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My brothers don’t do anything more than drink occasionally "Is there cake?" I ask

She nods "Sam made it" Sam’s the baker in the family It’s too bad he had to play football to earn his way into college because he’dit

"So he was ho that he was hout It fking hurts I can’t say I bla she does where she doesn’t look me in the face She’d be terrible at poker because she can’t lie worth shit

"How long do you think he’ll avoidan

I sit inwith the o, and he sentoutside a prison byHe can’t fault me for that, can he?

I freeze when I see three tatted-up e But one of theirl, a pretty lady with dirty-blond hair I sit up taller and watch them They’re friendly with one another, and you can al hands with the girl slaps her on the bottom and runs from her, and she streaks off after him until she can jump on his back She leans forward and kisses hi so to him My heartbeat stutters This is the family I’m almost certain of it They’re Peter Reed’s brothers

Peter Reed is someone I have wanted to ht when I really needed saving He found me huddled in a room in the back of a frat house after the unthinkable happened

I’ froht when he left, so I sit in the dark withso hard that my jaw hurts My panties are still wrapped aroundthere like the useless piece of cloth they are One side is broken from where he ripped them offenough to pull them up Or off My skirt is hiked up around my waist He didn’t bother to even pull it dohen he was done He just whispered in my ear about how no one would ever believe me if I told and how I better keep it to s beside ht face a beacon in the darkness, and I look down at it I want to pick it up It’s probably one of one off to But I can’t unwrap h to reach for it, either If I unwrap, I’ll fall apart I can’t fall apart I just can’t

The door opens, and a sliver of light tuhs at soht on and leans back against the door, cursing playfully I crawl on my hands toward the shadow in the corner Maybe he won’t see me But he does I can tell when he freezes and curses for real

My teeth are still chattering, and I can’t draw in a complete breath He drops down to squat in front of ht?" he asks He reaches a hand toward me An animalistic sound leaves my throat It’s one that scares evenand he’s afraid I’ll bite The guy who just left, he wasn’t afraid of , I was ready to stop, but he pushed me down, tore off my panties, held me still, and raped me

I look into this man’s sky-blue eyes, and they’re so different from the brown ones that hurt me I open s again, and I look toward it

"Do you want et it for you?" he asks softly He reaches for it and then puts it withinit from his hand as I crouch further into the corner He pulls back like I scare him I look down at the screen

Rachel: Where are you, hussy? I saw you locking lips with the douchebag Did you leave with hi too ently takes the phone froo It’s of no use totoo badly to use it

"What do you want me to say?" he asks

I s hard I screamed when it started, before he covered ed my head on the bathroom countertop, and now my throat hurts "Help me" The words are a whisper, and he leans closer because he can’t hear what I’

"What?" he asks softly

"Help me," I say He looks at my face He doesn’t look down at my exposed body He just looks athere with my skirt hiked up above my hips, like my shirt’s not torn open Like I wasn’t just raped Defiled Used I tug at my skirt, and he looks around the room, opens a cabinet, and lays an unfolded towel over me I start to adjust my clothes beneath it He looks down and picks upHe sets the over ently so he can pull them off my foot "I need those," I say I really, really need the theain A tear rolls down my cheek, and his face softens He finds the scraps of fabric where the man who hurt me ripped them at the hip, and he ties a knot in the dressed I put s He reaches out to supportso badly that I can’t pull them up He helps me He hisses in a breath when he pulls theaze, looking into s my skirt down to cover theers He bends over and picks up my phone where I dropped it

"Can I call someone for you?" he asks

I nod But I can’t think of who I can’t call my parents I wasn’t supposed to be at this party I was supposed to be in ainst the counter, feeling like I can’t hold h my contacts until he finds her nah the phone "Hello, Rachel?" he asks

"Who are you and why do you have that hussy’s phone?" I hear Rachel ask

He looks at me "Do you want to talk to her?" he asks me over the phone

I shake my head

He closes his eyes and says, "My name is Peter Reed, and I’m here with your friend…" He stops and looks at ether "What’s your naan," I whisper

"I’m sorry," he says And he really looks like he is "I can’t hear you" His tone is soft and roan inwardly at the way I said that It was a spurt But he heard an She needs you"

"Where?" I hear Rachel say

"J-just tell her the party M-master bathrooo find her?" he asks, looking at ut clenches "Don’t leave me," I whisper My jaw quivers, and I hate it But this ently lays his hand on the side of my head I jerk back, and he i me was a mistake "I won’t leave I promise," he says He turns back to the phone "We’re in the back bedroom, in the bathroom She’s hurt" He looks at my face while he says it Not at ," he says "But I think she needs you" He looks down at the phone "I think she hung up onto stay with you," he says to assure ainst the counter, crossingwith you so I can be sure you go to the hospital," he says