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The next blow to Grayson comes harder, low and on his side. I hear the crack of his ribs twenty feet away. It’s horrifying and I cry out, my screams echoing through the air. “Leave him alone!”
Grayson bends forward, attempting to clutch his stomach, swaying with the blow, his body hunching in pain. I can’t see his face, only hear the shallow breaths. And I realize, he’s not going to scream for them to stop. He won’t give them the satisfaction.
Somehow, our eyes meet in the midst of this and he studies me for a moment. The world stops spinning. The air ceases to exist and there we are, helpless, clinging to a future that no longer exists for us. This, this is the end for us. Our happy ever after is no longer.
Held down by three guys, Grayson draws in a shuddered breath, his broad shoulders heaving as tears roll down his cheeks.
“I love you,” I mouth, my throat aching, raw grief taking over, but he heard it.
He drops his head forward, shaking it, as if he’s saying, I give up.
I let out another sob, one of guilt that all of this is my fault. It’s on me.
Shane kneels next to Grayson, smiling at me, wicked and evil radiating through him. He grabs Grayson by his hair and forces him to look at him. “I fucked her so many times while she begged me to stop.” He pauses, gesturing toward me with the bat. “Does it kill you to know what I did to her? Does it?”
Grayson isn’t going to give him the satisfaction of an answer, his face stone cold and impassive. There’s an underlying darkness to him, a perfect mirror to the sky above us.
Shane knows what will though.
Me.
Eye for an eye.
“Just remember,” he looks down at Grayson one last time. “You made me do this.”
When Shane lets go, two other guys take a firmer grasp on Grayson as he struggles against them, his white T-shirt, ripped and soaked in blood. It’s the look on his face that destroys me, his eyes wide as panic takes over.
“No!Fuck no. Get away from her!” He loses it. Completely, his words exploding in a string a violent threats and promises, throwing words like stones.
Before I have time to react, Lance pins me against the bed of Grayson’s truck. I’m tossed in the back, kicking and screaming, never gaining any grip against the wet metal, begging them to stop.
“Don’t touch her!” Grayson screams. I’d never seen him so angry, so violent. His entire body convulses as rage fills him. He gets one of the guys off him, struggling, fighting for all he’s worth to get away from them to save me. “Don’t you fucking touch her!”
He’s pinned down by two more, unable to move.
My dress is ripped away, my panties next with the knife in Lance’s hand. My head slams against the bed. I blink, dizzy, my heartbeat pulsing in every part of my body. Disoriented, blackness lurks behind every blink.
I fight against them, but one of them punches my stomach and it takes all my control with it.
Grayson screams, the roar of his agonizing threats keeping me in the moment.
Before I can recover from the blow to my stomach, there is another, this time with an object I can’t make out. I gasp, a sudden sharp intake of breath seized by another blow. I blink furiously until my vision comes back.
“Don’t…,” I beg, drops of water hitting my cheeks.
Shane stands above me, smiling. “I should fuck you with this knife so he can never enjoy your pussy again, shouldn’t I?”
“You fucking touch her and I will kill you!” Grayson coughs up blood, tears and blood streaming down his face as he shakes from his sobs. “LET HER GO!”
So much is behind Grayson’s screams. Years of pain, regret, anger, it’s all there and so raw.
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying not to see, keeping my heart cold and still.
I wait for the next blow and once it comes, everything is blurry.
“Watch, Grayson,” Shane warns, growling in frustration. “Fucking watch or I’ll kill her right now in front of you!”
Grayson won’t look, despite the threat. He tries to shake his head but can’t when the guy holding his head makes him look.