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I look down at the ground. “I don’t know who my biological parents are. I was taken in by a woman who found me in a homeless encampment. Or at least that’s what she told me. Her name was Jessica. She also went by her stage name, Trixie.”
“She could be looking for you.” Tristan purses his lips.
Shaking my head, I frown. “No. I doubt it. Once I started stripping and got my own place, I pretty much didn’t hear from her again.”
“Ha!” A laugh from across the room draws all of our attention. I look up and see Cam bent over in hysterics.
“What’s so funny?” Drew turns around with a glare.
Cam smiles like the cat that got the canary. “No one else finds it just hilarious that our little princess here was a stripper? She was literally a whore for a living!”
“Fuck off, Cam.” Kayce stands up, fists clenched at his sides. “And for the record, not a single one of us found that funny at all.”
“Well, that’s odd, considering you’re the funny man of the group. I figured you would find humor in her being an actual slut and pussytizing each and every one of you assholes.”
“Get out,” Asher growls from next to me. Asher, who is usually calm and level-headed, looks like he wants to rip Cam a new one.
“Of course you take her side. Look, just ship her back to New York, and we can get on with our lives. She can go back to selling her pussy, and we can get back to playing ball.” Cam shoves his phone in his pocket.
“A slut?” I seethe. “Are you that upset that I won’t fuck you that you are resorting to calling me a slut?” I get up from the couch and stalk toward him.
Cam crosses his arms over his chest and leans back against the counter, offering me a faint smile.
“My pain, my life, is not something for you to tear apart and joke about. I was drugged. I was raped. I have no fucking clue how I landed out here. But me being up on that stage? Dancing? I never, ever touched any client in that place.” Tears start to pour down my face. “I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask for this life.”
“Rae.” Drew comes up behind me. His hand softly touches my shoulder. “You don’t owe him an explication.”
“Let her give me her sob story. It won’t change my mind. She was on the streets, and you idiots took her in like she was a lost puppy. Look at her. She’s living it up in here.” Cam shrugs.
“Shut the fuck up, Cam. You are insufferable right now. Is your heart completely black? She just figured shit out a bit and you are acting like she’s become a squatter in my house. I’m perfectly happy with her staying as long as she wants.” Drew turns back to me. “Like I said, you don’t owe him anything.”
I shake my head. “No, I do. Because he needs to hear this. I didn’t choose this life, Cam. I didn’t ask to be kidnapped and held captive. Every minute of the day I am scared out of my mind. And that incident in the bathrooms confirmed my fears. And you sit here and laugh at me? You sit here and make jokes about my pain? Why?”
Cam doesn’t say anything. He just stares at me.
“You sit here and joke that I’m a slut, a whore. Except you are missing one key piece of information, Cam.”
He frowns. “And what’s that?”
“It’s really hard to be a slut, to be that whore you think I am. When before I was kidnapped, I was a virgin.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
KAYCE
And just like that,Rae drops that bomb. The look on Cam’s face says it all. He is grinding his teeth together as he fists his hands at his sides. He wants to snap back with something, but there’s apparently a bit of decent human still in him as he holds back and bites his tongue.
In a huff, he pushes off the counter and storms out of the house.See ya, fucker.Cam really needs to cut the shit and get with the program. Raelyn is here for as long as she wants, and we will protect her.
It’s what I couldn’t do for my mother.
Closing my eyes for a moment, the image of my mother smiling at me is right there. God, how I miss her. She was so loving, so caring, and always looked out for others. But when she disappeared, when she was taken from me, my entire world was turned upside down.
At the time, as an eight-year-old, hearing that your mom was missing was devastating. But then finding out years later that yes, she was missing, but she was also murdered, guts you. I never gave up looking for her. Never.
Even though my grandparents kept me involved in baseball and school activities, I used whatever time I could to look for her.
It was why when I was a senior in high school, I discovered that her body was found, and I was devastated. She was sexually assaulted, and parts of her skin were burned. Whoever kidnapped her had tortured her, her body riddled with cuts and bruises.