Stay with me

“Then why didn’t you do anything about it?” she sneered.

I threw my hands in the air. “I couldn’t move, or else I would have!”

Flashes of Oscar kicking Bria out of the way like a ragdoll flooded my mind, and I couldn’t believe Bria was so naïve. Ollie was being set up, again, by his brother. It was the perfect plan, but this time, he had me.

Pushing off the hospital bed, I took one last look at Bria, who lay there defeated. “I’m sorry this happened to you, but you know Ollie wouldn’t do this. You need to open your eyes. Who is the only person who has come to check on you since you’ve been here? I bet Isaac never fucking came in here.” The look on her face twisted and though I couldn’t read it, I knew she was a lost cause. I turned and walked away, heading straight for Ollie’s dorm.

Ollie’s things were already packed up and gone like he’d never been here. I collapsed over his mattress and closed my eyes. The rage boiled, and I could feel it first in my fist as I dug my nails into the palms of my hands. I jumped off the mattress, the same mattress we’d fallen asleep on so many times before. The same mattress where he’d read to me. The same mattress where we’d made love. Adrenaline pumping through my bloodstream, I grabbed the side of the mattress and threw it across the room as I cried out.

My face fell into my hands as I sobbed. My legs buckled as I collapsed to my knees. “What did Ollie ever do to you to deserve this?” I asked out loud, desperation in my tone, heart, and soul. Was I so desperate, I had turned to God? I had to be going insane. As I shook my head, the cries only deepened, coming from the pit of my stomach. “What the hell am I even doing … You never listened. You never helped. We’re your little puppets on a damn string as you sit on your throne and toy with people’s lives. Well, you know what? You’re fucking sick!”

Dropping my head, my eyes landed on Ollie’s phone in front of me along with The Notebook. It must have been under the mattress.

My cries faded as I held the phone in my trembling hand. The phone was on, but it only had a quarter of its battery life left. Gathering to my feet, I stuffed the phone into my back pocket and swiped the book off the floor before heading back to my room.

It was day two without Ollie. The fog from the day before had lifted, denial dissipated, but it hadn’t taken me along with it. I was stranded and alone, and all I could think about was what he must be going through. Where was he? Was he even still on campus at all?

I finished The Notebook, and I wondered if Ollie had noticed the same similarities in the story as I. It was Ollie who always reeled me back in, to fight for me, to wake me up, to bring me back, to remind me, like Noah reminded Allie. Ollie never did anything without a purpose. Every word, every action, every movement was carefully considered. He’d known since we first opened this book what it would take to find me inside my walls. He’d known this whole time how difficult it would be, and he allowed himself to love me, anyway.

Day three wasn’t any better, only worse. I ate, but only because I had to stay, and stay strong. I showered and spent the entire Sunday in the library because it was the place I could feel closest to him. Jake and Alicia tried to talk to me, but Ollie’s absence didn’t disrupt their lives as much as it corrupted mine. They couldn’t understand.

Zeke was my silent rock.

It was the first day back in classes, and I showered in the morning, ate breakfast, and attended the first class of my new schedule for the second semester. The halls reverberated, bodies bumped into one another, and I pushed my way back toward my dorm after my second class before I was pulled away from the hall and into a closet.

Black eyes sliced into me as Oscar backed me into a corner. The bulb hanging from the ceiling swayed back and forth, casting shadows and lights over Oscar’s face. “Hi, pet,” he sneered—a smirk forming on his face. If I didn’t have anything left to lose, I might have been scared, but I wasn’t afraid anymore. I knew it was only a matter of time before he would try to flush me out and get me alone. “Have you been keeping your pretty mouth shut?” He ran his fingers over my lips as he took a step closer.

“I don’t remember much, anyway.” I may not have been scared, but I was done being stupid.

“Aw, what a shame. I was about to make you feel really good before my little brother got in our way. Fucker broke my nose.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “You must have deserved it, then.”

Oscar smiled. “Deserved it, yeah?” The evil in his black heart corrupted his smile quickly when his eyes narrowed. “Let’s get one thing straight. Oliver should have never taken what was mine. He knows better.”

“Is that why you drugged us? To take what’s yours because you can’t have me any other way?”

“I didn’t drug you. Isaac did.”

“Did you rape Bria?” I knew he didn’t, but I needed to keep him talking.

“Does that bother you, Mia?” He wrapped his arm around my back, reaching for my bottom, but I quickly moved his hand to the front of me. “Did it make you jealous?”

“A little.” I lifted my shoulder in a half shrug as Oscar undid the button on my jeans. “So you or Ollie never touched Bria? Only Isaac did?” His eager hand applied pressure over my jeans. I didn’t flinch. All I wanted was his confession.

“You want me to tell you how I fucked that little slut? Will it make you want me more?”

“I want to know the truth.”

Before Oscar could pull my jeans down, I slipped the phone from my back pocket and set it high on a shelf beside me with the recording still on without him noticing. “I don’t want you after you’ve been with Bria.”

Oscar’s hooded eyes searched my face as he grabbed my chin. “I didn’t bloody touch her. Your boy Isaac did, but for you—” He tried to kiss me, but I pulled away.

“For me what? What did you give me and what were you going to do?”

“Just a little something to help you relax.” He smiled, then yanked down my jeans. “See how tense you are without it?”

Okay, now I was getting scared. I had what I needed. I had Oscar’s confession. “You need to go, Oscar.” I couldn’t run out of here. I needed the phone. I couldn’t leave it on, or it would die. I’d been waiting this entire time for him to confront me, and this moment was here. I’d never thought about what would come next after getting the confession.

“I’m taking what you owe me.” He gathered my panties in one hand and moved them to the side when I spit in his face.

“I don’t owe you shit.”

A sudden force whipped my head around, and my face slammed against the side of the shelf. My hand immediately shot to my face from the initial burn on impact.

“You hit me,” I whispered in shock. A man has never hit me before, and suddenly I couldn’t feel the pain from it. I pushed against his chest, but he gathered my hands in one of his and slammed my face forward into another wall.

Something came over me, and I screamed at the top of my lungs before Oscar threw his hand over my mouth. I bit his fingers and screamed again until he covered them. He threw his weight against me, pi