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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

GARY

Oh. My. God. I was dying. That was the only explanation on why it hurt this bad. Every single muscle screamed at me like I did them an injustice by working out with Easton. Not even my first time having sex hurt this bad. I whimpered, burying my face in my pillow, but even that movement hurt.

“Here.”

Peeking one eye open, I frowned at Easton.

He had a handful of pills and a bottle of water held out in front of my face.

He’d changed out of his workout clothes, which was disappointing.

I felt like I deserved a nice view while I was suffering like this.

He wiggled the bottle at me impatiently and helped me sit up when I struggled.

He didn’t let me lie back down until the pills and the water were both gone, no matter how much I glared at him. I settled back with a groan.

“I don’t like you,” I carped.

“Yeah, you do. But I may have gone a little overboard. That was only my warm up, so I thought it’d be easy enough, but–”

I spluttered, my eyes flying open in shock. “That was your warm up?! It took hours!”

That made him laugh. “It doesn’t take me that long. You dragged your feet through most of it.”

Incredulous, I reached out to try and whack him, but A.

he was too fast, and B. I hurt too much to really pull it off.

I nearly toppled off the futon because I didn’t have the core strength to keep myself upright, and Easton had to right me back into my spot.

He was still laughing, but at least he didn’t let me fall to my doom.

Once I was settled again, I frowned at him. “What do you do for your workout?” Surely, it couldn’t be that different.

He shrugged. “Depends on the day. There’s not a machine in the gym I don’t use on any given week.”

Ugh. That sounded awful.

“You’re not going to make me do that much, are you?”

For a second, he flashed me a mischievous grin that made me a little nervous, but then he shook his head. I let out an enormous sigh of relief, which had him cracking up again.

“I’m glad my pain amuses you,” I pouted. I really was, though. I liked making him laugh. This whole situation was stressful, but Easton was an expert at distracting me and making things fun.

“Your roommate offered to create you a workout more at your level. He said he’s going to become a physical therapist and has to make things like that for class assignments.”

Slapping my palm to my forehead, I groaned. “I forgot about that. Maybe he won’t be as sadistic as you.”

The laugh that came out of Easton could only be described as a cackle. Evil, evil man.

The next few weeks were pretty quiet. Carter’s workout plan was much more manageable, even though he said he’d update it frequently so I wouldn’t plateau.

Whatever that means. I got through midterms without completely bombing my classes, which was a boost to my self-esteem.

Especially since I couldn’t be as diligent in my studies as I had been before I started fake dating Easton.

He was determined to distract me and make me take breaks, and since like eighty percent of the time he distracted me with sex, I couldn’t find it in me to argue.

Seriously. I went through my whole life without having sex, but now that I knew what I was missing, I couldn’t get enough.

The only time I ever wasn’t into it was the first two days after my first workout with Easton.

I hurt too much to breathe at that point, much less have sex.

I didn’t get my reward blowjob until the following week, since Easton had his fights to go to and didn’t visit on weekends.

Most weekdays, though, he came back to my room after dinner and had his wicked way with me before slipping out to go home.

Carter was somehow always busy for at least two hours after dinner, so we were never interrupted.

I got the feeling there was a discussion there I missed, but I didn’t want to know.

I was just starting to feel like I didn’t need to be embarrassed about having sex.

I was starting to relax more around campus.

I figured the rumor about me being taken was working.

No one had approached me in a while, since I was usually with Easton on weekdays and Carter on weekends.

He was still nice and invited me out so I wouldn’t end up eating my meals alone.

His birthday party had been a blast, and a real eye opener on what I’d missed out on all those years.

Even Easton had fun, racking up the most shots each and every game.

I mentioned to Angel that I wanted to do something fun for my birthday, too, and he promised me we’d make it epic.

Maybe I got a little too relaxed. I somehow convinced myself it was a good idea to go to the cafeteria for dinner on a weekend where Carter was at an away game and Easton was at a fight.

Or at least getting ready for one. He still hadn’t allowed me to go to one yet, so I had no idea how late they were.

The trip to the cafeteria itself was fine, even though it was already after dark when I realized how hungry I was.

I managed to snag a meal right before they closed the kitchens, and the dining room itself was pretty much empty, so I ate there instead of heading back right away.

I studied while I ate, only half paying attention to my meal.

Maybe if I’d focused more, I would’ve clued in to the fact that I was being followed.

