Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 71595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
But—-
I’m his girlfriend. Isn’t it my right to check up on him? It’s been a couple of days since we last talked, and over two weeks since we last saw each other, and I did...THAT...for him.
Not that it should mean anything. I mean, I know Yuki. He loves me. He really does. He wouldn’t throw me away just because I’ve given him a blowjob and he’s become tired of me after it.
Right?
My fingers tighten around the handrail.
Everything’s going to be okay, KC.
You’ll see.
I chant the words to myself as I climb the steps, and when I see the trail of clothes starting on the second floor—-
I scream the words in my mind.
And when I see the bra on the third floor, where Yuki’s room and no other room is—-
The words turn into sobs.
Everything’s going to be okay, KC.
Everything’s going to be okay, KC.
Everything’s going to be okay, KC.
I open the door.
A girl is lying on Yuki’s bed, with just her shirt pushed up to her neck, exposing her breasts...and everything else. Her legs are dangling on the edges of the bed, and between them is Yuki’s head.
He’s pleasuring her...exactly the way he’s gone down on me so many times before.
The girl’s head turns towards me, and she smiles. “It’s just you.”
My mind becomes hazy, but a vague memory starts to form. Before we started dating, Yuki once told me that he only went out with girls who had boyfriends because they didn’t expect anything from them. The one before me, he had almost slipped and told me her name—-
El...
That was my only clue, and I remembered thinking if it could be Elle...or Eleanor –
But now I realize it’s “El” for Elizabeth.
Elizabeth as in Liz, the snotty bitch whom my friend Jace had been going out with for years.
“Why are you still standing there? Can’t you see we’re busy?” Liz rolls her eyes. “And shut the door behind you, will you?”
And all through this, Yuki doesn’t even stop eating her.
“SORRY FOR CALLING YOU out of the blue, Lace.” It’s a little past midnight, and I’m curled up in the balcony, with only the faint glow of the moon to keep me company. Vivi, left shaken when she learned of what happened at the goukon, had offered to stay with me, but I refused her as politely as I could.
I need to be alone.
But I also need to talk to someone before I go out of my mind.
Swallowing hard, I ask uncertainly, “Are you sure you’re not busy?”
“I only have a date with Silver, but that’s not until tonight.” She pauses. “Has something happened?”
Despite everything, I can’t help smiling a little at how intuitive my friend is. Although Lace is as tomboyish as they go, she’s also one of the most sensitive people I know. She rarely needs words to figure out things—-
“Something happened,” Lace says.
Like I said: sensitive.
“It’s Yuki,” I choke out.
I hear Lace suck in her breath from the other end of the line. “You talked to him?”
I choke and laugh. “That’s the thing...” My throat tightens and I need to force the words out. “He doesn’t even...” My eyes start to sting, and I squeeze them shut. “I’m sorry. I know I’m not making sense, and I know I shouldn’t be bothering you about this, but I’m scared of what I’d do if I don’t—-”
“Listen to me. You’re right to call me. You’re my best friend. I demand that you call me the moment something’s wrong. Got that?” Lace is using her tough-as-nails-voice with me. She uses it all the time with her boys – or rather, the guys in the basketball team she’s coaching. But she only uses it with me when she’s hurting for me—-
And I love her for it, but God help me, I’m sick of this, too.
“I don’t want you to worry about me again,” I whisper brokenly.
“Oh, Kace.”
I tell her haltingly about what went down at the goukon and by the time I’m done, Lace must have sworn to kill the fucking son of a bitch about fifty times. Maybe sixty, but who’s counting?
“And you’re absolutely sure you’re fine and you don’t need to stay at a hospital?”
“I am. I promise.”
“Who took you home?”
“A couple I know from school came to pick up.”
“Thank God.” But anxiety still underscores Lace’s voice. “You’re really sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, but Lace...” My teeth sink into my lower lip, deeper and deeper until I start to draw blood. It hurts, but somehow it’s not enough. I need to be punished some more, for causing so much trouble to people around me. And now, it’s starting again—-
Yuki. Vivi. Seiji. Momo. Even Nina—-
“KC?”
And now, even though she’s halfway across the world, Lace’s worried, too.
“I’m so weak,” I choke out. “Why am I always—-”
“Stop that.” Lace’s voice is sharp. “You were accosted, almost raped. Of course you’d be shaken—-”