my bed with trembling arms until my back was flush against the wall and my knees were pulled to my chest in a protective stance. Daisy’s bear was in the corner of the bed where I’d left it, sitting only inches away from me now.

I swallowed thickly, forcing my gaze to his. “W-what are you doing in here?” I stammered.

He didn’t respond. Not until he was standing before me, his legs pressing against the mattress. Terror rattled me to the core when he raised his leg, placed his knee on my bed, and pulled himself forward, joining me. He didn’t stop until there were only a few inches between us and then he leaned in, bracing his hands against the wall on either side of me.

“You think I don’t see the game you’re playing?” he growled, a slight ruggedness to his smooth tone. His dimple moved with every word, capturing my attention.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whispered, tearing my attention from the indent of his cheek and refocusing my eyes on his.

A hysterical laugh bubbled up from his chest, the sound making me wince. It was the laughter of someone maniacal, of someone who aimed tohurt. “Don’t fuck with me, little bitch. I saw him kiss you. Saw that youlikedit. Saw his hands drift up your slutty ass skirt. But that’s where your attraction for him ends, right?” He breathed, his arms beginning to shake. “You’re leading him on and letting him fall for you when all you want is his cock. You’ll destroy him.”

I shook my head profusely. That wasn’t it at all. Yes, things got out of hand with Archer, but it wasn’t my intention. I licked my lips, my entire body beginning to tremble now. Nauseatwisted my stomach at his crude words. He really believed what he was saying, and that made it worse.

He moved one of his arms, directing his hand to my throat and he pressed down, pushing me into the wall behind me. A whimper tore from my lips, my eyes blown wide with fear.

“Please,” I whispered through shallow breaths. My eyes darted to the bear, another kind of fear taking root inside me. To my utter horror, he followed my gaze, a sinister smile curling his lips. Finally, he released his hold on me and lunged for the bear, taking it in his hands.

“I could rip this to shreds right here, right now.”

I could call his bluff, pretend it didn’t matter to me as much as it did, but that was a huge gamble, one I wasn’t willing to take. “What do you want?” I blurted out. “I’ll do it. I’ll doanything. Just don’t—don’t ruin it.Please.” The desperation in my voice was impossible to hide, not that I even had the energy to try.

“Fuck,” he groaned. “I love it when you beg.”

He wrapped his hand around the bear’s neck, a jolt of pain slicing through my chest at what he was about to do. He placed his other hand on the body of the bear and began to pull. Its neck strained with the movement, and I pushed myself away from the wall. It no longer mattered that he could snap my neck with a flick of his wrist if he wanted, it didn’t matter that he was staring at me with pure hatred. The only thing that mattered to me was that he was threatening the only thing I had left of Daisy. The only thing that mattered to me.

I shoved my hands against his chest, my uncoordinated balance causing me to fall into him with the movement. Surprise registered across his face, and he dropped a hand from around the bear, settling it against my waist and pulled me with him as he toppled off the bed. A gasp expelled from my lungs as I tumbled on top of him, bracing myself against his chest as he landed on his back with a thud.

---