It was pitch black, only the lights above the sidewalks lighting the way. I felt my stomach swoop, biting my lip uneasily as I made my way back to the dorm. It wasn’t far, but it felt like the shadows were watching me, and it made me really uneasy.

On a whim, I pulled out my phone to text the group chat Angel invited me into. Maybe one of them was free to talk to me on my walk home.

Before I had the chance to type in a message, a large body slammed into my side, sending me to the ground.

My phone skittered away out of my hand, and I could barely see where it landed, the screen lit up over a dozen feet away.

My eyes watered from the pain of the impact, and it felt like the wind was knocked out of me.

Which meant I didn’t have any ability to fight back when I was dragged off the well lit sidewalk and into the dark alley between two buildings.

Oh Crap Oh Crap Oh Crap.

My back hit the wall, and I smacked my head on the concrete hard enough for my ears to start ringing.

Whoever it was, they weren’t playing around.

I couldn’t see anything in the dark, but they left little to the imagination about what they wanted when I gasped from the pain and they shoved their tongue into my mouth.

My automatic response was to bite down, which had my attacker jerking back with a curse. “What the fuck! She said you liked it rough, not that you’d fight back! Hold still!”

Oh, hell no. I thought maybe after so many weeks of quiet, the rumor had finally died out but apparently not.

They must have just been waiting for me to be alone.

I struggled against them, but they were a lot bigger than me, and when they spun me and my chin and chest collided with the concrete next, it was like it was effortless for them.

Tears burned my vision, but I wasn’t going to take it complacently.

I wasn’t a little kid anymore, squeezing my eyes shut until Brienna was done punching me.

If I didn’t fight, I’d be a hell of a lot more hurt than a few bruises.

“Get off me!”

“That’s right, baby. I know you like the fight. Keep going,” he purred.

I shuddered, repulsed. Whoever liked this without getting confirmed consent beforehand was sick. Since I couldn’t reach him behind me, when he started to paw at my pants, I did what I had to do. I started screaming.

“Help! Someone help!”

A large hand grasped the back of my head and slammed it hard against the building. Ow. It made me dizzy, and my vision blacked out for a second. When I came to, he was fumbling with the buttons on my jeans. I was grateful these were my tightest pair, because his thick fingers were struggling.

“Let me go! I don’t know what my sister told you, but I don’t want this! Leave me alone!”

He scoffed. “She said you’d say that. Shut up before we get caught.”

That was the point, dumbass. I cast my mind for the moves Easton taught me to defend myself, but none of them had anything to do with me being shoved face first against a wall with my feet off the ground.

I couldn’t even look down. The only thing I could do was flail my legs. Maybe if I aimed right…?

I didn't have any room to pull back, but I was pressed high enough for the leverage I needed and a quick jerk of my heel upwards hit his testicles dead on. He let out a shout of surprise and dropped me, stumbling back. Everything hurt, and I was pretty sure I was bleeding, but I couldn’t stand around worrying about it.

I scrambled out of the alley, barely remembering to scoop up my phone on the way.

“Get back here, you little slut!”

My heartbeat pounded in my ears, and I put every ounce of energy I had into outrunning him.

I almost cried when I noticed a group of students coming out of the front door of the dorm, grateful I didn’t have to waste time unlocking it.

I caught it right before it slammed closed, slipping inside and yanking it shut behind me.

If he lived in the building, that would only stall him for so long, but I needed every second I could get.

By some stroke of luck, the elevator was already on the main floor and empty, so I slipped inside, rapidly pressing the button to close the door.

At the last minute, before it shut completely, I saw a furious red-faced man shove through the front door of the dorm building.

He locked eyes with me, and his lip lifted into a terrifying scowl, but the elevator doors shut him out before he could come after me again.

A whimper caught in my throat. He was in the building. What were the chances he knew where I lived? If he took the stairs, I’d only have seconds to get to my room before he got there. The elevator wasn’t that fast, and our dorm room was closest to the stairs.

A lump in my throat, I readied myself to book it out of the elevator.

I had my key in hand, ready to go, and crouched a little like a runner at the start of the race.

As soon as the doors were open wide enough for me to slip through, I tore down the hallway as fast as my injured body could carry me.

I nearly slipped when I stopped in front of my door, and my hands shook while trying to get the key in the lock.

I could hear stomping footsteps coming up the stairs, and the terror was overwhelming.

The closer the footsteps got, the harder my hands shook, but I managed to get the key in and the door opened before the guy got to my floor.

Yanking the key back out, I spun and slammed the door behind me, locking it in one quick motion.