Page 54 of The Vengeance You Crave
"Never put a girl above your boys, Son. All they do is try to poison your mind and distract you from what's really important."Dad's words rattle through my brain. I can't count the number of times I've heard them, or similar, over the years.
Slamming my door so hard the floor beneath me shakes, I put my mug down and begin stripping out of my clothes, desperate to wash her off me. Needing just a few moments where I'm not surrounded by her and the confusion she's brought down on my already fucked up life.
15
Peyton
The asshole never returns and when I walk out of the bathroom, once again only wrapped in a towel, I find what I already knew. He's gone.
"You're a fucking asshole, Luca Dunn," I scream into the silence.
I don't need to try it, but I do anyway, wrapping my hand around the door handle and twisting it as hard as I can in the hope it releases. It doesn't.
"Fuck," I hiss, tucking the towel around me tighter.
Hooking my fingers into the blind, I lift one of the slats and look out.
The sun is already high in the sky, telling me that it's later than I thought but there's no one to be seen.
I could shout, scream and slam my fists against the glass, but it would be pointless. No one is coming to my rescue.
My stomach growls, reminding me that Luca promised me food. The naïve little girl inside me wants to believe that he left to get some, but I know I'm only bullshitting myself. He hasn't left to do anything nice for me. He's left to torture me.
Something in a heap on the floor next to the table that he fucked me over last night catches my eye. Walking over, I pull the hoodie up and hold it to my nose.
It's Luca's.
Dropping the damp towel, I pull it over my head and wrap my arms around myself.
With each second that passes, my headache only gets worse with my lack of liquid and with no other choice, I make my way to the kitchenette to see if there's anything in here.
To my shock, the cupboards are full and in seconds I have the coffee maker working its magic and a huge bag of chips in hand. Not exactly the healthiest option but it's exactly what I need right now.
I curl myself into the corner of the couch and rip into the bag, stuffing a handful of salty chips into my mouth.
Luca was right, I did think—hope—that he would take one look at me and forget everything that happened and that we could just move past it.
Last night, I hoped that maybe he could fuck the hate out of his system. Take all of it out on me and exorcise everything, and this morning we'd be able to start over.
I don't think that's what happened, damn it.
I came to terms with our romantic relationship being over long ago, but our friendship is harder to let go of. All of my childhood memories include him. All the best parts of my life include him.
I was stupid. Deluded to even consider the fact he would want to have me back in his life, but with everything else falling apart around me, it was easy to cling on to.
Well, no more. When—if—he comes back, I'm getting the hell out of here and turning my back on him.
He doesn't deserve me to try, and he certainly doesn't deserve the truth. And as sad as that makes me, I'm also relieved I didn't spill all my secrets the second I first saw him because he's not worthy of knowing the truth.
Once the bag is empty and my coffee is gone, I push up from the couch and set about trying to figure out an escape plan. I figure there must be an unlocked window or a spare key or something somewhere.
But as the sun begins to descend for the night, I realize that I'm fucked. I have no clothes, no cell, and no fucking hope.
I've got to sit here until the jerk returns or hope someone else turns up for something.
Pulling one of the books I found from the shelf, I settle myself back onto the couch to wait it out. It's not my usual genre of choice, I'm a romance girl really, but a good thriller could be exactly what I need right now, it might give me all the answers I need for my escape, as well as a few ideas for how I can cause Luca a long painful death for doing this to me.
I quickly get lost in the pages but as engrossed as I am, it's not enough to keep my eyes open when my exhaustion from my lack of sleep the night before begins to consume me.
