Page 123 of Start A War (Saint View Psychos)

Lightning flashed, lighting up Caleb’s face.

My gasp was lost to the wind, but it brought with it a rush of fear. I spun and fled, running back to the car. My thighs burned with the effort of propelling my body, and my feet slid out from beneath me, sending my hands down into the mud. Pain jarred through them, but I pushed myself upright and kept going.

I couldn’t hear if Caleb was behind me. The roar of my blood in my ears and the rain coming down around me drowned everything else out. I was sure I was screaming, but I couldn’t hear it.

The car loomed in front of me, like a flashing safety beacon. If I could just get to it, I could lock myself inside.

I ran for the driver’s side door and yanked up the handle.

It didn’t work.

I jerked it again and again, screaming out my frustration, all while knowing that Caleb was right behind me.

A sob burst free.

“Searching for this?”

I spun around.

He had my key clutched in his fingers. I didn’t even know when I’d dropped it.

I lunged for it, but he was taller and quicker. With a glint of pure malice in his eye, he threw the key over the cliff face.

I watched it sail over the edge and disappear into the blackness of the night.

Caleb stalked me, advancing on me like a demon in the night. “I was going to make you my wife, Bethany-Melissa!” his shout pierced through the buffeting wind. “I gave you a ring. A house. Everything you wanted. All you had to do was be good.”

“Vincent!” I screamed. “Vincent!”

Caleb’s fingers were around my neck in a second, the force pushing me up against the side of my car. My spine thudded on the cold, slick metal with a bone-jarring thud that rattled my teeth. “Vincent!” My screams turned to sobs.

“Who the fuck is that?” Caleb snarled.

I tried to recoil from the stench of alcohol on his breath. Up close, he didn’t look well. His normally clean-shaven jaw was dark with several days’ worth of stubble, and even in the dim light, his eyes were clearly bloodshot.

“Is he your lover, Bethany-Melissa? Is that who he is? Do you scream his name like that when he’s fucking you?” He laughed. “I know all about the men you’ve been fucking behind my back. Sandra told me everything. How many men have you let into your pussy? More than just one. Three? Five? You filthy slut.”

He let go of my throat and grabbed my breast roughly, squeezing it so hard I yelped.

“You like that? You like it rough? Is that how they give it to you?”

I shook my head. “Caleb, please. You’re hurting me!”

“I thought you liked it like that?” He slammed his lips down on mine, hateful and hard.

I tried to scream again, but that was a mistake. Caleb took the opportunity to plunge his tongue into my mouth, disgusting and thick and slimy with the taste of scotch.

I scratched and tore and slapped at his face, but the man was stronger and bigger than me and wouldn’t be swayed. He attacked my mouth before dragging his lips across my cheek, his sharp stubble scraping along my skin. “Scream my name like you scream his, whore.”

“Vincent!”

His hand cracked across my cheek. “Say my name!”

“Vincent!”

He shoved his hand down the front of my pants, savagely prodding and grabbing between my legs. “Say it! Say it! Say it, bitch, or I will shove my dick so far up your cunt you’ll fucking taste it.”

Tears streamed down my face. But I couldn’t let Caleb rape me. Not again. The first time had made me want to die.

I needed help. Vincent had said he’d be here, but there was no one. My sobs got lost into the dark night, each of them sounding like Vincent’s name and the heartbroken realization he wasn’t coming.

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