Page 95 of Follow Me Down

“You’re delusional,” I fire back, making a bee line for the door. He intercepts my path, cutting me off a few feet short from my only means of exit.

“And you’re even sexier when you’re mad.” He reaches out and grabs both of my shoulders. “Makes me tempted to finish what I started.” He gets right in my face, his breath hot on my cheeks.

“Get off of me,” I warn him, fully prepared to scream bloody murder if I have to, no matter how many of my father’s politician friends are in the next room.

“I swear to god, Fallon. If you breathe a word about what happened at the lake house, what comes next will be so much worse.”

With that, he releases me and quickly exits the room. The door no more than shuts behind him when I crumble to the floor, overwhelmed by fear and anger.

I can’t go back out there. I can’t pretend like everything is fine whennothingis fine. Everything is spiraling so far out of control that I have no idea how to reel it back in.

IneedTitus...

Clamoring to my feet, I cross to the other side of my father’s desk and pick up the phone. I’m ready to punch in my cell phone number when the door opens in front of me.

I look up to see my father enter the room.

He eyes the phone in my hand before his gaze darts to my face.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting the hell out of here,” I tell him, the receiver clutched tightly in my hand.

He storms toward me, ripping the phone out of my hand before slamming it down on the desk, causing me to jump.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on with you, but you need to pull yourself together. I have a house full of very important people and now is not the time for you to be acting like some crazed lunatic.”

“Lunatic?” I scream across the desk at him. “If anyone is a lunatic in this room, it’s you.”

“Fallon,” he warns, his voice low.

“I can’t do this. I can’t be here. Not with you and not with him.” I point toward the door.

“Not with who?” He straightens, confusion marring his face.

“Austin.”

“Austin?” he questions.

“You want to know why I disappeared from the lake house? How I ended up with Titus.He’sthe reason why.” Tears spill over my cheeks.

“What are you talking about?”

“He was there. At the lake house. He tried to rape me!” My voice trembles.

“He what?” His face pales slightly.

“Austin tried to rape me. I barely escaped. That’s when Titus found me. I was running through the woods, no shoes, no idea where I was going. Titus saw that I was in trouble and he helped me, no questions asked.”

My father takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly. “That’s a very serious accusation to be throwing around, Fallon.”

“Accusation?” My voice screeches. “It’s not an accusation. It’s the truth!”

“You’re mad at me for forcing your hand and now you’re grasping at straws.”

“Would you listen to yourself? I’m your daughter. I just told you someone tried to rape me and your first thought is thatI’mtrying to get back at you!”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull but whatever it is it’s not going to work.”

---