Page 59 of Bound by Love
Brie kept swallowing hard, her eyes closed tightly, trying to keep herself from sobbing. She was completely unprepared when she felt his lips on hers.
Brie shook her head violently, breaking the kiss.
He grabbed her chin, holding her still as he did it again. It felt so wrong, like eating poison, and she suddenly felt sick.
Her body froze when she felt one of his hands move lower.
“No,” she begged.
His hand did not hesitate as it slipped under the material of her jeans. Her whole body became cold as a terrifying numbness took over.
No…
Bile rose up her tender throat and she started thrashing as she began making retching noises, Darius jumped off her just in time to avoid being covered in her vomit. She rolled over, getting on her hands and knees as she threw up violently, her body expelling the contents of her stomach.
When it was over, she looked up and saw that Darius had fled. Wiping her mouth, she sat on her heels and tried to button up her shirt, but her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. She closed up her shirt, hugging herself as she sat there.
The dog continued to bark in the distance.
Daddy…
Why had no one come?
Brie closed her eyes and the tears fell as she began sobbing uncontrollably. She sat there in the dirt for what felt like hours.
Alone.
It felt surreal when she finally buttoned her shirt back up, stood up on shaking legs, and began the long walk home, avoiding people at all costs. Everything around her was the same. Same streets, same houses, nothing had changed—but everything had changed for her.
Brie stumbled into the house. Her mother was singing to the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” a Bobby McFerrin favorite, as she prepared the night’s dinner in the kitchen.
“Brie, is that you?” she called out.
Not wanting to face her, Brie answered in a hoarse voice. “I’m going upstairs to study.”
Her mother popped her head out of the kitchen. “You’re late. I was starting to get worried.”
Brie was barely holding on by a thread emotionally. She couldn’t face her mom—not now. Holding out her backpack to hide behind it, she said, “Gotta head upstairs…” Brie bolted up the stairs, but her mother called from the bottom step.
“Brie, what happened to you? You’re cover in dirt from head to toe.”
“It’s nothing, Mom,” she insisted, trying to move up the stairs faster.
“Stop right there, young lady.”
Brie stopped on the last step, her heart beating out of her chest, wishing the earth would open up and swallow her.
Knowing her shirt was missing several buttons, and uncertain what her face looked like, Brie couldn’t chance turning around to face her. There would be no getting out of this if she did.
“Walk back down here this instant, young lady…”
The terror she felt in the dream woke Brie straight out of her nightmare, and she screamed in the dark. Sir reached out to her, his touch in her current state causing her to scream even louder.
Sir enveloped Brie in his arms, holding her tightly and refusing to let go until she quieted against him. “Darius,” he stated rather than asked.
Oh God…how did he know with such certainty? There was no way he would let this go.
“Talk to me, Brie,” Sir insisted in a low, comforting tone.
