Page 48 of Voracious

Dezand Base would refuse to be friends with me if they saw the shit I got up to with her. But she always brings a fun side out of me, like her happiness is infectious, and I’m perfectly fine with it.

Just wait till my dad hears about this trip. He did pay for the first few, to help us vanish from reality for a bit, but I’ve worked withEwana lot to save, and Stacey had some money set aside, so we combined our savings for this holiday. I told him I’d tell her I loved her, and he was excited for me – said he’s seeing a new side to me that he never knew existed.

Stacey does that. She showed me at the beginning of our relationship that there was more than doom and gloom, that my low moods were controllable, that the hatred I had for the world shouldn’t define who I am.

She taught me everything I needed to fall for her. Even my drawings are getting better.

Stacey sits up on me, thighs either side of my waist, camera in hand.

“Really? More pictures?” I raise a brow when she snaps two more. “Live in the moment, Stacey.”

She beams. “I am. I just want to have loads of things to look back on.”

I sit up and kiss her. “You say that as if something bad might happen to one of us. I’m going nowhere, and neither are you.”

Stacey brushes her fingers through my hair, her eyes still hooded and dazed from her third orgasm of the night. “Can we stay here forever?”

“When it comes to you, Freckles, I’d do anything.”

And I mean it. She wants to stay here; I’ll make it happen. She wants to move to a different planet; I’ll have us on the next fucking rocket out of here.

“Even let me drive your car again?”

“Well…” She giggles as I flip us over, settling between her legs. Her nose is red from the sun, and I press my lips to it gently. “Anything but that.”

16

STACEY

When Luciella lands, Barry sends a car to pick her up, and she arrives at the manor in a state of confusion. She glances around all the extra bodyguards, ones with guns and riot gear, and the black SUVs lined up at the front entrance.

I feel Aria move to stand beside me, offering her silent support as I prepare to tell my story.

“What’s going on?” Luciella asks, but before I can say anything, Tylar appears at the front door with Kyle trailing behind.

He said he’d pick her up on the way, and it’s just typical everyone arrives at the same time. So it looks like I’m going to be doing this now. I kind of wanted to give Lu a heads-up on the subject first, but might as well rip off the Band-Aid and get this over with.

“Can we all sit at the dining table? Or in your office?” I ask Aria.

“My office. I’ll have sandwiches and drinks brought up.”

Luciella frowns. “Is anyone going to tell me what’s happening?”

“I will,” I say. “Come on.”

The walk to Aria’s office is the longest walk of my life. I can’t look at anyone, can’t breathe properly, silently begging that this goes smoothly. Tobias knows small details about Chris, but the only other person I’ve told is my dad, who threw it all back in my face.

Barry asks me every day what happened, but whenever I try to formulate actual words, I fall apart and cry – but I think he has an idea. I apparently blurted out that my stepbrother beat me after murdering three people in cold blood.

Forgetting that night is impossible – I see their faces in my dreams. Sometimes, they turn into nightmares, and I don’t fight back. No one comes for me – only Chris once everyone else is done with me.

I shiver and blow out a shaky breath. Maybe I’ll feel better and will sleep properly once Chris is found.

This will be the first time I tell everyone the full truth. The reason for my lies. My secret stepbrother, the catastrophic abuse, my pregnancy loss and rape, and finally, the whirlwind romance I had with my best friend’s brother. My only normality and what kept me going.

Nervous isn’t the word I would use, but I am nervous as hell.

This could go in so many directions. What if they don’t believe me like my dad didn’t? What if Kyle takes his brother’s side after hearing everything? Barry told him Chris hit me, that he sold me to his friends the night Barry got me to the manor. He was furious, both with his brother and himself, but everything else his brother did to me is still locked in my mind.

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