by Riley Moreno
“Maybe she’ll get lucky like me and find her own way out,” Kim continued. “Or maybe she’ll stay with my friend here.”
Boone was up, his vile lust dangling between his legs as he advanced with a leer and a fresh stroke.
“No way I’m letting her get away,” he threatened. “Maybe I’ll give her a few more marks before I put her out on the block.”
Ethan ignored the gun and tried to charge forward again when Kim pulled on his collar and brought him close to her side. She curled her free arm around his waist and laughed into his ears.
“You should have picked me,” Kim said. “We’d be all kinds of happy by now. And no one would even know who Julie was.”
Kim licked his cheek and tousled his sweat-soaked hair. Ethan carefully shifted his eyes towards Kim’s, and Julie silently pleaded for him to play along, to promise her everything that she imagined she should have. Morales had to be coming. If he could only buy them some more time…
“I would know,” Ethan said. “Even if… even if I’d thought I was too late. Even if I had no choice but to just save you. I always would have known.”
Their eyes locked, and Julie vacillated between wanting to kick him where she lay and break free so that she could fling her arms around her neck. They weren’t getting out of this together, and her mind flashed to her first look into his eyes, the confusion as he tried to make sense of a party that he never wanted to attend. To show her dreams could still be sweet after all that she had endured. So what if they were back in the same place? It wasn’t as if so many lessons hadn’t been learned, and Julie managed a smile as she lifted her head.
“I know that, too,” she whispered. “And I love you. Always.”
Ethan tried to draw closer to her side when Kim pushed him to the nearest corner and ordered him to sit, waving her gun as she pointed the piece at Julie.
“Last chance to save your skin,” she seethed. “Say that you’ll protect me, and you’ll walk out of her on my arm.”
“And… and Juliet?” he nervously asked.
“Jules’ fate is sealed,” she said. “But I bet I can get Boone to keep her to himself.”
Boone chuckled as he started to move between her legs again, and Julie’s body instinctively braced for the impact even as she kept her eyes on Ethan. She hardly felt the beginning of the assault when Ethan reached for Kim’s arm, and he painfully nodded his head.
“I’ll… I’ll do you one better,” he said. “You can take it all out on me.”
“What does that mean?” Kim asked in a thick voice.
Julie tensed and Boone paused as Ethan writhed around his ropes and pushed his chin into the air.
“All that hate, Kim,” he started. “Let me know what it’s like to be where you were. Where you are. I don’t care what you do me. Maybe I even deserve it.”
Kim’s eyes seemed to sparkle around the possibility, and she crouched close to his side as she caressed his flinching face.
“Don’t exactly look like you’re into it?” she challenged.
“What does that matter? You can still hurt me. Break me. Just let Juliet go, and it’ll be like I picked you.”
It was a suicide move, and she started to tell him to stop when he nodded his head in her direction, and Julie fell back. He was doing this to make right the past wrongs when it came to his sister, and she couldn’t bring herself to deny him the promise of her safety. Kim started to untie her ropes, and Julie groaned as the circulation returned to her arms. Falling off the table into Ethan’s lap, he shot her a sad smile, and she lightly kissed his lips as she rested her head to his shoulder.
“Don’t do this,” she whispered. “I---”
“I’ll live on the thought of you safe,” he promised. “Can you… can you do that for me?”
She nodded and kissed him again when she was suddenly pulled from his side and forced to the floor.
“What are you…? We had a deal?” Ethan bellowed.
“Maybe,” Kim said. “But I still want you to watch first.”
27
Boone fell on top of Julie, his hard arms pressing her deeper into the cold surface as he spread her legs wide and started to move between her. Julie screamed and kicked when Ethan was on his feet.
“This is not what I---!”
“Not so fast, hero!”
She fired into his leg, and Ethan crumpled beside her, moaning around the blood leaving his leg as he turned his face to meet her eyes.
