Page 18 of Happenstance
“Don’t worry, Harper.” I wanted to wrap my arms around her, but all I could see were her eyes. The same eyes I saw staring down at me in my nightmares. Instead of comforting her, I took a step back. “Mason won’t screw with you. Silas is all about getting the work done.”
And he was. Strictly by the books Silas, I called him.
Harper dropped her head. I could still see the tears glimmering in her eyes, though. I moved to get closer and comfort her, but stopped when I saw someone storming down the hall. Someone who looked pissed as hell. With a hard swallow, I readied myself for the wrath openly portrayed on Sean’s face. I could do this. I could keep my cool and pretend everything was normal. Sean probably heard about Harper having to work with the enemy and was coming to reassure her.
I didn’t realize I was moving, until my back hit my locker.Get it together, Lana. It’s just Sean mad about something. Nothing new. Except for what he did to you.
My heart stopped dead in my chest when he stormed right past Harper and grabbed my elbow.
“Come here,” he growled in that big brother voice I’d come to know so well.
Only this time, that sense of familiarity didn’t help calm my nerves. It shot them right up to high alert.
“Sean,” I snarled, trying to sound angry instead of scared. “What the hell is wrong with you? You can’t just drag me away like that.”
“The hell I can’t.” He pulled me into an empty room and pushed me back against the wall.
No matter how many times I told myself that this was just Sean being Sean, I couldn’t suck in enough oxygen. The air in the room got thinner with each breath.
“I’ve been hearing some rumors.”
My eyes darted around, looking for a way to escape. “They’re just rumors.”
“Tell me you’re still a virgin?”
That’s when I got angry. I wasn’t a virgin. He would know that if he didn’t drink so much. If he could control himself. Why didn’t he remember? I did, and I had some to drink that night too. “That’s none of your business.”
Sean’s light eyes darkened and that vein in his forehead began to throb. The same vein I saw that day. Hovering over me, throbbing in the sweat coating his forehead.
“Who touched you?”
You did.
The image shifted to the smiling little boy smoothing a bandage on my bleeding skin. The warm eyes gazing down at me while we swayed on the dance floor. I could hear his voice whispering reassurances in my ear.“Don’t pay attention to them. You don’t need a dad, you have me, and I’ll protect you.”This was Sean, the same little boy that beat kids up for making fun of me. He wouldn’t hurt me. He loved me.
“I’m not having this conversation with you.” I turned to leave, but Sean’s arm shot out, cutting me off.
“You sure as fuck are.” He leaned in and slowly rolled his gaze down me. I felt sick. I needed to get out of here. “You wanna tell me why you’re wearing sweaters all the time?”
The next thing I knew, his hands were on my sweater, trying to pull it up. That’s when I lost it. Screaming, “Don’t touch me!” and, “get away from me!” as I swung my hands through the air, violently striking him anywhere I could.
“Jesus Christ, Lana,” he fought to contain my arms, but that only made me swing them harder. “Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you.”
The words left my mouth before I could stop them. “You already did.”
“What?”
I stopped and stared at the confusion on his face. My mouth opened, prepared to take back my statement, but nothing came out. Because he had hurt me. In the worst possible way. And no matter how much I wanted to tell him he didn’t, I couldn’t force the words to come out. They sat there, lodged in my throat, filling my mouth with a bitter taste.
His brows knit as he took a step closer. “When did I hurt you?”
Guilt settled deep in my gut at the concerned way he reached out for me. It was killing him to think that he might’ve hurt me. Sean could never know the truth. I had to bare this pain for both of us, but I couldn’t stop the tears either. So, I did the only thing I could.
I ran.
Burst out of the room, and wrapped my arms around the first thing that gave me a sense of safety.
Chapter 6
