Page 58 of Until I Break

“Just be careful. Don’t give out personal information,” Oscar says as Gunner picks a phone up from the dresser and hands it to me. They all lay with me and turn the TV on to watch a show while I get logged into my accounts.

I don’t have many friends on Facebook, and it’s rare that I talk to anyone, but I like watching videos. My favorites are the true crime ones where they go through interviews and initial investigations. Some people are so crazy that it seems far-fetched.

“Oh, fuck!” I say loudly as I suddenly sit up.

“Jesus, woman. What?” Oscar says, his whole body jerking when I startle him.

“I made a post about Trey. Someone responded,” I say. “Her name is… Eliza Downing.” I show him the message, and his eyes go wide.

“Goddamn it, that’s why he was familiar,” Oscar groans as he gets up from the bed and grabs his phone from the nightstand. He taps around before turning the screen to show me a picture of Troy Carpenter. Troy has brown hair, whereas Trey has black hair and glasses. Otherwise, they’re the same person.

“Call her,” Collin says. “Her profile looks legit.”

“That’s my fucking luck to date a goddamn serial killer,” I complain as I hit the button to call her.

“Hello?” A tentative voice answers.

“Uhm… Eliza? This is Cassidy,” I say carefully.

“Hey! Oh my God. I’m so glad you called,” she says. “Are you safe to talk?”

“Yeah. I left him tonight. Right after I made that post,” I say. “What did he whip you with?”

“Right to it, huh?” Gunner chuckles.

“Sorry. I’m just… He will kill me if he finds me. I have to be sure.”

“A belt,” she says. “The last time, when he kidnapped me, the belt had metal spikes that sliced up my back. He had a fascination for forcing me to come while calling me a pig and fucking me anally.”

“Jesus,” Oscar mutters.

“Who is that?” Eliza asks.

“My uh… it’s…” I start to say but stop.

“Cassidy?” she asks.

“We are her boyfriends,” Gunner says. “I am Gunner. Collin is my twin brother. Oscar is her stepbrother.”

“Well, that’s hot,” a man says.

“Seems like he has a type,” Eliza laughs. “My partners are with me. Julian, Calder, and Ryan.”

“I assume you’re into BDSM?” I ask. “I meet him on VelvetBound.”

“God, he is such a fucking idiot,” Eliza cackles.

“Oh?”

“We own VelvetBound. He once pretended to be me and tricked Julian and Calder into acting out a CNC scene without my knowledge. You can imagine my surprise.”

“Oh, fuck,” I say. “That’s… unfortunate.”

“Yeah. We are okay, though. I’d like for you to be with us, though. I don’t care if we need to go there or if you come here, but he is volatile and like fucking velcro. He won’t stop. No matter how you twist this, he will come after you. I’m not saying that to scare you, but I mean it. I was with him for four years, and if he threatens something, he delivers twice as badly.”

“We can go there. Wherever that is,” Oscar says. “We intended to leave anyway. We work remotely.”

“I don’t want to put anyone out,” I say. “I’ll… figure something out.”

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