Page 78 of Deranged (American Street Kings 3)

Flashes. Images. Pain. I couldn’t focus. Everything was a blur. Excepthim. Hisface.

Onyx.

Through the haze, I heard him speak—my brother. The man who was supposed to protect me. Who promised me he would always keep me safe. Then why did his breath feel repugnant against my neck? Why did his words slice through me like broken glass, cutting my insides to pieces? Why did his touch feel vile, corrupted, sordid? Wrong.

“Onyx was right.” His words became clearer. “You are a clubwhore. And what kind of president would I be if I didn’t give my clubwhore the attention she deserved?”

When I felt his hand between my legs, tears followed, like lava flowing down, erupting from the flames that burned me to ash.

“Please.” My voice was barely a whisper, my head on the verge of exploding. “Don’t do this.”

“I’ve wanted to do this for so long, little sis. Ever since I realized you look just like...her.”

“No.” I sobbed, and my arms tingled, my feet prickling as my strength slowly returned. Everything inside me begged my body to fight, and I jerked my arms, trying to loosen his grip. I didn’t open my eyes. I didn’t dare. There was no way I’d be able to look into my brother’s eyes and survive it, not while he was doing this to me.

“Fight me, Dahlia. Fight me, scream for me the way you screamed for them.”

“Don’t—”

I jerked my head from side to side, my body flailing and thrashing. Somehow, I managed to free one arm, and I tried clawing at his face from over my shoulder, hitting, scratching, tearing at anything I could get my hands on. But he was so much stronger than I was, like he knew my every move.

Of course he did. He’d been a victim himself. He knew how one’s instincts reacted, what it made you do.

Pushing him off me, I tried to struggle up the bed, but he grabbed my ankles, twisting me around with a violent jerk. No matter how hard I tried to keep him from forcing me on my stomach, he was just too strong.

I kicked and screamed, but it was no use. The second he had me on my stomach, I tried to reach for the headboard of the bed, but he pulled me down, and then I heard it. The tear of fabric as he ripped my dress down the back.

“See, Dahlia. I’m not as bad as you think I am.” He climbed on top of me, his knee pressing hard into my back, forcing me to stay in place as he twisted my arms behind me. “I told myself I would never hurt you, not unless you gave me a very good reason to.”

I continued to fight as he tied my wrists. Whatever he used pinched my skin around my arms, and then he straddled me. That was the moment I realized there was no way I’d be able to fight him anymore. Not while he had me pinned in place with his body and tied up.

“Glenn, you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I’m teaching my little sister a lesson.” He leaned down, his chest flush against my naked back, gently brushing my hair from the side of my neck. “A lesson I’ve been dying to teach you for so long.”

“Is that what you did to Neon?”

He stilled.

“I know what you did to her. I saw her.”

“She was merely collateral damage.”

“You fucked her up, Glenn. You raped her, and now you want to rape me too.” I stopped thrashing, taking a deep breath as I tried to calm my wildly beating heart. “You turned into one of them. You’re no better than the men who hurt us, than Mom and Dad, who never protected us.” With every word, my fear turned into fury. “I was a fool to ever think you loved me.”

“But I do.” His lips brushed against my ear. “I do love you. Don’t you see that? I’ve always loved you, but you hurt me. You betrayed me.”

“No, you’re betraying me. Remember that day you came to my room after my tenth birthday? You promised me that the day you were big enough, you would make it all right. You won’t let anyone else hurt me. But now you’re hurting me.”

His tongue traced along my ear. “You deserve it.”

“Then do it. Hurt me. Rape me. Kill me.” All my strength drained out of me as I surrendered to the darkness, my body sagging into the mattress. “I’m done fighting. There’s no need to fight when you’re already a rotting corpse.”

A heavy silence fell around us, and I allowed myself to take a breath. But as the air settled in my lungs, I felt his hand slowly travel down my side, fingers wrapping around my knee before jerking it up, spreading my legs wide. The warm summer air felt like ice against my nakedness, and I wanted to die right there. If there was a way for me to end my life in that moment, I would have done it without hesitating.

I bit my lips, the saltiness of my pain coating my tongue. After years of being free from that hell, I found myself thrown back there again—by another person I trusted. Another person who had sworn to protect me, yet now he was the one about to hurt me.

Forcing one of his thighs beneath my leg, keeping me in place, I knew this wasn’t the first time he did this. He moved like a fucking expert, anticipating my every move, knowing exactly how I would fight back. My brother had done this before. The man I trusted with my life had destroyed others the same way we were ruined.

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