Page 43 of Piper's Pyro

“Piper, answer me. Look at me.” He shook me some more.

I’m trying, Russell. It’s like they’re glued shut.

“I will kill you for touching her. Get the fuck away from her!” Was that Stitch? I could swear it was his voice. Had he found me with Russell? My family would go nuts once they found out.

“It’s making you crazy that you can’t help her, isn’t it? Too bad so sad.” His lips were on mine and he made a ridiculous kissing sound. “See, I can do anything I want to her.”

“Russell, what are you doing?” I whispered.

“I’m not Russell!” he yelled.

My eyes flashed open.

“Who the fuck is Russell?” Forrest’s face turned beet red and fury raged in his dark depths. “I’ve kept tabs on you. You haven’t been with anyone.”

I didn’t know how to respond. I must’ve been dreaming about postcoital bliss after having sex with Russell, but he wasn’t actually there with me.

Oh my God! It had been Forrest touching and kissing me. Disgust made my stomach churn.

I blinked, trying to recall what had happened. I recognized the hospital, and the back of my head throbbed. The last thing I remembered was Stitch getting shot, then I blacked out.

“Stitch?” I called.

“Here,” he said weakly.

“Are you okay?” I attempted to raise but was met with resistance. My hands and feet were tied to the bed. “What’s happening? Why are you doing this?” Anger overcame me. I wanted to do nothing more than gouge Forrest’s eyes out.

“What I should’ve done a long time ago. Take you by force instead of sending your brothers on a wild goose chase. Not that fucking with them didn’t turn me on. Oh, it did.” He rubbed his crotch. “I kept waiting for the day they’d leave you vulnerable so I could make my move, but it never happened!”

“We’re not stupid like you,” Stitch snickered.

I held my head up, barely able to see Stitch’s condition. He didn’t look well at all.

Forrest charged at Stitch and kicked him in the face. Again. And again.

“Stop it! You’ll kill him!” I screamed.

“That’s the point!”

“What do you want? I’ll give you whatever it is. Just leave Brady alone.” My chest rattled with emotion and tears rolled down my face.

“I told you what I wanted. You.”

“Okay, fine.” I’d surrender to this deranged fungus if it meant saving Brady.

“But it’s not so easy anymore.” Forrest peered out the window’s blinds. “Police cars are everywhere. Maybe even a swat team. National Guard. Who the fuck knows. Oh, and of course, your goddamn brothers probably called in every favor to get back up. We’ll never make it out of here alive.”

His negative tone scared me. What would he do if he was sure we wouldn’t make it out alive?

“Why would you want to be with me after the way I rejected you? Usually, a person moves on and finds someone new.” Maybe I could help him see how he’d gone about this all wrong or at least buy my brothers as much time as possible to rescue us. Forrest didn’t really want me. He only believed he did.

“I was your first. That means something.”

“Jesus Christ. I don’t want to hear this,” Stitch hissed.

“It’s true,” Forrest replied defensively. “She didn’t want to be a virgin in college. One night after a football game, she asked me to have sex with her.”

I lowered my chin to my chest as humiliation crashed down on me. It’d been the biggest mistake of my life—and the worst sex.

---