Page 78 of Good Girl

The fire in my face flared, and my heart ran like a terrified hamster beating on the wheel. What the fuck was I going to do? How was I going to appease him? I was suddenly jolted back to our previous arguments when our relationship teetered on a knife’s edge. He often made me feel small and pathetic, and those old sensations were creeping back in my mind.

“So imagine my surprise when I come to visit you, and what do I see? You and thosethreeentering some whore club. I followed you just to learn that you’retoo goodto spread your legs for me. Was it because I wasn’t man enough, huh? Did you need three men to fuck you? Because trust me, Charlotte, I’ve gotfriends.”

“Youfollowedme?” Disgust curled its slimy fingers over my shoulders and bled into the nausea swirling in my stomach. He’d been following me for too long, violating my privacy, and yet with his history of disrespecting my boundaries when we were together, maybe I shouldn’t have been so shocked.

Cold terror bled from my soul, chilling me further with each wave of his gun.

“You were supposed to bemine, Charlotte. I had this plan, this plan that was going to fix everything. Do you know what it’s like to see and hear people saying shit about you? Thinking you’re some sort of... rapist because I wanted sex and you kept saying no? That’s not my fault, that’s onyou, but I had to live with that!” His voice rose with each word and I was at a loss.

“I–I’m sorry,” I gasped.

“Not sorry enough,” Jonathan snapped. “You still fucked three teachers, howthat’sallowed I have no fucking clue, but I tried to warn them. I tried to tell them to stay away, warn them away from how much of a black hole you are, but they just didn’t listen.

“The letters...?” Derek had mentioned them so casually in passing that I’d believed him when he’d said it was Paul just trying to get a rise out of him. We were so wrong.

“Yeah, I thought rich snobs like that appreciated letters, but you...” Jonathan began to pace, and he pressed the butt of the gun to the side of his face as he ranted. “You had your claws in and they wouldn’t listen, so what else could I do? They wouldn’t leave you alone and you were ignoring my texts and my calls. You were fucking with my plan, Charlotte, so when I saw that bike at the inn... well, cutting that bastard’s brakes was just the start.”

“Wait, wait—” Concern for Matt and the guys suddenly overruled the fear pulsing through me like a foghorn. “You. You caused Matt’s accident?”

“Of course I fucking did,” Jonathan snapped.

“He... Jonathan, he could havedied. What the fuck is wrong with you? They’re good people!” The words left me like a reflex and I couldn’t regret them fast enough.

Jonathan stopped suddenly, standing in front of me like a pillar of ice, and he raised the gun.

“Goodpeople?” Jonathan spat. “You’d defend them?”

“I ...”

“I thought... I thought I needed you back, Charlotte, but where the fuck wasmydefense when I needed it, huh? When people from school were posting shit about me, repeating your lies, and acting like I was some sort of pariah?”

I wanted to tell him that it was his own fault, that people believed me because it was the truth and most already had their suspicions, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the gun. Jonathan advanced, and terror gripped me, locking up my joints.

“I–I...” No words were enough, and I raised my hands. “Jonathan,please...”

“All of it, it’s your fucking fault, Charlotte, and still, you stand there like you’ve done nothing wrong! Tell me, give me one good fucking reason I shouldn’t shoot you right here.”

My mind went blank. My tears stopped and my heart skidded to a halt as he raised that terrifying weapon and pointed it straight at my face.

“You can’t, can you?” he sneered, “Because you know all of this is your fault. My wrecked life, your fucking teacher in the hospital... all of it because of you—”

“I’m pregnant!” I yelled suddenly, and the words escaped me as fast as lightning. “I’m pregnant. You c–can’t shoot me. I’m pregnant. Please, Jonathan, please, I’m sorry I—”

“Pregnant?” Jonathan’s face twisted into cold fury as he lowered the gun a fraction. “By one ofthem? How the fuck do you tell?”

“Please,” I gasped, dragging minimal air into my chest despite the tension winding around my chest. “Please, please—”

“I don’t give afuckif you’re pregnant. The little rat in there won’t have any sort of life with you as its mother.”

The gun clicked, and I screamed just as wood splintered down the hallway and the front door crashed open.

Derek and Samuel raced into the lounge as a gunshot exploded through the air.

38

CHARLOTTE

My world turned silent.

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