by Bridle, Dee
“I didn’t even want you, anyway. I just felt sorry for you, and thought I’d give you a pity fuck,” he whispered furiously into my face.
I tried to push him off, but he was unmoving like a rock and panic made me rigid. I was in serious trouble here, and no one would hear me scream with the loud party downstairs.
“Let me go!” I wailed as loud as I could.
I tried shoving him away from me, but he didn’t budge.
He chuckled in my face, and said, “Not until you give me what you promised.”
“Antony, please, stop,” I cried.
He pushed my head back against the mirror and covered my mouth with his hand.
“Shhh,” he said, as his other hand ran down the front of my top and then down to my jeans.
I tried to hit him and kick at him, but it was like he didn’t feel anything.
“I’m going to tell everyone you begged me for it,” he said, undoing my jeans.
I tried to push him off, and I screamed into his hot, sweaty hand against my mouth. His hand went up my T-shirt and he groped me hard. I cried out and tried to move his hand, but the more I pulled at him, the harder he grabbed.
“Stop fighting me,” he yelled, while putting his hand around my neck and squeezing. “You know you want it.”
“Stop it,” I choked out as I tried to lift my knee at him.
I missed and he got angrier as he realized what I had tried to do. He shoved me around so that my back was turned to him and he held my wrists painfully above my head on the mirror. His elbow kept my face pressed against it. He loosened my jeans and went to pull them down. I screamed as loud as I could. I pushed back against him and tried to kick out.
“No one is going to hear you,” he whispered into my ear with a sick laugh. “I’m going to see if you’re as good as you look.”
I burst into tears, seeing part of his face in the mirror. He was determined and almost had my jeans down.
I suddenly realized it was going to happen. There was nothing I could do. He was just too strong. My wrists throbbed from the pressure of his hand and his elbow was squeezing my face hard into the mirror.
“Please, don’t,” I cried.
There was a knock on the door.
“Ava? Are you in there?” asked Tyler.
Antony paused for a moment, and I used that opportunity to push away and turn around. My knee came up and hit him between the legs. He gasped and bent over in pain.
“Ava?” Tyler called out louder.
I ran to the door and unlocked it, opening it to Tyler who took one look at me and then at Antony. I tried to form words, but I couldn’t even find air for my lungs.
“Sorry, bud, she wanted me, and I had to have her,” said Antony, straightening up.
Tyler looked at me in disbelief before disappointment clouded his eyes.
I tried to breathe as I pulled my jeans up.
“He just tried to—“
“Careful, Ava, you wouldn’t want to hurt Tyler any more than you already have,” Antony said, coming over to the door.
I shoved past Tyler and came face to face with Sophie. She looked at my ripped T-shirt and jeans that were undone, my disheveled hair, and then she glared at Antony who had a satisfied smile on his face.
“You bitch!” she gasped.
I clenched my teeth, seeing more people on the stairs coming up. Others in the rooms were coming to see what was going on, while others just stood around watching and listening.
Breathing heavy with hurt and confusion, I looked at their shocked faces, and knew I looked like the bad one. No one would believe me.
I turned back to Sophie and saw her looking at me with hatred. Knowing there was nothing I could say or do, I turned away from them all and headed back downstairs. I passed friends who were giggling and whispering, and I tried to ignore it as I quickly headed to the front door.
I got outside and quickly did up my jeans as I hurried onto the pavement. I started to run—away from the party and away from that asshole, Antony. My silent sobs turned to tears. I felt so alone. I wasn’t equipped to play all these different games and now I had ended up getting hurt. I had nearly been raped.
I stopped running and caught my breath as I looked at the throbbing red marks on my wrists. He was a horrible asshole, and I couldn’t believe Tyler and Sophie would believe him so easily.
A car drove past and someone called out from the window. I walked faster, wiping my cheeks. I had to get home, but if I was going to walk, it would take a long while. I thought about calling a taxi. I knew the house at home was empty, so I couldn’t call my father, and it was too late for public transport.
I looked around the darkened suburban street thinking about Antony. I hadn’t realized just how strong a guy could be when he wanted to be. I started to panic again as I crossed the street to the other side.
Part of me wanted to call Zac, but I wondered if he was with someone else right now. The thought hurt. I shivered from the cool night air and decided not to call anyone.
Zac
The three of us got out of the car and headed up Noah’s stairs. I looked at the photos of Ava and Tyler doing shots on Facebook.
“She looks to be having fun,” said Noah, as he looked at his own phone.
Will opened the door and they went inside, while I stayed out for a moment.
I knew I had no right to feel angry over the photos, but I was. I didn’t like anyone touching Ava, and the thought of pretty boy touching her made me mad. I sat down on the step, and before I could change my mind, I dialed her number. Some sick part of me hoped I would be disturbing her with Tyler.
She didn’t answer, and it eventually went to voicemail. I ended the call without leaving a message. I went to my tracking app to find her. She was currently on the move, slowly, like she was walking. The locator showed that she was only a few streets from here. My eyes narrowed as I pressed the button to call her again.
