Page 60 of Heartless Lord
“What are you talking about? I’m totally fine.” The lie came out way too easily, and I was proud my voice didn’t shake. “Have you seen Micah?”
She shook her head. “Axel told me they had some top-secret fraternity shit to do and he’d be back in a little.” She opened her sparkly clutch and revealed its contents. “And he gave me these.”
A snack-sized Ziploc bag with four white pills caught my eye mixed in with the lip-gloss, compact, and enough condoms to supply the entire fraternity in a week-long orgy. Which after the last party, might not have been completely off base.
“The condoms?” I smirked.
“No, hoe, the Hug Drug. This shit is the best. Have you ever had sex on it?”
I shook my head. I tried to stay far away from the hard stuff. Sure, I’d smoked some weed in high school, but I hated the feeling of losing control. Ever since that day on the highway, I needed to be aware. At all times. “It’s not really my thing.”
She shrugged as she popped one of the little white pills under her tongue. “Your loss.”
My stomach twisted. “You’re going to take that here, right now?” I scanned the sea of gray-haired alum surrounding us. “What if you start humping one of those old guys?”
She let out a wicked laugh. “Lexi, old guys need pussy too.” Then she waggled a manicured fingernail. “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”
My lips screwed into a disgusted pucker. Any time I saw an older man, especially with a cigar, my thoughts instantly flew to him.
The smell always hit me first. Cigars. Scotch. Expensive cologne.
My stomach dropped like I’d just stepped off a cliff.
Sometimes, I wondered what he’d look like now, if he was still picking up innocent girls on the side of the street. Stanford Davenport would’ve been easy enough to Google, but I refused on principle. Just the idea of seeing that man’s face again… A blast of anger singed my veins as darkness raced to the surface.
I tried so hard to forget everything about that day, but no matter how badly I attempted to block the nightmares, they always returned. I should have fought harder, I should have clawed at him, kicked him in the balls, anything. And most of all, I never should’ve let him get away with it.
I should havemadeeveryone believe me.
Especially Killian.
My throat tightened, the familiar steel bands lacing around my lungs at the thought. My best friend should have fucking believed me. He should have defended me from that monster.
“Um, hello, Lexi? You still with me?” Cordelia snapped her fingers an inch from my nose.
I focused on my friend, then the sharp slam of a door sent my gaze lifting over her shoulder. To a figure darkening the doorway.
My heart ground to a halt, and the remaining air evacuated my lungs. The scent of cigars and scotch muddled with cologne floated through my subconscious. The smell of leather seats. The feel of his watch pressed into my skin. The sound of the car doors locking.
No. No. No.
Panic’s claws ripped into my gut, carving up my insides.
The man stepped fully into the light.
My heart stopped.
Blonde hair threaded with silver. The same cold smile.
Stanford Davenport.
The man who tried to rape me.
He’d stolen my innocence and left me broken and ruined for anyone else.
And beside him...
Killian.
