Page 1 of Under Rusted Stars

Prologue

Olivia

The zipper is yanked down, and everything happens too fast. The fabric of my dress somehow falls even faster.

Why didn’t I wear a bra?

Why is this happening?

Why does he hate me so much?

One second, I’m standing onstage with a crown on my head. Next, my prom dress is pooled around my ankles, and my bare tits are on full display in front of my entire graduating class.

Oh God, kill me now.

Camera flashes burst through the darkness while laughter spreads across the room like gasoline meeting fire.

“Oh fuck,” he breathes, sounding just as shocked as the principal beside me. “I didn’t think…”

I slap him hard enough to make him stumble backward, and then I run. Do I grab my dress? Fuck no, I’m too panicked. I cover my chest with shaking arms and sprint away from the voices, the laughter, and the camera flashes. I will never live this down because, in a town like Willow Creek, rumors never die.

Chapter One

Olivia

Ten Years Later

A scream rips from my throat as I abruptly jolt upright in bed, drenched in sweat, clawing at my neck. It takes me a few seconds to realize the hands are gone, I escaped, and I am safe.

Am I really, though?

Sunlight is filtering through the stained yellow curtains. The air conditioning is humming, and the room smells like plastic mattresses and regret. Even this shitty motel room is more welcoming than where I came from, though. The walls might have mysterious spots, but at least they don’t feel like they are closing in.

I am an hour from Willow Creek, but I stopped here so I didn’t have to bother Daisy so late for the keys to the cabin. When I called her and told her I was coming home—told her I needed a place to rent—she didn’t even let me finish asking. She just said yes and asked when I'd be by to get the keys. She had this tone like there was never going to be any other answer, so I was wasting her time even asking.

Willow Creek has a little over 1,200 residents, and I used to be one of them. This is the kind of town where everyone is in everyone’s business. I was from the part of town that everyone calls ‘The Flats,’ but this town still takes care of its people, even the druggies and criminals. This place isn’t bad because when my biological parents tried to kill me when I was six, I was taken in immediately by the nicest couple in the entire state of Texas. Six months later, they formally adopted me.

When I turned eighteen, I didn’t even look back. I went to college and got married to the first man who smiled at me. What started as love bombing ended with handcuffs and running faster than I have ever run before. Leaving Jason wasn’t the hard part; it’s surviving him once he finds me.

Once I have my bag in the shitty rust bucket of a car that I bought with crumpled-up cash, I start back down the road and let the warm breeze come in through the windows. It’s a nice day, thankfully.

I was already nervous, but my anxiety is through the fucking roof when I pass that Willow Creek sign, welcoming me in. Everything looks exactly the same, and I’m not even surprised. As I’m driving toward the cabin, I think of Mom and Dad again. I haven’t talked to them in two years. I haven’t directly told them I’m back, but I’m sure they know. I’m afraid they’re mad at me, but I think that’s just years of abuse talking.

It’s been a few months since I ran. I didn’t want to come straight home with bruises wrapped around my throat and all over my body. Jason damn near fucking killed me that night, so the last thing I needed was to send my parents into a rage and have them in jail for murder. There is still a chance, though, but at least this way they won’t see how bad it was.

I basically vanished, and even though Jason never knew where I was from specifically, he is bound to find his way here. It’s going to fuel my paranoia for the rest of my life.

When I pull into a parking spot at Daisy’s Diner, memories come rushing back to me of meeting up with friends here after school. Burgers, milkshakes, and fries. I was always so damn predictable.

Those days are behind us now, because I am not the same person I was ten years ago. It feels like I am watching someone else's memories, but I’m not. The sad reality is that I am a broken and hollow version of that person.

The bell on the door chimes, and I feel like everyone in this damn town is here. It’s lunchtime on a fucking Sunday; of course they are. Murmurs kick up, and I can only imagine what they are saying. I can’t focus because it’s all just too much. “Hey, baby girl,” Daisy says, saving me from an emotional meltdown. She wraps me in a hug so tight that it nearly fills the years I’ve been missing.

“Hey, Ms. Daisy,” I whisper.

“Come on over and sit, baby. Let me feed you,” she says, dragging me to sit at the bar.

“I’m okay. I had…”