She didn’t answer.
I called a third time.
She answered with, “Leave me alone, Zac.”
I heard the emotion in her voice and felt myself go on instant alert.
“What’s wrong?”
She didn’t answer.
“Ava, what’s happened? Why are you walking home?” I asked.
She didn’t answer, but this time I heard a sob.
“Tell me what the fuck is going on, Ava, or I’ll come and find you myself,” I said, standing up.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” she whispered. “I don’t want to talk to anyone.”
“Are you by yourself?”
“All alone,” she said letting out a soft sob.
“Are you drunk? You shouldn’t be out this late by yourself. Why are you crying?” I asked as I headed back over to my car and unlocked it. “Stay there. I’m coming to get you.”
“No,” she said. “I can’t see you right now.”
I stopped at the car and demanded, “Why the hell not?”
“Because I’ll fall apart,” she sobbed, ending the call.
I swore, got into my car, and skidded as I quickly reversed out of the driveway.
Ava
I kept walking, knowing Zac would have no idea where I was right now. I knew if I saw him, I would fall apart. I just wanted to get home and cry my eyes out.
My phone beeped into the silent night. My stomach dropped as I saw Antony’s name on the screen. I swallowed and opened the text message.
Antony: Say any lies about me and this will get sent around. I called it: “Ava - the pity fuck.”
“No,” I groaned softly, opening the message and playing the video.
He was on a bed with a girl, her face hidden as she moaned. They were clearly having sex.
I sobbed in despair as tears continued to run down my cheeks. I quickly wiped them away, feeling sick. I heard the girl’s moans again and wanted to scream.
I didn’t think it was possible, but the night had just turned a million times worse. I
stopped the video, closed the message, and started walking faster. I had to get home before I collapsed. He would ruin me if he sent that out. Her face was hidden and anyone would believe it was me. My knees nearly gave out as I walked and sobbed.
A car pulled up beside me with its loud engine. Before I knew it, Zac was in front of me. He took one look at me.
“What the fuck happened?” he asked in bewilderment.
He saw my ripped T-shirt and anger fuelled his next question.
“Did someone fucking hurt you?”
I felt more tears running down my cheeks and shook my head. I didn’t know where to begin, but I knew I couldn’t tell him.
“I will kill them, Ava. Tell me what happened,” he snarled, coming closer and touching my cheek.
“Don’t touch me,” I whispered, stepping back from him.
I folded my arms across my chest and tried to hide my sore wrists. I swallowed the lump of emotion stuck in my throat.
“I just need to go home,” I said with a shiver.
His eyes narrowed as if he was deciding what to do next. I made the decision for him and headed over to his car that was still running. I numbly climbed in, shivering from the night air and the upset. I closed my door and then shut my eyes tight, trying to hold myself together.
I heard him come back into the car, but I kept my eyes shut and stayed silent as he drove me home. I could feel his anger beside me, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I just needed to try and go to sleep and think about it in the morning. I felt utterly betrayed as the hurt and pain seeped through me.
The car slowed down and I opened my eyes to see we were pulling into Noah’s driveway. I was about to angrily tell him that I wanted to go home, but then knew my place was empty. It was the last place I wanted to be.
“What’s going on, Ava?” he growled quietly beside me as he parked and turned the engine off.
I shook my head and then burst into fresh tears. He swore and got out of the car, opening my door for me. I climbed out by myself. I followed him up the steps in silence and walked through the door. The unit was in disarray as I walked in, with beer bottles everywhere and the place thick with cigarette smoke.
“Beautiful Ava,” greeted Will from the couch and then paused as his eyes zeroed in on me.
Noah turned and looked at me in surprise.
“What the fuck?”
Zac glared at them both and then led me over to the kitchen. I watched him get me a glass of water and then turned to see Will and Noah still staring at me. Hurt lodged in my throat, and it made me want to choke.
I took the glass from Zac, and then he suddenly grabbed me, making me spill the water.
“Who the fuck bruised you?” he gasped staring at my wrists.
“Don’t,” I said, turning away from him and putting the glass down on the bench.
“They’re around her neck, too,” said Noah, standing up.
“What the fuck?” said Will, getting up as well.
I wanted to leave before my legs collapsed and I became a screaming sobbing mess. I quickly moved away from three sets of piercing angry eyes and I ran to the door. Two arms grabbed me from behind and stopped me from reaching it. I tried to fight him off, struggling against him.
“Calm down, Ava,” said Zac soothingly into my ear. “Stop.”
I gave up the struggle. Then I went limp in his arms and cried my heart out.
Zac
I held on to her tightly as her head dropped and she gave up her struggle. She would have dropped to the floor if I hadn’t been holding on to her. I carefully turned her in my arms, just trying to calm her down. She hid her face into my chest and sobbed, big body racking sobs. I didn’t know what the fuck to do.
“Jesus,” I breathed, holding her tightly against me.
To see her like this sent chills through me. I didn’t know whether to soothe her first or punch somebody.