“Ethan?” she whimpered. “You should have run. And now… now you…”
“Damn right he can’t!” Kim squealed. “But no worries. Think I might keep him around and just let him do his penance. And this… this…”
She rested her body to Boone’s back and moved with him as the man started to force his way inside Julie.
“Let’s see what it feels like to break you, you fucking bitch.”
Kim was gone. She was no better than Pete or Carter McCord or all the others that had hurt her and laughed about it after. Boone pressed inside her, and Julie felt her flesh tear as she tried to bat him off when Ethan curled closer to her side and tried to shield her even as he eyes fluttered and his light groans hit the air.
“Juliet… I’m… I can get you out again.”
Her body steadied as Boone slammed into her, and she swallowed hard and wished for it to be over, even if it meant her death. But she couldn’t leave him with that picture, and she rested her head to his neck and parted her lips.
“Please. Don’t’ stop… don’t stop looking at me, Ethan.”
Doing as he was told, he found her eyes and nuzzled her nose. Nothing like the nights in his bed when he assured her, over and over again, that it was only his hand, his touch that had any right to claim her flesh. But she was still safe in his eyes, and she needed to cling to that as… as…
“Oh God!”
Her screams flooded the room, and her body was shredded when Boone ferociously pumped into her. She had almost forgotten what it was to be taken like this, without any say or hope for tenderness, and the violation was made worse by Kim hovering over Boone’s back as she writhed in rhythm with the assault and kept the gun right where Julie could see the threat.
“That has to hurt,” Kim said. “Think about a whole fucking year of this! What time did you really do? A god damned summer vacation? You’re like still a virgin, Jules.”
Even if that was true, Julie arched her back and couldn’t force Boone’s weight away as he pressed his palms into her shoulders and glowered at her.
“And a little tight. Guess this asshole took it easy on you.”
Looking back to Ethan, she saw his face wracked with pain as he kept bleeding, his strength falling fast as he tried to break free of the ropes. He had to want to hold her; Julie wished to be nowhere but in his embrace. Even without his arms, she could still bring her head to his chest and absorb the vibrations of his pounding heart. It echoed through her brain, and with no sign of Morales, Julie told herself that she had to cling to this, burn every pulse into her heart. Because she was about to lose him. And if she… if she survived the rape, she needed something pure to cling to through whatever dark fate lie before…
“Ethan, I’m… I’m not sorry.”
Boone whooped and hollered as he pulled on her breasts, and Julie bit back her pain as he plowed into her and bit down on her neck. No fresh blood was drawn, but his pool blood drifted under her toes, and she tried to keep her head as she narrowed her gaze on his.
“I would go with you again,” she swore. “Even if… even if I knew that this…”
Before she could finish his thought or Ethan could answer, Boone cruelly flipped her away from Ethan’s side, and Julie moaned at the loss of his eyes as Boone pushed her back into the corner. Everything at her back was suddenly hard and cold, and Julie screamed without words when he slammed into her with a final thrust. Broken again in almost every way, she had no choice but to fall into the man’s shoulders.
“Fa
ir trade, Kim,” he crooned. “Sort of see why the douchebag picked this one.”
It was the coldest of compliments, but even as Julie wanted to him to just take it back and leave her some shred of dignity, she peered over Boone’s shaking shoulder and watched Kim seethe as she aimed her gun.
“But you loved the double act!” she screamed. “And Collen died because you took her!”
The bullet left the chamber, and Boone’s blood and brains spilled over Julie’s breasts along with the rest of Boone’s suddenly crippled body. Even though she was grateful for the feel of his weakening frame, Julie fought for air and worked like mad to push him away from her.
“Get off me, you sick fuck!”
Prying herself free and clasping her chest, she saw Ethan almost smile when he saw her crawling closer under her own hands, but Kim barred her way and aimed her gun again.
“I’m tired of playing second fiddle, Jules,” she hissed. “And why… why…?”
