“Aw, what a shame. I was about to make you feel really good before my little brother got in our way. Fucker broke my nose.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “You must have deserved it, then.”
Oscar smiled. “Deserved it, yeah?” The evil in his black heart corrupted his smile quickly when his eyes narrowed. “Let’s get one thing straight. Oliver should have never taken what was mine. He knows better.”
“Is that why you drugged us? To take what’s yours because you can’t have me any other way?”
“I didn’t drug you. Isaac did.”
“Did you rape Bria?” I knew he didn’t, but I needed to keep him talking.
“Does that bother you, Mia?” He wrapped his arm around my back, reaching for my bottom, but I quickly moved his hand to the front of me. “Did it make you jealous?”
“A little.” I lifted my shoulder in a half shrug as Oscar undid the button on my jeans. “So you or Ollie never touched Bria? Only Isaac did?” His eager hand applied pressure over my jeans. I didn’t flinch. All I wanted was his confession.
“You want me to tell you how I fucked that little slut? Will it make you want me more?”
“I want to know the truth.”
Before Oscar could pull my jeans down, I slipped the phone from my back pocket and set it high on a shelf beside me with the recording still on without him noticing. “I don’t want you after you’ve been with Bria.”
Oscar’s hooded eyes searched my face as he grabbed my chin. “I didn’t bloody touch her. Your boy Isaac did, but for you—” He tried to kiss me, but I pulled away.
“For me what? What did you give me and what were you going to do?”
“Just a little something to help you relax.” He smiled, then yanked down my jeans. “See how tense you are without it?”
Okay, now I was getting scared. I had what I needed. I had Oscar’s confession. “You need to go, Oscar.” I couldn’t run out of here. I needed the phone. I couldn’t leave it on, or it would die. I’d been waiting this entire time for him to confront me, and this moment was here. I’d never thought about what would come next after getting the confession.
“I’m taking what you owe me.” He gathered my panties in one hand and moved them to the side when I spit in his face.
“I don’t owe you shit.”
A sudden force whipped my head around, and my face slammed against the side of the shelf. My hand immediately shot to my face from the initial burn on impact.
“You hit me,” I whispered in shock. A man has never hit me before, and suddenly I couldn’t feel the pain from it. I pushed against his chest, but he gathered my hands in one of his and slammed my face forward into another wall.
Something came over me, and I screamed at the top of my lungs before Oscar threw his hand over my mouth. I bit his fingers and screamed again until he covered them. He threw his weight against me, pinning me to the wall and pressing my face against it as he threatened me. But his threats were useless now. He had nothing to hold over my head anymore. Ollie was the only card he had left, and Ollie was already gone. Tears fell from my eyes as my screams muffled against his hand.
The doorknob jiggled on the other side. Someone was trying to come in. Oscar’s entire body tensed against me as he held his hand tight over my mouth. He waited for the jiggling to stop and then I felt a blow to the back of my head.
It was almost midnight, but the string lights all around me lit up the sky before the fireworks could. “Mia!” someone shouted. “Can you believe we’re here? We’re in fucking London of all places! New Year’s, baby!” The girl handed me a drink, the liquid splashing over the rim and onto the cobblestone ground beneath me. My freshly manicured nails got my attention. They were pink. “Mia, come on. It’s almost midnight.” The happy girl with big brown eyes and brown hair grabbed my hand as she pulled me down the path. People buzzed all around us. Smiling faces, lights, a Ferris wheel. The crisp winter air took my breath away as we ran through the street. Laughing, music, and conversations blurred together as this happy girl shouted against the wind and noise. “We’re almost there!” We stopped along the edge of the water line as the smells of boat fuel, salty ocean, and fried food filled my nose.
I leaned over the railing and looked down below into the black sea as soon as the fireworks went off overhead. The reflection of the colors bled across the surface of the black ocean, and I lifted my head when the lights sizzled into waterfalls, cascading in the night sky. The fireworks dimmed, leaving a trace of smoke before new colors took their place.
“Beautiful,” a slow, deep voice said beside me. I turned my head to see bright green eyes—eyes more captivating than the fireworks. My entire body turned to face him. He had his arms folded over the railing, hunched over, but his head turned toward me with an awe-struck grin. He wore a white sweatshirt, black Converse, and his jeans were faded and ripped at the knees, and fit him perfectly.
I found his eyes again. “Yeah, it is,” I whispered.
The guy shook his head and chuckled. “No, love. I wasn’t talking about the fireworks.” Heat rose in my cheeks as he turned his whole body to face me and leaned into his side. “Tell me your name.”
“Mia,” I said in reflex, unsure of how the words were able to leave me as I’d forgot everything else I’d ever known.
The guy held out his hand. I reached to shake it, but instead, he grabbed my hand and spun me around before pulling my back against his chest. His hands returned to the railing as he caged me in, but I didn’t mind. He didn’t scare me. I was finally home.
He pressed his head against the side of mine and whispered, “I’m Ollie. You know what tonight is, Mia?”
“New Year’s?” My response was accurate, but I felt foolish for saying it.
“Tonight is the night we’ll be telling our kids about one day. The night my life changed.”
A relieved smile washed over me as another firework blasted from the charter boat off in the distance. My eyes followed the rocket up into the sky, and as soon as the colors burst over us, a gust of wind smacked me in the face. Ollie pulled me closer against him, wrapping his long arms around me to keep me warm. He smelled of nostalgia and marine breeze, with a hint of cologne. I closed my eyes to take in this moment.
“No, Mia. You can open your eyes now.”
“Mia, wake up. Open your eyes.” My eyes sprung open to see the nurse hovering over me with a flashlight pointed directly in my eyes. I squinted against the light when she said, “Oh, good. Now follow my fingers.”
The nurse held a finger between us and moved it from side to side. I did as I was told, still confused to where I was and what was going on.