I picked her up in my arms and carried her over to the couch. I sat down with her on my lap as she sobbed into my shoulder. Noah and Will looked worried as shit and sat down, too. We waited for her to calm down, so we could go and kick someone’s ass.
“Was it Tyler?” asked Noah.
“No,” she muffled into my now wet T-shirt.
“Ava,” I said as calmly as I could, smoothing her hair from her face and neck. “I need to know what happened, so I know who to kill.”
“I can’t tell you,” she said with a shuddering breath. “If anyone finds out, he’s going to send a fake sex video of me to everyone.”
I took a sharp intake of breath and exchanged glances with Noah and Will.
“I can stop that from happening. Just tell me what happened.”
She covered her face, and through her sobs, she said, “He was so strong and I couldn’t escape.”
Anger snapped inside me and I clenched my fists, trying to calm the roaring fire in me.
“Who?” I growled.
She wiped at her tears, and said softly, “Antony.”
Noah swore and Will stood up angrily from the couch. I gritted my teeth together, needing to know everything before I went and truly killed him.
“He has been so angry with me over those weekend texts, and…he…has been…bothering me at school…but I didn’t think he would go to this length.”
“Fuck,” I growled, clenching my jaw.
My worst fucking nightmare had happened to the one perfect thing in my life. I had pushed her away and now this had happened.
“He threatened me at school,” she shuddered, “and then tonight, he locked me in the bathroom upstairs, and tried to…he tried to…”
She tried to swallow and hold back the tears, but then she shook her head, determined to tell me more.
“No one could hear me scream up there, and he hurt me,” she cried, covering her face.
Will paced the living room.
“Did he actually…?”
“No, he was about to, but he was interrupted by Tyler knocking on the door,” she said sniffing. “He had my jeans down and covered my mouth. I couldn’t breathe or scream, and he was so strong. After Tyler saw me, Antony made out to him that I willingly had…sex with him.”
I felt the anger flood through my veins, and the storm of rage in my gut and my vision blurred. Familiar pain hit me in the chest, and I had to do something right now, or I would explode.
I moved Ava onto the couch beside me and then got up, starting to pace. My fists were clenched. Pain cracked behind my eyes, like it was splitting my head in two. The fury made me shake.
“We’ll take care of him,” said Will, eyeing me.
“You can’t do anything to him, because he will send the video to everyone and make out that it was me,” she pleaded.
“Where’s the video?” asked Noah.
She passed her phone to him and he played the video.
“He’s titled it, ‘Ava – the pity fuck,’” muttered Noah.
“He said his original texts to me were just out of pity,” she said quietly. “And I’m a cock tease.”
She looked over to me, where I was now standing stock still. I was trying to figure out my plan of attack. My mind raced a million miles an hour. This was all my fault. Everything that had happened was because of what I had done. Fury at myself burned my eyes, and I closed them to get a handle on myself.
Noah leaned over in concern, inspecting her neck.
“So he held you by the neck?”
She nodded.
“And then the wrists. I tried so hard to fight back, but it wasn’t until we were interrupted, and I kneed him in the balls.”
“Good,” said Noah.
“This is my fault,” I snarled. “I need to go and kill him now.”
“I’m coming,” said Will.
“Wait,” said Noah. “Think about it first.”
“I need to punch something, Noah,” I grated out. “I need it to be Antony.”
“I know,” said Noah, calmly. “But think about it. His
father is a lawyer. You’ve got a record. You’ll be in jail before you know it.”
“He tried to rape Ava,” I howled. “You think I’m going to let that slide? Look at the fucking bruises on her!”
“We can plan something. Something that will ruin him and hurt him more than you bashing the shit out of him tonight,” said Noah, standing up.
“I plan to do both,” I scowled.
Her phone beeped. It then beeped again. And again.
Noah grabbed it from the coffee table.
“What does it say?” she asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said looking at me..
I knew there would be messages and hurtful comments. If I didn’t do something soon, there would be a social media shit storm.
“Show me,” she pleaded, trying to take her phone from his hand.
She started to read them and gasped at the messages from supposed friends and a lot of unknown numbers.
Slut
Whore
Bitch
And the messages continued.
There was one from her friend, Sophie: I can’t believe you would do this to me. I trusted you. He was mine. I hate you. Bitch.
I took the phone from her hand and put it in my pocket, flicking the mute button.
“He’s going to ruin my life,” she moaned.
I headed to my room.
“I’ll ruin his first,” I muttered darkly.
I grabbed my laptop and headed back over to the coffee table. I looked at the screen in steely determination. Then I looked at Ava who was watching me.
“I promise, I will fix this.”
She bit her trembling lip and gave a slight nod. I don’t think she believed me, but she didn’t know what I did for a living.
“I’ll make it all disappear.”
“How?” she whispered in despair.
“Trust me. I’ll ruin him, and then after I’ve done that, I’ll hurt him so badly, he will never breathe near you again.”
She swallowed.
“I need that photo of the fucker in his jocks,” I said starting to type.
I was getting my head right for the shit storm I was about to unleash.
“What are you going to do with that?” asked Noah.