Turning back to Ethan, she kicked his wounded leg, and Julie shuddered at the sound of his groan. Trying to reach for him, Kim pressed her foot in the space between Julie’s hand and Ethan’s side. Looking up with brimming eyes, Julie shook her head.
“Kimmy… come on.”
“Don’t you even fucking try to play nice!”
Kim pulled Julie up by her neck. Even as Julie tried to remember what it was to linger in dorm rooms and laugh at her parents before and after their last party, Julie couldn’t focus on anything but the blood leaving Ethan’s leg as she reached for her with a weakened hand.
“I’m sorry, Kimmy,” she pleaded. “Don’t… please don’t do this.”
Clicking her tongue, Kim briefly drew back and raised her eyes to the dark ceiling. There it was. The trace of the carefree stare and the way back if she could just let the gun go and remember what it was to be best friends and try to forget. Ethan had helped her; Julie could return the favor. She could still help…
“Kimmy…”
Kim started to smile, and Julie clung to her sleeves as she nodded her head.
“It’s over,” Julie insisted. “I can… I can help you. I want to get you back home.”
“Back home?” she asked. “I don’t have a home. Always kind of felt cool at your place. But… but now…”
Amanda Beyer was cold, and Brian was nowhere to be found. As Ethan still reached for her, Julie tried to hold her friend and make her understand.
“It can be like that again,” she swore. “I… Ethan and me…”
He lolled on the ground and pressed his head to his shattered leg, but he didn’t speak as he nodded.
“So it’s like that?” Kim challenged. “Anything we might need, your boy… you old man’s right there to answer the call?”
“Yes,” Julie said. “Ethan is not one of the bad guys. Please don’t make him---”
Kim smacked her back and stood over Ethan’s fallen form. He shuddered into the concrete and tried to hide his head in his shoulder when Kim clicked the trigger.
“It wasn’t supposed to be me,” she said. “Why… why couldn’t you just…?”
Taking aim, Kim was on the verge of taking him down. The air felt as if it was bathed in a dense fog as she scrambled to reach his side, but before she could take Ethan’s hand in hers, the shot rang out, and Julie screamed.
“No! What happened---?”
“You’ll fill me in.”
As soon as she saw Morales descending the stairs, Julie’s heart lightened.
“You… you found us!”
“No thanks to you,” she said. “How’s he doing?”
Julie flew to Ethan’s side and tore a length of fabric from his trousers in an effort to stop the blood still pouring from his leg. Morales covered him with her coat and patted his cheek.
“You’re going to be okay,” Morales promised. “Just breathe.”
Grateful for the cop and his sigh, Julie stated to kiss him when she looked over her shoulder and saw another stream of blood leaving Kim’s brow.
“Kimmy…”
She shouldn’t die alone. No one deserved that. And now Julie would know where to lay the flowers when…
“I’m here, Kimmy.”
Kim’s face was like wax as she gripped Julie’s hands and peered up into her eyes. At first it looked as if she had no idea who she was, what they were. Julie was on the verge of resigning herself to never being able to save her when Kim clenched her hand tighter and parted her lips.
“You… you got the cash in hand, right?”
“I…”
And then she remembered. The forced party and the shared jokes. Not one of their friends sending them off. They only had each other. They were supposed to come out the other side with more stories to tell. They had stories. Things that would never make sense to anyone who hadn’t lived through it.
“Kim… don’t die like this,” she pleaded. “Don’t go away hating me. I---”
“Eight’s still early, Jules. And we… we have so much time…”
The words left he lips, and Kim went still in her arms. Julie clasped her close and wept into her chest as she tried to follow the fading sound of her voice and bring her back to a place where they could start again Nothing would change what had gone down, but if she… if she could just talk to her…
“Julie?”
The feel of Morales’ hand on her arm dragged her back to the cold, dark room, and Julie nodded as she lowered Kim’s lids.
