There's Only You ✔

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

I blamed Gray.

The nightmares.

How fucked up my life was.

My grades were slipping. Because of the drama Gray caused in my life recently, I was in the library, catching up on the homework I missed when he was raping me.

Was it even considered rape if I allowed him to touch me? Every inch of my body wanted to yell at him to stop, but I laid still. I accepted what was happening. That thought was just one of many that kept me distracted from my schoolwork. That and the flashbacks.

But then I remembered Olive's smile. Her laugh. The sparkle shining in her eyes. Her happiness and safety made it worth it. She spoke with the rest of the cheerleaders and agreed to continue being on the team. As long as she was back to being her happy, usual self, I was okay.

Speaking of, there she was. Olive sat next to me, but her eyes were glued to something behind me. I didn’t care what caught her attention. Without much thought, I threw my arms around her and maintained a vice grip.

She didn’t seem bothered by the sudden display of affection, but she was taken by surprise. She was safely in my arms, giggling that same giggle that would escape her lips every time we would watch a rom-com.

It was all behind her and she promised me that she would never look back. Olive took a second before reciprocating the hug with as tight of a grip as mine. “Not that I don’t appreciate random hugs, but is something wrong?”

I forced myself to pull away and was faced with a half-smile tugging at the corners of her lips. It finally registered in me that she asked a question. “No. I’m just glad that you’re okay.”

Her smile grew bigger–until it was wide enough to reach her eyes. It was like she was saying the same thing. That she was glad everything was back to normal and that we were both okay. She shook her head and redirected her attention back to whatever it was behind me. 

"Don't look now, but Kayden and Angela are sucking each other's faces off on the couch. "

"Ugh, believe you me, I don't want to look. I've thrown up enough times this week."

"You only threw up once."

"And that's one too many times than I'm comfortable with. Because of the demon that made a sudden reappearance in my life, my grades had been slipping. If I want to get into a college with a good nurse program, I have to maintain a 4.0 GPA. Maybe even higher if I do enough extra credit assignments."

Olive's eyes burned at the side of my head and when I looked up from my textbook, concern was written across her facial features. "What is it?"

"You look like shit."

A fake smile tugged at my lips and placed my hands over my heart. "Awwww. My best friend thinks I look like shit. After our beautiful heart to heart yesterday, you just keep getting better at treating me like the bestest friend in the whole entire world."

"You know what I mean. Have you even eaten anything today?"

Flashbacks of the newest nightmare suddenly hit me.

"You belong to me, my cupcake. I own you." Gray's eyes were centimeters away from mine and his hand was wrapped around my waist. I was one breath away from developing lung cancer with how close he was to me. My stomach twisted at the mention of him owning me. No one owned me. I was no one's property. I kept my mouth shut to avoid another beating.

He intentionally blew a puff of smoke in my face and kissed me with his smokey breath. I winced at the taste of his cigarette-flavored kiss and puke climbed up my throat. I used every ounce of strength I had to push him away, but he wouldn't budge. He held me tighter in his arms, tight enough that I could barely breathe.