Well I wasn’t about to wait for that to happen, I wanted him out of my room now, “Okay, I’m really ti—”
He quickly moved up to my lips, shutting me up, and his kisses became rough and possessive. Just as they’d been this morning, only these weren’t lasting three seconds. We were close enough to the door that he reached out to flip off the lights and caught me around my waist again before I could take advantage of the break in his strong hold. He started backing me up toward the bed, and I pushed as hard as I could against the hand holding my head in place. His only response was to push against me harder. My bed was high enough that it hit at the small of my back and helped me stay standing when he tried to push me down. When I didn’t immediately fall onto the bed, he pulled my head back to look at me, giving me the break I needed.
“You need to leave. Now!” my arms had been caught between us, but with the new space I put them against his chest and tried to push him back farther. Instead of moving away, he got a smile that turned my body to ice, and my arms to jello. This is what I’d imagine a crazy person looks like.
“You don’t mean that,” he growled as he pulled my face back to his.
Did he really think I was just playing hard to get? I wanted him off me! He let go of my waist and began searching for the bottom of my shirt, but even though my waist was free I still couldn’t move; I was caught between him and the bed. When he found it he didn’t waste time traveling up to grab my chest. I could feel him getting excited and it made me want to throw up. His lips moved back to my neck.
“Please. Stop.” I hated how small my voice sounded.
“This would be over sooner if you’d just lie down and shut up.”
Grabbing both sides of my waist he lifted me onto the bed, pushed me down and climbed on top of me. I tried to tell him to stop again, but nothing was coming out except for my rapid breathing. My body was shaking violently and I was dangerously close to hyperventilating. He bit my bottom lip causing me to gasp enough that he could slide his tongue into my mouth. Blake’s knees were pinning my legs to the bed and I bucked my hips and pushed against his shoulders, but he still didn’t move. He gathered both my wrists in one hand and pinned them above my head. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes, I tried to move my head to the side so I could scream for help but he moved with me as he thrust his tongue in my mouth over and over again. I froze for all of five seconds before biting down on his tongue as hard as I could. He flew back with a pained cry and I tasted blood in my mouth. I was going to throw up. Before I could scream, his free hand slammed down on my throat and his face was directly above mine again. He growled as his blue eyes turned to ice and he just stared at me as I gasped for air.
“You’re going to regret doing that, sweetheart.” He vowed and my vision blurred from my tears, the outer edges were turning black as I struggled to stay conscious.
Blake’s breathing deepened and the look that crossed his painfully handsome face terrified me. My mouth opened and shut, but I couldn’t pull in any air and I couldn’t make a sound. My arms gave up their fight seconds before my bucking hips did the same, and soon I could hardly focus on Blake at all. I prayed that someone would come and save me as the hand that had been holding my hands down on the mattress slid down and cupped me through my thin yoga pants.
I felt his hot breath on my ear, “I’ll make sure you never want to fight me again, Rachel.”
The hand that was cupping me went up and slid under my pants and underwear. I tried to roll away but it was taking everything in me to stay awake. Tears spilled over and fell down my cheeks. Just as my mind started shutting down, the hand clasped around my throat was gone and I began gasping for air.
Waves of dizziness washed over me, and the blackness slowly faded away. I heard the distinct sound of his zipper over my gasps and sobs and my head shook slowly back and forth. I felt like I was underwater and couldn’t find my way to the surface. His hand closed around my throat again and I frantically tried to pull in air and claw at his hand, but it was useless. My arms lost function quickly and the edges of my vision were going black again, and I begged the darkness to come quicker. I didn’t want to be conscious through what he was doing. I didn’t want to remember this. The sweet numbness began claiming me, and at that moment, the most beautiful sound in the world came from outside the door.
Candice’s voice.
Blake was off the bed and putting himself back in his shorts in seconds while I wildly tried to take in as much oxygen as possible. He roughly pulled my pants up just as the key could be heard in the lock and took the few steps toward the door to flip the light on before coming back to my side. When the door opened, Blake was standing at the side of my bed looking down at me, the light brush over my throat and solid glare was clearly a warning. But I was still on the verge of fainting, now from trying too roughly to inhale.
Candice said goodbye to whomever she’d been talking to as she shut the door. “Oh, hey, cuz! I didn’t mean to—” Blake turned to look at her and Candice’s eyes went wide when she saw me, “Oh my God, Rachel, are you okay?!”
She rushed over to me, but Blake touched her arm and pulled her slightly away. “She was attacked by a couple guys outside Starbucks tonight. She called me about half an hour ago, she’s in shock but she’ll be okay.”
“What?!” Candice screamed and tears instantly filled her eyes.
What? No. No, no, no. My head shook back in forth as I choked on a sob and my breathing got even faster and heavier. I tried to tell her that was wrong. That he was lying, but all that came out was ragged sounds of my breathing.
I could see Candice and Blake’s mouths moving, but I couldn’t hear anything else. Everything tilted to the side and the blackness came back full force. I reached out for Candice but missed her arm as the dark claimed me.
TAKING CHANCES
1
MY FACE WAS stretched in a wide grin as I looked around my bedroom one last time. I was doing it, finally going to live my life however I saw fit to live it. I’d grown up with only my dad, and I loved him, but he didn’t know how to be a parent. The only part he seemed to get was the word “no.” I promise I’m not just being a whiny teenager, that really was about the extent of our conversations. He is always around me, rarely talking to me and always silently expecting me to be perfect. Not that I could blame the way he is, he has been in the Marine Corps since he graduated high school, and apparently he’s really good at what he does. The guys that came through his units respected him, and he always exuded pride for them. He’d kept me home-schooled which resulted in me going to work with him every day and doing my work in his office. I learned early on that if I didn’t understand something, it was just better not to ask. He’d look up at me from under his lashes with a raised eyebrow, sigh, and then go back to whatever he was working on. I was expected to finish by the time he started drills in the morning so I could go out there with him, but he still never said a word. The only interaction I really ever had was with his Marines. If anyone were to ask, I would let them know in a heartbeat I was raised by a bunch of immature jarheads that I adored, not by my father.
And now, after eighteen years of struggling to achieve a perfection that couldn’t be reached in my father’s eyes, I was finally going to let loose, have the college experience—whatever that was—and hopefully find out who I am in the process. I could have easily gone to a college here, but to say that my dad was strict would be the biggest understatement of my life, and I wanted to experience things I knew I wouldn’t be able to if I stayed here.
“Are you sure you want to do this Harper? There are plenty of excellent schools in North Carolina.”
I kept my eyes trained on his. “I’m one hundred percent certain Sir, this is what I need to do.” Did I mention I’m only allowed to call him “Sir”?