Page 30 of Shamed
The evidence lined up, didn’t it?
Jacob wasthere.
“I’m trying to help you.”
But I think Dylan was there first . . .
My throat closes, heart going wild.
“I, um . . . I was just going to drop this on your desk.” I try to make my voice steady, but it comes out weak and scratchy. And he can tell.
Air.
Escape.
I need bothnow.
The folder has barely touched his desk before I’m backing up and turning, trying to rush out as quickly as possible. But Dylan anticipates it, jumping to his feet and using his longer legs to his advantage. I scramble to reach the open door, but his hand whips out and slams the wood shut in my face.
“Where do you think you’re going, hmm?” He plants a firm hand on the door above my hand, making sure to keep it closed.
Fear squeezes my lungs, making my breaths come out in short bursts. “I-I have other things I need to do.”
“For some reason, I don’t believe you.”
I twist around to face him, pressing my back against the door in the small space he’s left me. But I can’t look him in the eyes and words fail me, so I continue to stare at his chest, the red searing into my brain.
Red. Red. Red.
“I’ll ask again, what the fuck is going on up here?” Dylan taps the side of my head.
Swallowing, I press myself further into the door. “It was you . . . wasn’t it?”
“What was me?” When I don’t answer after several seconds, a creepy smile curls his lips. “Spit it out.”
“Yourapedme.” Bile rises in my throat at the words, at the memory.
He hums. “Now here I was under the impression thatJacobdid it. But if that isn’t true . . . then he must be sitting in that prison cell, wishing nothing buthellon you.” Dylan chuckles. “You really fucked up his life,little princess.”
My stomach doesn’t just drop; my entire soul falls to thefloor and shatters into a million pieces.
Oh my god.Oh my god.Jacob. He was innocent, and I put him in prison. How could I do that?How could I fucking do that?
I should have known, should have seen it.
“Why?” It comes out as a broken whisper, heart and voice cracking simultaneously. “Why would you do that?”
Not that it matters anymore; the irreparable damage has been done. Lives have been ruined. Not only mine.
Leaning further into my space, Dylan’s eyes harden and his voice turns lethal. “You led me on, took me to the edge, then fucking saidno. No one says no to me and humiliates me like that in front of everyone. The sweet little princess who everyone loved needed to be taken down a notch, or twenty. A lesson never felt so fucking good.”
He pauses for a moment, as if lost in the memory before coming back to the present.
“But if you’re asking why I let Jacob take the blame . . . well, why the fuck not? It was perfect, really.”
Finally lifting my chin to meet his gaze, I see it. I see it now. “You’re a monster.”
The monster looming above me. The monster in my nightmares. The monster who changed everything.
