Raking my hair back, I made my way up the stage. The lights started to dim as people began to quiet down and look up at me. My eyes scanned the room, and I realized Hudson and Zayn weren’t back yet.
Why did I have to lose my shit right before I was meant to be going on stage? This was a glitch I created, so I needed to get over it.
“Thank you all for making this event a success…” I started.
Where the fuck was Tori?
I looked around again but saw no hint of her. There wasn’t a chance my father had called the security guard on her yet, seeing as he didn’t even know I’d showed up with someone up until a few minutes ago.
Just when a weird feeling of panic started to sneak in, Hudson came back into the main hall.
His eyes found mine, and thank fuck he was my best friend. He realized how on edge I was and started to look around the room, trying to find Tori before I leaped off the stage and did it myself. The last thing I needed was the media recording a possible shitshow.
I started to quickly wrap things up, skipping big chunks of the speech that weren’t truly relevant. All people wanted here was to brag about how much they donated. As far as my father, well, he’d just take their money and do with it as he pleased.
“Thank you, everyone, for your time and donations,” I curtly remarked, grabbing the glass of champagne. My brain was in full fight-or-flight mode, and I was mere seconds from hopping of the stage.
“This year has been a very special one for Accessicom. As you all have seen, growth has been steady and positive. My father’s work over the years is now bearing its fruit. The Business Development Initiative I helped set up has brought in over fifteen million dollars in new business this year, thanks to the team’s hard work. It has been an honor to see this project grow over the past three years, and I can’t wait to see how many more incredible feats we’ll achieve in the next few years. Thank you all as well for being a part of our success, cheering us all from the start.” Well, most of the people there knew this was a lie, but this was our world. Empty praise, hollow promises.
“Soon,” I continued, “my father will have some very important news to share, but today, let us celebrate the best of our efforts. This event is the time to reflect and rest on our laurels for a little bit.” I raised the glass that sat on the podium. “And also a time to ensure this excellent champagne doesn’t go to waste.”
The tinkle of laughter echoed throughout. "“I pledge to do everything in my power to keep this company moving in the way it was intended”—not really a lie. “There is much work to be done. For now, I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of your night.”
Applause erupted, and a few people came up to talk to me. Afte some inane chitchat, I didn’t bother to pose for any pictures, and I shrugged off all questions from journalists. Hudson met me halfway as I fended them off.
“I don’t have time,” I barked at them. “If you fucking get any closer, I’m going to get your asses fired.”
Thankfully, they quickly dispersed. I had left Tori alone for less than half an hour, and she disappeared. I whipped out my phone, quickly dialing her number. Unfortunately, it kept buzzing rather than going straight to voicemail, which only made my stomach churn and twist more.
Of course, she could have just up and left. That wouldn’t be out of character. She lived on her own terms and that was one thing that drew me to her.
But something didn’t feel right. Something was wrong. I couldn’t explain it, and it didn’t make sense, but anxiety gripped me, telling me I needed to find her.
Also so I’d get to spank her so hard for disobeying me and doing the opposite of what I’d asked her to do.
“I’ll check around and text Zayn so when he’s done, he’ll keep an eye out for Tori. Then, I’ll see if I can get the video feed from the security team,” Hudson told me. “Did you say something to piss her off? Was it the kiss?”
“No, I don’t think so.” I was seriously considering calling the police.
“Okay.” With a quick nod, he left.
The fact everyone was slowing me down, coming over to thank me and kissing my ass didn’t help ease my concerns. The seconds ticked, and panic started to rear its head. Suddenly I remembered Nina—she might have seen something. I found her and pulled her to the side. “Nina, have you seen Tori?”
The surprise on her face gave way to a seductive smile that made me want to strangle her. Twirling a strand of her hair, she said, “That was such a nice speech you gave, Colten!”
Without waiting for an answer, she put a ran a light finger up my chest. I snatched her wrist, giving it a warning squeeze. Not enough to hurt, but enough for her to know I wasn’t playing around. “I don’t have time for your bullshit, Nina. Have you seen Tori or not?”
She pouted, narrowing her eyes as her act was quickly dropped. “Why are you looking for her? She wasn’t even invited here in the first place. I swear to God that she probably sneaked in, and someone finally kicked her out.”
“I invited her,” I said, not that I owed her an explanation. Her face instantly paled at the revelation. Not surprising since she couldn’t believe the fascination I had with her cousin. “I don’t have time right now. Have you seen her or not?”
“I have,” she answered. “Trust me, she’s not the girl you think she is.”
“Where the fuck is she?” The woman was testing my patience.
“She walked out to the gazebo after she got a phone call,” she murmured. “My date followed her, but they both haven’t been back since. So, as you can see, Tori is probably just money-hungry and went home wi—”
I didn’t wait for her to finish because I knew Tori would never do something like that, spreading her legs so easily as everyone assumed in this damn town. Sex and money were considered an equal exchange in this town, but not for my girl. I might have used this line of thinking to get a rise out of her, but I knew her spirit. I knew her purity. As hard as she came across, she was essentially good.
Now I understood why I felt the way I felt.
Running out of the hotel, I head straight to the gazebo.
