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“What the hell is this?”
The question rattled off my lips, my thumb swiping from picture to picture, five total, each one getting progressively worse.
“There’s more than that from what I’ve heard and I’m interested to see just how bad a girl you were while tucked away in my bed.”
My head shook, my thoughts careening out of control as I struggled to remember anything.
“Who took these?”
I wasn’t asleep in the shots. My eyes were open as if I’d been a willing participant in someone photographing me strip off my clothes.
With each shot, more skin was exposed, my lips stretched into a smile or a laugh, my eyes crinkled at the corners where they looked up at the camera.
Dropping the phone, I shot my eyes to his.
“Who took those? How many more are there?” I yelled, people hushing me in answer to my loud voice in a library.
The one question I didn’t want to ask was how much more clothing did I lose before the shutter stopped snapping?
Ta
“That’s for me to know. And while I will handle the asshole because I don’t like men who take advantage of drunk women, the question becomes when will I take care of him? Will it be before or after he spreads those photos all around campus?”
He lifted a hand to examine his fingernails, not giving much of a damn that I was seeing red.
“I guess Luca Bailey is not the angel she makes herself out to be after all.”
I launched from my seat to grip his shirt, my teeth clenched as I asked, “How bad do they get?”
From the shots on his phone that had been texted to him, I’d been in my bra and panties still. But he claimed there were more and-
Bile shot up my throat as Ta
Dark eyes crawling up to mine, he was an island of calm in the storm of my anger. “Take a seat, Luca. It’s not my fault you got yourself into a shitty situation.”
Except it was his fault. It had to be. Only, he wasn’t there that night, but that didn’t mean anything.
“You did this,” I accused as I retook my seat.
“I had nothing to do with it.”
Brushing the wrinkles from his t-shirt, he lifted his eyes to mine.
“I was busy picking up two idiot friends of mine, as you should remember. Apparently, while the cat was away...”
His voice trailed off and I could barely stay in my seat. I was too angry. Too panicked.
“Tell me who it was and I’ll take care of it myself.”
He smirked, scratched his jaw, the stubble scraping against his fingers with a rough sound. He smiled and I wanted to slap the expression off his face.
“You know, I’d love to do that, but I’m not feeling all that generous at the moment.”
Quiet laughter shook his shoulders. “Unless, of course, you’re asking for a favor.”
And there it was, the bomb he’d been waiting to drop the entire time. It exploded right in front of me, the shock of it ripping me out of whatever wi
“You’re an asshole.”
“No,” he said, laughing again. “But I am a lucky bastard, aren’t I? Here you thought you had me cornered, but then, well, a surprise falls in my lap. I’m simply taking advantage.”
Silence fell, thick and pregnant with my hatred for him. It slow danced with his amusement, his triumph as he closed the walls around me and took back the victory flag, peeling it from my death grip with every intention to rub it into the wounds he left on me.
“Make a deal with me, Luca, and this can all go away.”
There was no fucking way in hell I’d give him what he wanted.
“Fuck off,” I answered, enunciating each word.
Grabbing my things, I stormed from the library, felt his dark stare on me until I was through the doors and back outside.
Tears pricked my eyes as soon as I was out of sight. What the hell was I going to do?
That was the second punch of the night.
And while I was walking to my dorm trying to think of how I could stop those photos from being spread around, the right hook came through to knock me to the ground.
My phone rang as I climbed the steps to my floor. Thinking it would be Ta
“What?”
Silence, and then a familiar voice tapped at my knees, weakening them with every word.
“Luca, it’s dad. Listen, baby, I don’t want to have to tell you this, but I think you should come home for a while.”
I sank down to sit on the top step, the tears steadily falling now that my feet had been ripped out from under me.
“Honey, it’s your mom. She’s not doing good.” His voice shook. It was the first time I’d ever heard my dad sound so defeated.
“Come home, Luca. Ask the administrators if you can make up whatever work is left for this semester. I’m sorry to ask this of you.”
I left Yale the following morning after Clayton convinced me it was best.
I never returned.
Never bothered.
And I thought that at least it was good because I’d never have to face Ta
But the universe wasn’t done with me.
Three years later, and that dark force would be overshadowing my life once again. And this time, he would make sure I couldn’t escape him.
To Be Continued…
Treachery returns in May, 2020 (keep reading for a sneak peek of Book One)
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