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Nothing moves around us. I hear nothing.

Maybe time did actually stop, and it’s not just an impression.

The smell of his cologne mingles with the saltiness of sweat, making me wonder what his skin might feel like under my touch right now.

I only have to take his shoulder gear and shirt off to get an idea.

For a half-second, I see myself naked beneath him. He’s pushing harder and deeper…

“Madison,” he whispers again.

I moan into his mouth, so softly that it’s even quieter than a whisper.

Rhue traps my lower lip between his teeth for a brief moment. “Do you mind bending over so I can pound you like my father did?”

I pull away, watching as his face twists into something dark and grotesque before it takes the shape of Julian in my imagination. Rhue’s arms hold me tight. Maybe too tight. My air supply has vanished. It feels like I’m suffocating. My fantasy has rotted.

“What?” I manage, trying to discern between reality and the horrific fantasy that seems to have taken over my mind.

“Bend over and take it like a big girl,” Rhue says.

My eyes peel open because I cannot stand the sight of Rhue. I cannot stand the way he looks so much like his father right now. The mere memory of what happened between us makes me want to puke. What a terrible mistake this was.

Bile gathers in my throat as I realize that Rhue still holds me, and his smile is cold and wicked. It was a lie. A filthy, pretty lie. He got me. I’ll give credit where it’s due. He got me.

“I just wanna see what all the fuss was about. Or am I supposed to pay for that cooch like my father did?” he adds, and I immediately fight my way out from his firm grip. He opposes my release, however, and laughs.

“You piece of shit!” I grunt and kick and punch until finally I am free.

Several feet grow between us as I catch my breath, but I still can’t inhale properly.

There’s nothing to inhale. Time resumes its flow, and it’s loud and cheery once again.

So many noises. Laughter and horns. Ringtones and message chimes.

Everything is back to normal, except me.

I cannot breathe. I cannot recover. I’m in a dark spot, and Rhue is the one who did this.

No one else. I’m unable to fault myself for it.

“What? Did you really think I’d want to make peace with you?” Rhue replies, only half-amused. “I thought you were the brightest one in the state, according to your SAT scores. How are you this stupid? You’re the reason my parents’ marriage fell apart. You’re the reason my mother is gone.”

“How could you?” I manage.

This is a whole different kind of assault.

A violation of my soul. A belittlement of my dignity.

He fooled me once, now. This one’s on him.

The next time, I’ll own it. But this one is all Rhue.

I thought him to be more genuine than this, to stoop so low is unlike him.

Either something terrible is going on in his life, or he’s absolutely right, and I’m the village idiot.

I’m no genius. I’m not even remotely smart.

If I were, I’d have seen this coming.

“I told you the war had only just begun. What part about that declaration entailed even the slightest possibility of a truce?” Rhue says.

“I wanted you, Madison, but you chose to let my father fuck you. You looked me square in the eyes while he was fucking you in my mother’s bed.

How could you even imagine that this thing between us would end in anything other than tears and blood? ”

There are so many awful things I’d like to do to him right now.

Anything to make him feel at least an inkling of the pain that he has caused me.

I thought we were getting somewhere better.

I thought I could put the nightmare behind us.

I dared not wish for us to be more than distant acquaintances, at best—still better than enemies, yet here he is, insisting on the latter.

“It takes a certain kind of evil to pull something like this off,” I tell Rhue.

“Your father may be a monster, but at least he is honest about himself—or he was with me, anyway. But you, you miserable bastard, you can’t cope with your own insufficiencies, and you think tormenting me will make your life better.

You pretend to be a decent person, only to deceive and hurt people.

What does that say about you? What would your mother think if she saw you now? ”

“Keep my mother’s name out of your filthy mouth!” he snarls, pointing a furious finger at me. I scoff and shake my head slowly, no longer impressed.

“You don’t get to call my mouth filthy after all the lies you just served me. You’re pathetic, Rhue Echeveria. You’re worse than Julian. Way fucking worse.”

That hits deep. I can see it on his face. The outrage. The anger. The gradual realization of a hard truth.

I walk away, shaking like a leaf. Sweat seeps into my shirt, and my skin feels loose. I worry I might not make it back to my dorm room in time. My knees are weak. It’s as if everything I am will just melt away and fall off the bones.

My heart was already broken, yet it pangs harder now.

The pain is sharper and deeper than ever before, but I know why.

I hoped for the best without preparing for the worst. I expected more from a man who clearly does not expect more from himself.

Rhue is an incredible human being—strong, intelligent, fierce and inquisitive.

But he is also blinded by grief. Desperate to seek someone to take the blame for the gaping hole his mother’s death left behind.

I’m the patsy here.

I never asked for it, though. I never asked for this much pain and anguish.

But I lied just now, too. I lied, because I said he’s worse than his dad. He isn’t. No one I know is worse than Julian Echeveria. No matter how hard Rhue tries, he will never be more evil than his father.