The sight that met me had me freeze for a moment. Tori was being held down, almost naked in just her underwear, her face glistening with tears. She fought valiantly but the bastard was too big and strong. Her dress lay in tatters on the ground. The son of a bitch held a hand to her mouth so her screams were muffled.
In all my twenty-one years of living, I had never felt this murderous rage. Taken by surprise, I was ready to kill him with my bare hands. My heart skipped a beat and then the fury poured into my bloodstream.
That man was touching my Tori. Forcing himself on her while she was clearly saying no. That motherfucker was going to die tonight.
He was hurting my fucking girl.
A cry tore out of my throat as I rushed toward them. I would beat him until the ground turned red. And then I would kill him.
Chapter Sixteen
Tori
Nina’s date was about to rape me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
No attempts to kick and scream would deter him.
That was all that went through my head when he dragged me into the gazebo. He had one too many drinks and didn’t like the way I had treated him. Was Nina in on this? Oh my God… she couldn’t stoop so low, could she?
In his words, someone like me should learn a bit of respect. At first, I told him to fuck off, and that’s when he decided to take it further.
Calling me a tease and a whore, he held me like a vise around the waist and covered my mouth with his other hand. I fought with all my might, fought like I had so many times before just to survive, but in the end, he was too strong. He ripped my dress off me and left me in just a pair of black panties. My breasts now exposed, he roughly palmed one and I sobbed in pain. I let the tears fall, unable to fight so many things at once.
I’d had fights before, ended up in some pretty shady situations, but this was different.
Th
is was a man who’d get away with anything. Even murdering me.
No one knew where I was. No one would save me.
I didn’t have a knife because I let my guard slip and thought it was more important to look pretty tonight. Justin wasn’t here to help, either. He was gone.
My brain wanted to shut down, as my body got too sore, like one big hurt. All I could do was try to hide in a corner of my mind and take myself somewhere far away.
I needed to stop feeling. To be numb.
And I wanted to be happy and safe, some place where no one could hurt me.
Shut down, Tori. Shut down, and everything will be okay.
Closing my eyes, I started to let go when suddenly, the weight was pushed off me. A loud grunt of pain ensued. My eyes snapped open and I gasped when I realized the grunting came from Gerald. The snarling and growling, though?
I’d grown up with violence my whole life. So what I saw was nothing new to me—yet, unlike my dad’s anger that had frightened me to my core, Colten’s did not fill me with terror. Rather, it made me feel alive, safe, and happy. I was shocked that I felt this way right then, because it was unexpected.
I wanted nothing more than to retreat to a safe spot in the back of my head, but I felt so protected with him, I didn’t have to. Maybe we didn’t know each other well enough yet. This whole thing was so new, but my gut feeling told me I didn’t need to be afraid when he was around. These were all baby steps that required me to push away the other side of me, the other Tori.
I watched the way he brought his fist down over and over, beating the man who’d hurt me. Right that moment, he looked so determined to hurt another human being. I knew he was going to kill him and I wouldn’t bat an eyelash.
“You fucking lay a hand on my girl again, I will fucking end you!” he roared.
The man was moaning, barely conscious at this point. This all happened so quickly—in one moment Gerland was on top of me, and in the next, Colten was beating the shit out of him. Everything felt like an out-of-body experience as I felt something soft and big land onto my shoulders. My eyes slowly traveled upwards to see that Hudson had placed his jacket over me as Zayn went in to try to pry Colten off the bastard. This wasn't happening. Colten was in the zone. He’d turned into a monster just for me,
Yet, he kept going, even though the man had stopped moving.
He’s going to kill him. This man will never walk again.
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat, trying to think fast. Though Gerald did deserve the worst, I certainly didn’t want Colten to risk going to jail for manslaughter because of me. My body felt like heavy bricks weighed it down as I willed myself to get up with Hudson’s help.
“Colten, stop,” I managed weakly. Yet, he continued, even throwing a punch at Zayn for trying to intervene. Bile rose in my throat, and I felt like a weak child again without any means to protect myself.
“Fuck, he’s planning to kill him,” Hudson murmured.
“Colten, please,” I begged again, my voice hoarse from fighting and trying to scream for help. “Stop, he’s not worth it and you will get into trouble. I’m going to be fine.
“He fucking try to hurt you. I need to end him!” he roared, his bloodshot, crazy eyes finding mine. . “He hurt you!” He looked like an angry god. Still, I knew that I was getting to him. He had gone still now, his breathing ragged as he was panting hard. His hair was a mess, and his fist was battered and bloody. “He fucking hurt you. I can't have this. I didn’t protect you enough.”
My knees felt weak as everything started to catch up to me. Still, I mustered on the strength to hobble to him. He rushed to me, reaching out to help me stand, but I straightened up, refusing to show more weakness than necessary in front of his friends. I intertwined my fingers with his battered, bloody ones. “Let’s go, Colten.”
For a moment, it looked as if his anger subsided— like he finally started to see the real me again. I wanted to know what was going through his mind with his body lying over Gerald’s unconscious one. We stared at one another, neither wanting to cave in just yet.
“Colten,” I tried again. “Please… babe, please.”
