I look around nervously. “Where is everyone?”
He unfolds his arms, still smiling at me. “The bursar’s office is closed for lunch.” He pauses. Like it’s my turn to talk.
“So what do you want?”
He unfolds his arms and takes a step towards me. I take a step back. “Come on, now. We’re old friends.”
“Friends?” I scoff. “Friends? We’re not friends, Dane. You raped me.”
“Please,” he huffs. “You wanted it.”
“Fuck you.”
“I already did that, right?” And then he winks at me.
Jesus. I throw up in my mouth a little. I swallow it down and tilt my chin up. He can’t hurt me. He thinks he can, but he can’t. Unless he’s planning on killing me—and if that’s the case, there is probably nothing I could do to stop that—he’s already displayed the worst-case scenario as far as I’m concerned. It’s a lot easier to deal with when you know what you’re up against.
Three and a half years ago I didn’t know what I was up against.
Now, I do. I scoff at him. “You think you’re so powerful.”
“I think, Cadee? I think? No. I don’t think I’m powerful. I am powerful.”
I’m shaking my head while he talks. “You’re not going to get away with it.”
“Get away with what? Pleasuring you? Do you remember how hard you came, Cadee? My thick cock was inside you and you were sucking on my fingers. Oh, God,” he moans. He closes his eyes and breathes heavy for a moment. Then he opens them and looks straight into mine. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve jerked off picturing the way you came that night? Holy fuck. The way you sucked on my fingers—”
“Shut up!”
“The truth hurts, doesn’t it?” He pauses to smile at me. “You liked it. You liked the way I spanked your ass that night. And slapped your face. And called you a dirty little whore. Because you are a little whore, aren’t you? You were fucking all three of them that year. And you’re probably fucking them all again right now. God, if I was smart, I’d have been just like Cooper and passed you around with my buddies.” He grabs himself. Gives his cock a good squeeze. “And the only reason you talked yourself into the rape allegation is because you didn’t want to admit you liked it.”
“You’re sick, you know that? And you’re not going to get away with it.”
Dane slips his hand down his pants, begins rubbing his cock. I look away, refusing to give him the satisfaction he’s waiting for.
“I will get away with it, Cadee. You just watch me.”
I gather my courage and take a step forward, aiming for the stairway. But he quickly steps in front of my escape route, blocking me, his hand inside his pants, still playing with himself.
“You’re not leaving yet, Cadee.” His voice is a throaty growl. A threat. “Not until I’m done. In fact…” He unbuttons and unzips his pants, removing his cock. Holding it in his hands. “I think I want you on your knees. Just like you were that night. I want your mouth around my cock—”
I sneer at him. “Fuck. You.”
“Oh, yeah. I plan on fucking you. Many, many times.” Then he laughs. “Don’t you understand what’s happening here?”
“Do I understand that you’re a sick sex offender? And you deserve to be locked up so women like me can feel safe?”
“Women like you? Whores, you mean?”
“Rapist,” I seethe.
“Slut. You liked it.”
And then… I don’t know. I feel something inside me change. I haven’t talked to Dane since New Year’s Eve three and a half years ago. He scared the fuck out of me. Changed me. Tuned me into a different girl. One who stopped seeing the beauty around her and instead started looking for the dark things.
I have been avoiding him all these years, but it really wasn’t even necessary. He didn’t come over to the prep side of campus during the last half of his senior year at High Court and I didn’t go over to the college side. He was never waiting for me around a corner or in the dark woods. It’s like I didn’t even exist.
He was so secure in the knowledge that he was safe from any accusations I might hurl his way that he didn’t even bother to threaten me or buy my silence.
He’s certainly not worried about it now, either. Even though he must know that Cooper threatened their father. That Cooper has proof of—well, not the rape, but the abortion. And the fact that Dane has done this to plenty of other girls over the years.
But something inside me changes in this moment. In the lingering echo of his nasty words.
Slut.
Whore.
I would not call it a snap. I don’t have any burning desire to kill him or anything irrational like that.
But I’m not going to let him bully me, either.
“Move,” I demand.
“Hey,” he says, panning his hands wide to indicate the empty room. “I’m not standing in your way.”
I take another step forward, and again, he inches over to block the bottom of the stairwell, his hand still pumping his cock.
“What are you gonna do, Cadee? Scream? Make a scene? I’m just standing here. I haven’t even touched you.” He pauses to smile. “Yet.”
“Dane?” A woman’s voice calls down from the top of the stairs. He tucks his dick away and buttons his pants back up. “Are you still down there?” I look up as a pair of long, bare legs comes into view. Then the rest of the woman appears. Tall, thin, blonde. Red lips and dark eyes. “Oh, there you are,” she says.
She smiles at Dane once she reaches the bottom of the stairs and then hooks her arm into his. I recognize her, but don’t know her name. She went to High Court, I do know that. But she’s much older than me. Six years, just like Dane. So I was just too young to notice her and vice versa.
“Oh, hello, Cadee. How are you?”
I squint my eyes at her. “How do you know my name?”
She grins at me, then Dane. “Dane has told me all about you. He always points you out when we’re on campus.”
I look at Dane and feel revulsion just thinking about these two discussing me over the years.
“What did you call her, sweetie? Little woods girl?”
“Yes,” Dane says, hissing the ‘s’ on the end of the word. “My little woods girl. Cadee and I were good friends when she was small. Weren’t we, Cadee?”
“No,” I say, feeling sick. Did he plan that night? Was I his… target?
“So, did she agree?” the wife asks.
“Agree to what?” I reply.
“Dinner. Did you ask her, Dane?”
“Not yet,” he says.
“Dinner?” I huff. “Please.”
The wife tilts her head at me. “What’s that mean?”
“I’m not having dinner with you two.”
She pouts her lips. “Hmmm.” Then she looks at Dane. “Isn’t she one of the—”
But he cuts her off. “Yes. We were just getting started, Elizabeth. Can you please go back upstairs? We’re not quite done yet.”
“Oh”—I laugh—“we are so very, very done here, Dane.” And I make my move towards the stairs. I don’t care that both of them are now blocking the way. What are they gonna do? Not let me pass?