Runaways by Nicole Dykes
“You smell like him.” I close my eyes and try to will Colin away. Why the hell is he home already? And why am I? I shouldn’t have come home after leaving Lawson’s house. Not yet. But I thought I had a few more hours before my mother and Colin would be home. “You smell like a fucking whore.”
He’s drunk. I can smell it on him. “Why are you home so early?”
“Disappointed?” His mouth runs along my throat, and I want to vomit. It’s dark in the living room where he’s cornered me. He was waiting in the dark for me to come home.
“Very.”
His laugh is cruel. “Your mother couldn’t wait to fuck my brains out. So we skipped dinner.”
“You disgust me.” I try to push him away from me, but he only grasps my wrists tighter, pinning them above my head against the wall.
“Do I?” He breathes me in, and I hope he can smell Lawson on me. God, I love the way Lawson smells. I love the way he touches me. Kisses me. Loves me.
I hate the fight we just had. I hate that I can’t just spill every single vile detail of what Colin has said and done, but I’ve never seen Lawson as mad as he was tonight. And he doesn’t even know the half of it.
I’m scared he’ll try to save me.
He can’t.
No one can, except maybe my mother, but she’s useless. She’s so far gone for him. Angry tears fill my eyes as I think about the woman who’s supposed to protect me but doesn’t.
“Yes. You do. Let go of me.”
“What did you let him do to you tonight, Raelynn.” I squeeze my eyes closed tighter, trying to go somewhere else as he runs his hand over my throat. “Did he fuck you? Did you even have the decency to make him use a condom, or do you let him come inside of you like the whore you are?”
My eyes snap open and I glare at him. “It’s none of your business.”
“Everything regarding you is my business.” He licks my ear. “Even your boyfriend’s cum.”
“You’re sick.” I turn my head. “Let me go, or I’ll scream.”
“Your mom’s in a sex coma. Unlike you. I’m sure your boyfriend’s limp little dick can barely make you whimper, let alone scream.”
I struggle in his grasp, hating him with everything inside of me. “Let. Me. Go.” I glare at him. “Now.”
He merely laughs, pinning my body to the wall even harder, his vile whiskey-soaked breath intruding on my senses. “It’s only a matter of time before you give in, Raelynn.”
He’s so twisted, I think he actually believes I want him. “Never.”
He releases me, laughing maniacally as he walks out the patio door to the backyard. Probably to smoke a cigar. My mother never lets him smoke inside. And whether he wants to believe he’s in control or not, she’s really the one calling the shots around here.
I head toward my room, and as I pass the master bedroom, I stop. I take a deep breath, leaning back against the wall, thinking about my fight with Lawson. I decide to try at least one more time.
I walk into my mother’s room without knocking and don’t find her in bed. Her bathroom light is on, and the door is cracked so I push it open, startling my mother. “Raelynn?” She jumps, clutching something to her chest.
A white plastic stick.
No.
“Mom,” I breathe.
She glares at me, and I look past her to the bathroom counter where several other pregnancy tests rest. No.
“You can’t be pregnant,” I nearly cry. “You can’t have his baby.”
She rolls her eyes, irritated and angry with me like always. She tosses the test into the trash and turns to me, securing the silk tie of her robe around her waist. “What are you doing in here?”
“Please tell me you aren’t pregnant.” She can’t have a baby with that monster.
She grabs the wine glass I’m just now noticing and takes a big gulp, laughing a little hysterically. “Don’t worry about it. Apparently, I can’t seem to give him a baby.”
I step further into the bathroom and take a closer look at the tests. They’re all negative, and I feel nothing but relief. My eyes snap up to hers. “You shouldn’t.”
“And why is that, Raelynn?” Bitterness seeps through her words.
“He’s sick.” Her eyes are full of fire, bathing me in her anger. But I don’t care. I’ve had enough. “He won’t leave me alone. He’s everywhere. And the things he says to me . . .”
She stops me, her drink sloshing in the glass as she steps closer to me. “Probably tells you to keep your legs closed. It’s called being a father, Raelynn. He’s told me about how relentless you are, chasing all the boys at school and not stopping only with boys.” She sneers, “I know you want him.”
My jaw drops slightly, even though I shouldn’t be surprised she believes his bullshit. “I don’t. He repulses me.”
“Uh-huh. Sure, he does.” She backs away, leaning against the counter. “He’s gorgeous. Young. Successful. He’s perfect. But he’s mine, and you’re a filthy little girl chasing after a grown man. A man who’s as good as your father. You’re the sick one.”
I shake my head, clutching my stomach. “No. I would never.”
“Don’t lie to me. He told me about you walking around naked in front of him.” She glances over my body and then meets my eyes. “You don’t have anything he’d want. He needs a real woman.”
My God, she really believes I want him. That I’m her competition.
“I didn’t walk around naked in front of him! He’s a sick fuck who was waiting around for me after my shower and stole my towel. He grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.”
I yank my coat off as she takes another generous gulp of white wine. I pull my shirt sleeve up and show her the bruise, but she only scoffs coldly and waves me off. “You probably did that to yourself. Or you let that little boy you hang out with manhandle you. Colin would never do that.”
She doesn’t want to believe it. “The proof is right in front of you.” I despise the pleading in my voice. “Please, Mother. Look at me, I’m begging you. He’s going to really hurt me.”
“You’re being dramatic, Raelynn.”
I drop my sleeve and stare at her, numb and broken because she’s staring at the proof and yet would rather remain blind to it. “You’re supposed to protect me.”
“You’re a grown woman. You’re seventeen.”
“I’m a child. Your child.” And I know I sound like one as a tear slides down my cheek.
She simply sneers at me, “And apparently the only one I’ll get to have.” She waves toward the tests. “You’d better use protection. I mean it. If you get pregnant before me, I swear I’ll lose it.”
“Lose it?” I laugh without humor. “You’ve already lost it. I have no idea why you hate me, but I’m your child. And while you’re busy trying to please your new husband, you’re letting me down. You’re letting him attack me and abuse me. You’re doing that. It’s on you.”
No remorse. She takes another drink and then walks closer to me. We’re the same height, and I can see directly into her cold, cruel soul as she callously eyes me. “Don’t you dare tell him about this. Do you hear me?”
“I think he’s going to know you aren’t pregnant when, in nine months, there’s no baby.”
“It’s my business, Raelynn. I’ll get pregnant soon enough.”
I shake my head. “Don’t do this. Not with him. Don’t give him another victim.”
She rolls her eyes at me again. “You are so damn dramatic. Get out. And don’t come in my room without knocking again.”
I can’t seem to move. I can only stare at her as she goes back to her negative tests, hiding them in the trash.
She hates me.
And she loves my mortal enemy.
There’s no way out of this for me.
