Page 73 of Beautiful Venom

“S-stop… R-red…” I whisper.

My safe word lands on deaf ears.

Right. That’s only between me and Kane.

I don’t think Kane is behind one of these masks.

At least, I hope he’s not.

I’d never forgive him if he did this to me.

I’d kill him with my bare hands.

Part of the reason why I allowed the sex at the initiation and the party was because I trusted he’d stop if I said the safe word.

It’s different if I’m being drugged and taken advantage of without the option to stop it.

Anguish rips through me, raw and consuming. I want to fight, to scream, to tear their hands from my skin, but the drug they injected me with wraps around me like a vise, pulling me deeper into suffocating heat.

“Outsiders like you should recognize their limit,” one of them says as each pulls a leg to part them. “Consider this your warning. If you don’t leave town within a week, you’ll be fucked raw next time without the drug. Don’t even think about asking Kane for help. We’ll show him a video of you moaning for our dicks, and he’ll lose interest. We’ll also share it online so that you’ll be known as the campus whore.”

My racing heart slows down a notch.

It’snotKane.

Am I supposed to feel this relieved?

Happy, even?

“Ready for the night of your life?” the one on my right asks.

“Fuck…you,” I mumble, but it ends in a muffled voice when he seizes my hair and yanks me up.

When Kane did this, I was turned on, even if slightly apprehensive. Now, I’m terrified to the core despite the artificial aphrodisiac.

The air thickens further, the scent of sweat and something sickly sweet clinging to my skin, smothering me. Everything is slipping away—my grip on reality, my control, my strength.

Vicious hands start to hook into my jersey, and I push with all of my might, but it barely touches them.

Get up. Fight.

You’ve always stood up for yourself. Fight.

Don’t scream. Fight.

Don’t cry. Fight.

Fight, Dahlia. Fight!

With painstaking effort, I pull my leg loose, aiming a desperate kick at the tallest guy’s crotch.

I don’t think it’s that strong, but he wails in pain and lifts his hand.

Raising my arm, I place it in front of my face to protect myself.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

The whole room goes quiet at that voice.

---