Page 97 of Wicked Dreams (Fallen Royals 1)

I slide off the counter. My muscles quake. “I need a minute,” I say in a low voice.

He inclines his head, and I slink away to the bathroom. It takes longer than I would expect to put my pieces back together. My resolve goes here, my dignity goes there. Inch by inch, I rebuild who I was.

Who knew sex would destroy me?

I clean myself. When I come out of the bathroom, Caleb holds out my bra and shirt.

I stare at the kitchen island.

“I’m going to fuck you on that counter,” he had promised. “You’re going to enjoy it, even knowing what happened here. Because all you’ll be able to think about is my dick in your pussy, spreading you wide. Hitting every. Fucking. Nerve.”

Horror washes through me.

He spoke the truth. I did forget. I let myself fall into his madness, and now…

“Caleb,” I choke out, grabbing my shirt and hugging it to my chest. “How—”

“How could I?” His eyes are dark. Glittering. He leans down until we’re face to face. “Have you learned nothing?”

I close my eyes. Tears fall hard and fast down my face.

He yanks my shirt out of my grip and puts it on me. Forces my arms through the sleeves and buttons the front. He takes my bra, my panties from where he dropped them, and slides both into his pocket.

“Let’s go.” He puts his hand between my shoulder blades and guides me out.

“You got what you wanted,” I say once we’re in the car. There’s a chill in the air, and my nipples harden under my shirt. I want to dive out of the car and walk home rather than let him see.

“Yeah, well, it’s not all sunshine and fucking roses up here.” He taps his temple.

We ride back to the Jenkins’ house in silence. I get out and jog to the front door without looking back, my backpack thumping against my shoulder blade. Lenora’s car isn’t in the driveway, and I manage to slip up to my room undetected.

I go to my window in time to watch Caleb’s car pull back out into traffic, slipping away like he was never there.

The haunted feeling I got when I walked into his house is still surrounding me, thicker than smog. He wanted to banish a few ghosts.

I guess that includes me.

23

I loop my arm through Riley’s as we walk toward the library. “I need a favor.”

She tilts her head. “Like bury a body type of favor, or want to stop and get coffee before school type thing?”

I snort. She unlocks the door, and we slip inside.

It’s been an exhausting week, but the good news is: it’s Friday.

Once Caleb returned to school, he made a show of being extra nice to me. He glared at anyone he saw making rude comments. That alone seemed to quell most of the bullying. It was a weird turn of events, considering how we left things Monday afternoon. Half of me expected him to pretend I didn’t exist and throw me to the wolves, as cliché as that sounds.

“Like a… drive me to the mall type of favor.”

She drops into her chair. “Easy enough.”

I don’t sit.

“Wait… do you mean now?”

“Just… miss lunch and maybe the next class.”

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