Page 15 of Pretty Lies (Watch Me Burn #1)

“Lukas and I were best friends. We lived in each other’s pockets from day one.

I actually lived next door to him until I was eight, but shit got complicated at the end of middle school.

He started acting weird around me and seemed to find excuses to bail on our plans.

We slowly became more distant until the one time I needed him the most and he completely turned his back on me.

” Hot tears stung my eyes, but I took a deep breath and met his gaze head-on, ignoring my voice as it cracked with emotion.

“My dad’s always getting into debt with people a lot richer and more important than he ever was.

He lost a bet to some rich guy at one of his parties a few years after we lost all of our money, and we had loads .

So then he tried to win the money back at poker, but lost all over again.

He was already in debt to this guy from previous gambling, so Max threw me under the bus to save himself like he had many times before.

This time was different though. I’ll never forgive him, and when he dies, he’ll be lucky if I even show up to spit on his fucking grave. ”

I wanted to reach for Jensen, but at the same time, I couldn’t bear the thought of having someone touching me. I closed my eyes and took a shaky breath to continue, the panic and anxiety clawing at my insides, threatening to tear me apart as tears trailed down my cheeks.

“The creep made a bargain with Max that all of his debts to him would be cleared if he gave me to him for the night. I was thirteen.”

Jensen’s body stiffened, and he went to reach for my hand but stopped at the last minute when I flinched back as if it were a snake. “Fuck, Rory?—”

Sobs wracked my body as I curled into myself as if to protect what was left of me, but I kept speaking from behind my shield.

“Max knew he’d rape me. He knew how horrible the man was, but he still tossed me at him because he only gives a shit about himself.

Lukas came over the same night, and I saw him through my bedroom window before he ran away.

He didn’t even call for help, he just—” I choked out before completely breaking down at the memory.

That always hurt more than the memory of the assault.

Lukas had abandoned me.

I didn’t flinch this time as Jensen took my hand, and he gently hauled me into his lap to cradle me against his chest, letting me hide my face in his shirt so I could cry it out.

I didn’t know why I’d told him so much of the truth, considering I was going to just work around the worst of it to shut him up.

I’d needed to tell him though, and I was relieved to finally talk about it as some of my demons went silent inside me.

“He never told you why he didn’t help you?” he finally asked, making me sniff and look up at him through broken eyes.

“I didn’t see him again until I was enrolled at the Academy. It’s too late now, and I don’t want to hear his excuses. He gutted me that night, and I won’t ever forgive him for it. He has no idea how bad it was.”

“Who knows about this? Have you ever spoken to a counselor?”

“No, and I don’t want anyone else to know,” I warned, something weird crossing his face before he covered it up and gave me a small smile, making me forget about it. I was probably paranoid.

“Hey, it’s okay. How about I put a movie on, and we can just stay curled up here for a few hours?” he offered. I nodded, moving off his lap so he could set the movie up and grab more beer.

When he was done, he got comfortable on the couch and pulled me onto his lap again, hesitating before placing a soft kiss on top of my head. “You’re safe here, babe. I promise.”

I wasn’t sure when I managed to fall asleep, but I woke up to Jensen carrying me up to his room and tucking me into his bed. He slid in beside me and put his arms around my middle to snuggle me, and I fell back to sleep not long after.

Jensen

Caden couldn’t use that shit against Rory. No way in hell.

Even if she hadn’t grown on me, I wouldn’t make a joke out of being raped. No wonder Lukas freaked out every time we started talking about forcing the information out of her.

It explained her nightmares, but it also explained why she was so wary of everyone.

I felt like a piece of fucking shit.

I’d wanted to fuck her, then break her the good old-fashioned way by leaking gossip around school or locking her in an abandoned house all night to scare her. I got the feeling that she wasn’t the type of girl that scared easily though.

If I was being honest, it was going to be hard to stick to the plan now that I’d found out the truth.

I was an asshole, but after finding out about her past, I felt awful.

She was a pretty cool chick, and I didn’t say that about many girls.

Sure, I’d fuck her if I got the chance because she was crazy hot, and I’d probably go back for seconds with her, maybe even thirds. That was how much I liked her.

She slept peacefully through most of the night, apart from a few violent twitches, but she relaxed again the moment I’d tightened my hold on her, making me feel like shit all over again.

She shouldn’t have trusted me, but she’d easily fallen asleep in my arms as if it was normal for us to do, and she’d pressed back against me when I’d placed her in my bed and wrapped my body around hers.

Leaving her on the couch felt wrong after our conversation. What if she’d woken up and freaked out because she didn’t know where she was?

I hoped she headed home when she woke up because I needed to go and fuck some other bitch to get her out of my head. Not that the thought was very appealing, making me scowl to myself.

I needed to keep my distance from her, or I was going to be in serious trouble of falling for the blue-eyed beauty that was slowly sinking her claws into me. When had I started caring about her like this?

I had to turn that shit off before it was too late.