“You can rest in peace now,” she said. “I’m… I’m so…”
Morales snatched a worn blanket and pressed it around Julie’s body as she brought her back to Ethan’s side.
28
Julie tried to sleep, but found it almost impossible. It wasn’t just the hardness of the chair or the ache between her legs. Julie’s eyes kept drifting towards Ethan’s sighing form and the sight of his battered face. Daring to touch his cheek, she felt him wince in the bed, and she drew her hand back. If her hands hurt him, better to keep them pressed under her legs and slip off into the shadows. As much as she wanted to run and hide, she found it impossible to leave him, and when his eyelids started to flutter, Julie stayed fixed her seat as he finally focused on her eyes and parted his lips to speak.
“Juliet, I---”
“Shhh,” she cautioned him. “Don’t try to speak. You’ve been hurt.”
Ethan took note of the bruises on his knuckles, and as he groaned, he shifted under the sheets. Even as she was scared to touch him, Julie still curled her arm around his shoulders and pressed her fingers into his flesh.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Wanting to spare him the whole truth if she could, Julie tread lightly.
“I’m fine,” she murmured. “Better now that you’re awake.”
He ran his hands down her arms and breathed into her eyes.
“No,” he said as he shook his head. “I… I saw it. He… he tried to touch you. He…”
“More than tried,” she confessed. “It… it happened again.”
She had no desire to lie to him even as she knew that the truth would shred his soul. Waiting for his response, she watched his eyes flash as recollection seemed to slam into his soul, and when he had the whole picture back in his mind’s eye, Ethan pulled her into his arms and held her close.
“Oh my God,” he said, his voice ragged as he turned his head against her chest. “And I… I just… I watched and let it---”
“It wasn’t like that, Ethan,” she insisted. “You couldn’t have---”
“But I should have! His hands… all over you…”
Julie couldn’t help but blanch at the memory, and she felt her mind tripping towards the point of insanity when she remembered who he was and what he was, all that he was. Ethan’s face shook as she took hold of his face, and when she had his eyes I hers, Julie kissed his cheeks and lifted her lips to his ears.
“I’m okay,” she assured him. “Just look at me”
Ethan obeyed, but his b
ody still trembled under her hands.
“But you… you were taken again. Right under my eyes.”
The pain was still present, crawling under her skin, and she ran her hands across her face, a part of her wanting stay in the blackness when she peered through her fingers and found his tortured stare again.
“It’s nothing,” she whispered. “Never anything compared to… to Kim.”
Biting down on her lip, she watched him process her words, and an anguished groan hit the air as the memory crawled to the forefront of his mind,
“She’s dead,” he said in a flat voice.
Julie could do nothing but nod, and even as her heart ached, she still fell into his body again and rested her palms against his chest.
“I know,” she said. “But… but it… it would have been us if… if…”
The echoes of Morales’ gun rang in her mind, and as Julie trembled, Ethan somehow summoned the strength to pull her close and kiss her hair.
“I’m so sorry, Juliet.”
Looking into his eyes again, Julie wanted nothing more than to put his fears to rest and pull him closer. She was nearly there when the pain between her legs surged towards her heart and she had no choice but to draw back.
“No don’t, Juliet! I don’t---”
“I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I want to be with you. More than anything. But it… it just hurts too much all over again.”
She wept bitterly, and Ethan brought her back into her arms, fighting hard to calm her quivering, and Julie still couldn’t meet his eyes even as she savored the feel of his hand on her face...
Julie stilled as her brushed the hair away from her damp eyes and strained forward to kiss her brow.
“I still want you,” he said. “Any way that I can have you.”
“Even if it’s just like this?” she asked.
Bringing her head to his chest, Julie felt his hands moving down her back, and she nearly rested in the space of his embrace when he pressed his fingers under her chin and stared at her hard.
“It’s enough for me,” he said. “Am I enough for you?”
She started to speak when Ethan found her lips and caressed her neck.