Page 46 of Crazy Rich Monsters (Necessary Evils 1)

“No. I actually really enjoy being fucking confused.”

“The story is true. I just left out a few bits of the truth but here’s what really happened that day…”

* * *

Summer days in the Hamptons were surreal. Sun-soaked afternoons on the pristine beaches on the good days. On the hottest days, when the humidity was too much to handle and we could barely breathe, we opted to stay by the pool.

Stepping into the Calloway Manor for the first time was like boarding the Titanic as a first-class passenger. The mansion might as well have been a palace, and the floors were paved in gold or something like it. It was a scene straight out of a fairy tale, the peasant getting her very first glimpse of royalty.

Over the course of that summer, the novelty waned. We were kids from entirely different worlds and separated by years of age. Perhaps it wasn’t the most appropriate friendship, but Emily was the little sister I never had. It also didn’t hurt that I had the kind of teenage crush that housed a conservatory of butterflies every time he passed by.

Carter Calloway wasn’t like all the other boys. He shared the same sense of teenage rebellion as most of the others, coupled with a knack for bullying the other kids that were beneath him. I was beneath him, but we formed a kinship of sorts over the course of that fateful summer. I’d catch his gaze upon me every now and again. He would immediately turn away from me, as if to tease me. As if to let me know that he’d never be caught dead looking at someone like me.

I was young, infatuated by the bad boy that was out of reach. Even as he hung around the pool, shirtless and with a happy trail of hair blooming out from underneath his low-rise shorts, his attention was elusive. Hormones got the best of me. I craved to be touched by the untouchable and I fantasized about the day he would take me into the pool house and take my virginity.

That day never came because the fateful day crept up on us too soon. It was one of the hotter days, so Emily and I were lying by the pool. For all intents and purposes, I was the unpaid intern that served as her babysitter. The sun was high in the sky in the early part of the afternoon, and I waited with my head turned towards the gate, hoping Carter would show up.

I excused myself and made my way inside the house. At first, it was an innocent enough mission to use the bathroom and nothing more. When I was finished, I began to head towards the pool, but curiosity got the better of me. I made sure the coast was clear before running up the stairs. To the right was Carter’s bedroom. I knew this because I had spent countless hours next door in Emily’s room.

His door was cracked open, which was unusual. He was a zealot for privacy, going so far as to have a bolt lock installed on his door. I knew better, but I was young and dumb, and relished the chance to explore the bedroom of my crush. After some proper snooping, including a quick peek into his underwear drawer, I noticed his laptop open on the desk.

Before I could get comfortable in the chair, I heard the bedroom door peeling open. My heart shot through my chest and I immediately toyed with the idea of bolting from the chair and diving through the upper floor window. Thankfully, it was only Emily.

“What are you doing in here?”

“Carter left his laptop open,” I said with a chuckle as I began to click through his open windows and tabs. Giggling with glee, I was unaware of the perverse scenery that would soon unfold.

There was a browser window filled with countless tabs, each of them displaying various kinds of porn. As a teenager who had limited experience in sex and porn, I was bewildered by the imagery.

Emily didn’t share the same excitement or curiosity. “I don’t think we should be doing this.

“What is wrong with you?” I cocked my head to her and sized her up. Her face was almost pale, sickly. I remembered in that moment that she was younger than me, and so I quickly exited out of the windows.

But behind the browser tabs, there was an open folder of photos.

Emily stepped away from the computer and turned to look out the open bedroom door as I began searching through the photos. The images started out innocent enough. Carter’s selfies in the mirror, first with a shirt and then without. It’s not anything I hadn’t seen before, but a lump still grew in my throat as I continued to click through the photos. It was like a flipbook of photos, with each frame slowly revealing more and more of his body. His pants were gone. Standing in front of a tall mirror, he held one hand on the bulge in his white boxers. In another, he pushed his underwear down to the side, exposing his pelvic bone.

I checked to make sure Emily wasn’t looking and breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn’t so that I could continue scrolling through the photos. I angled my body to block her view. Now, he was nude, sitting on his bed with an erection. And then the next photo wasn’t a photo at all, it was a video.

I swallowed nervously at first and then my face became just as pale as Emily’s.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she said, her voice cutting through me like a razor. She began to approach, and I needed to do whatever it took to ensure she didn’t take another step.

I jumped to my feet, my stomach in knots, and guided her out of the bedroom. Right into the arms of Carter Calloway, who now stood at the entrance. He was sweaty, the cotton of his white tee clinging to his wet chest. His hair was tussled and dripping, as if he’d just returned from a vigorous run.

My heart threatened to beat right out of my chest, and for the first time, it wasn’t infatuation that worked me into a frenzy. It was the sight of the boy raping a young girl. He was sick and demented, and his crimes were even worse because he had the gall to record it.

“What were you doing in my room?” he questioned, towering above me.

I couldn’t speak, too terrified that I’d end up like the girl on that video. He leaned forward, taking a gander into the room. I knew he’d seen the video playing because in the interest of getting as far away from the evidence as possible, I didn’t consider erasing any trace that I was there.

Carter inhaled sharply.

I pushed against him with all my might, just barely managing to set him off balance long enough so that I could grab Emily’s hand and flee. I raced forward, down the short length of the hall, and then took a sharp right to run down the stairs. Carter was hot on the trail, screaming for us to wait, that it wasn’t what it looked like.

“Stay away from us,” I yelled back without turning around, but I could feel his shadow closing in on us.

As I reached the marble floor at the base of the stairway, he finally caught up to me. He grabbed me by the head and threw me against the wall just outside his father’s office. My head cracked against the hard surface and before I could catch my breath, he grabbed me, turned me around and threw me back against the wall. He held me in place with one strong hand circled around my throat.

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