The endearment came out so naturally that it surprised me. I didn’t know what came over me when I uttered the word, but that’s what snapped him out through the disorientation he seemed to be under. He tightened his grip on my hand, as if drawing some calm and comfort from it.
With his fingers still intertwined with mine, he got up. Then, in a whirl of motions, he lifted me off the ground. I nuzzled myself deeper into his chest as he cooed at me. “You’re okay. You’re safe, Starlight.”
I gripped harder onto him in response.
I shouldn’t feel safe with him, but I do.
“Hudson, call the police and tell them what happened. Zayn, do you think you can get Weiss involved? He’s on my payroll, and I don’t care how much it’ll take. I want him gone and put away for life. I don’t care what sort of shit he has to pull,” he said, tone firm and ruthless. Such power he wielded. He really could ruin a person with the snap of his fingers and he was doing this for me. I was too traumatised to feel
“You got it,” Zayn said. “Is she going to be okay?”
“I don’t know, I have to take her to the hospital,” Colten managed to speak out. “She has to be.”
“Text us if you need anything,” Hudson called out.
I didn’t look up, wanting to get away from everything, but I wasn’t planning to go to the hospital. I felt so tired. I tried to forget and scrub at my skin until I was red and clean. My body felt disgusting. Against my better judgment, I needed the relief Colten provided with his physical presence.
Loath was I to admit this, but he seemed to know me better than myself. Rather than moving me to the passenger seat once we got into his car, he decided to prop me onto his lap. Though it was a bit uncomfortable, I couldn’t care less as he turned me around, allowing me to nestle into the crook of his neck. He drove with one hand, the other soothingly running over my back and playing with my hair.
It suddenly occurred to me that he was probably driving me home, and my body went rigid. The last thing I wanted was to go where Nina would be. I couldn’t handle talking to anyone right now, and the thought of that man being her date only made it worse. And I didn't want to go to the hospital for sure.
“Hey, you’re okay,” he whispered. “You’re going to be okay, Starlight. He’s going to regret it, okay?”
“I don’t want to go back to my aunt’s,” I told him, my body shaking.
“Well, I’m certainly not leaving you on the street if that’s what you had in mind,” he ground out.
“Take me to your place,” I whispered. Some might have called me crazy, but I didn’t want to be alone right then. I needed him in my moment of weakness. It didn’t make sense, but I couldn’t analyze this feeling too much.
“What?”
“I want to go to yours,” I repeated. I couldn’t imagine what it sounded like to him.
“Are you sure?” he murmured. Truthfully, I could hear how much he didn’t want me out of his sight, either. It’s almost as if we needed one another to find the calmness during the storm. I needed his touch to stop myself from going insane and scratch my skin raw. On the other hand, he needed me, so he wouldn’t go back to finish the job he’d started and kill the bastard.
“Yes.” I nodded.
Neither one of us said anything, too wrapped up in our thoughts. At last, we arrived and he shut the engine to his car. He shifted us, and I felt like I had enough strength to get up and walk until he tightened his arms around me again. I wasn’t complaining either, allowing him to carry me back into his home.
It was rather strange that I was back here again, except it was deathly quiet this time around. There were only the sounds of crickets and the wind coming from the outside. Though we were alone, I didn’t feel afraid at all.
Weirdly, Colten made me want to be brave and chase my happiness. I didn’t lo
ok up until he opened a door to his bedroom. A soothing smell enveloped me into a warm hug as he settled me onto the edge of the bed. He gently palmed my face, and in his eyes was an expression I’d never seen before.
“I’m going to wash my hands,” he informed me. “Hold on. I’m going to find something for you to change into. Okay? I don’t like Hudson’s jacket over you.”
A soft chuckle tumbled out of my mouth as I looked around. His room didn’t have any personality. Aside from a bed, a table, a closet, and some clothes lying around, there was nothing else to it. Yet, even in my small trailer, Justin and Cleo had insisted on making it homier by decorating it soon after the police removed the police tape and cleaned it up.
I missed the place I had considered my home, especially in my moment of weakness. My heart only ached harder when I remembered the last thing Justin had said to me. Those words I never thought I would hear my best friend call me.
Wanting to distract myself, I watched Colten reach into a drawer and grab a black t-shirt and boxers before chucking them at me. He looked tired and on edge. It had been a rough day, and I couldn’t imagine what was going through his head. I had left without his permission, and from there, everything went downhill. I almost got raped.
Thankfully, he didn’t pressure me to talk because I didn’t want to talk about it either.
I just wanted to forget.
When he went to wash his hands, I took off my tattered dress and folded it neatly on the table. His shirt was practically twice my size, draping over my knees as well. I tried his pants, but they didn’t fit around my waist, so I gave up and opted for just his shirt.
When he came back, he stopped and simply looked at me, his gaze intense. Inscrutable.
“This is my room, in case you’re wondering,” he mumbled as he brushed his hair back.
“Why do you look more nervous about me being here than I am?” I quipped, trying to lighten the mood. It wasn’t awkward, but he looked as if he didn’t know what to do with me sitting there in his bedroom.
Bringing down the Star: Small Town Bully Romance Book 1 Page 12