Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 163(@200wpm)___ 130(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 163(@200wpm)___ 130(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
“I don’t want this, Brian. Please.” Could he even understand her? In her mind, the words sounded clear, but coming out of her mouth was a different story. They felt thick, hard to even pronounce, and when Brian grinned, she knew he either couldn’t understand her or he didn’t give a fuck.
Probably both.
Was David on the line? And then saying to hell with it because she needed to get out of this, she turned and grabbed her phone that was partially under her.
“David,” she tried to say his name. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried again. “I need help. He’s going to rape—”
Brian snatched the phone from her and tossed it against the wall. She saw pieces scatter around, and her entire body tensed.
“Fuck, Gillian,” Brian said, sounding even more desperate. And then he was on the bed, on top of her, pinning her body down with his, and kissing the side of her neck.
She couldn’t stop this, and that was the scariest thing of all.
Gillian opened her eyes, stared at her bedroom ceiling, and breathed through the temporary panic that assaulted her. She had the nightmare every once in a while, and although she’d gone to therapy and was feeling more positive about her mental health, there were still times that night came back to haunt her.
She sat up, trying to calm her racing heart, and got up to go to the bathroom. Turning on the light and placing her hands on the sink, Gillian stared at her reflection. Her black hair was a matted mess around her face, sweat causing it to stick to her cheeks and forehead, and the dark circles under her eyes looked like she’d gotten the shit kicked out of her.
“You’re stronger than this,” she whispered to her reflection. Turning the faucet on and washing her face, she knew coping techniques to keep the panic and past from claiming her. She had moved on with her life since then, and although it had happened seven years ago, when she’d been twenty, she knew that a trauma like that never fully left a person.
Going back to the bed, she sat on the edge and stared at her cell phone. Whenever the nightmare came back, the first person she always thought about was David. He’d been the one person to stop Brian, to make sure she’d been safe.
He’d also been the one to kick the shit out of Brian, sending him to the hospital with a broken nose and jaw, a fractured arm, and a dislocated knee. Brian had looked like someone had taken a meat tenderizer to his face, but she hadn’t cared. The boy she’d gone to high school with, had thought was her friend, had drugged and nearly raped her.
For all she cared, he could have fallen off a cliff and she would have stood there watching his descent.
She knew David would have accepted her call anytime of the day. He’d been there for her all the way back when he’d been briefly married to her mother. But that had been so long ago.
Even then, he’d been a friend and not a father figure. She had a dad already, didn’t need another one, and she’d been happy and content to have someone she could talk to. But sadly, the marriage hadn’t lasted that long. Even though that had been so long ago, she still kept in contact with him and considered him the closest person in her life.
With her mother traveling Europe and Asia with her new boyfriend, hardly keeping in contact as it was, Gillian had few people she trusted. Aside from David and her therapist, she didn’t have anyone she felt comfortable speaking with about her problems, about the things that had happened.
David’s always been there for me. We never lost contact, and I love him.
Yes, she loved him as a friend, but what she’d told no one, what she would never tell a soul or show outwardly, was that she was in love with David. Gillian had been since that moment he pulled Brian off of her and watched as David beat the shit out of him.
A part of her thought it was wrong for her to feel anything sexual toward a man who had been in her life technically as her stepfather. Although she never saw him in that capacity and she knew he had never seen her as a daughter, it still seemed wrong, taboo even.
Deciding not to call him, even though she knew he’d be there for her, she lay back on the bed. Gillian breathed out and scrubbed her hands over her face, knowing she wouldn’t be getting back to sleep after the nightmare. She never did.
Of course, her thoughts went to Brian, as they did every time she was woken up by the past. She didn’t know where he was and didn’t care. It might have been seven years, but she remembered that night like it was yesterday.