Waves of dizziness washed over me, and the blackness slowly faded away. I heard the distinct sound of his zipper over my gasps and sobs and my head shook slowly back and forth. I felt like I was underwater and couldn’t find my way to the surface. His hand closed around my throat again and I frantically tried to pull in air and claw at his hand, but it was useless. My arms lost function quickly and the edges of my vision were going black again, and I begged the darkness to come quicker. I didn’t want to be conscious through what he was doing. I didn’t want to remember this. The sweet numbness began claiming me, and at that moment, the most beautiful sound in the world came from outside the door.
Candice’s voice.
Blake was off the bed and putting himself back in his shorts in seconds while I wildly tried to take in as much oxygen as possible. He roughly pulled my pants up just as the key could be heard in the lock and took the few steps toward the door to flip the light on before coming back to my side. When the door opened, Blake was standing at the side of my bed looking down at me, the light brush over my throat and solid glare was clearly a warning. But I was still on the verge of fainting, now from trying too roughly to inhale.
Candice said goodbye to whomever she’d been talking to as she shut the door. “Oh, hey, cuz! I didn’t mean to—” Blake turned to look at her and Candice’s eyes went wide when she saw me, “Oh my God, Rachel, are you okay?!”
She rushed over to me, but Blake touched her arm and pulled her slightly away. “She was attacked by a couple guys outside Starbucks tonight. She called me about half an hour ago, she’s in shock but she’ll be okay.”
“What?!” Candice screamed and tears instantly filled her eyes.
What? No. No, no, no. My head shook back in forth as I choked on a sob and my breathing got even faster and heavier. I tried to tell her that was wrong. That he was lying, but all that came out was ragged sounds of my breathing.
I could see Candice and Blake’s mouths moving, but I couldn’t hear anything else. Everything tilted to the side and the blackness came back full force. I reached out for Candice but missed her arm as the dark claimed me.
TAKING CHANCES
1
MY FACE WAS stretched in a wide grin as I looked around my bedroom one last time. I was doing it, finally going to live my life however I saw fit to live it. I’d grown up with only my dad, and I loved him, but he didn’t know how to be a parent. The only part he seemed to get was the word “no.” I promise I’m not just being a whiny teenager, that really was about the extent of our conversations. He is always around me, rarely talking to me and always silently expecting me to be perfect. Not that I could blame the way he is, he has been in the Marine Corps since he graduated high school, and apparently he’s really good at what he does. The guys that came through his units respected him, and he always exuded pride for them. He’d kept me home-schooled which resulted in me going to work with him every day and doing my work in his office. I learned early on that if I didn’t understand something, it was just better not to ask. He’d look up at me from under his lashes with a raised eyebrow, sigh, and then go back to whatever he was working on. I was expected to finish by the time he started drills in the morning so I could go out there with him, but he still never said a word. The only interaction I really ever had was with his Marines. If anyone were to ask, I would let them know in a heartbeat I was raised by a bunch of immature jarheads that I adored, not by my father.
And now, after eighteen years of struggling to achieve a perfection that couldn’t be reached in my father’s eyes, I was finally going to let loose, have the college experience—whatever that was—and hopefully find out who I am in the process. I could have easily gone to a college here, but to say that my dad was strict would be the biggest understatement of my life, and I wanted to experience things I knew I wouldn’t be able to if I stayed here.
“Are you sure you want to do this Harper? There are plenty of excellent schools in North Carolina.”
I kept my eyes trained on his. “I’m one hundred percent certain Sir, this is what I need to do.” Did I mention I’m only allowed to call him “Sir”?
“Well,” he looked past me at my window, “it will be different around here.” He turned and walked out of the room.
And that’s as good as it was going to get, to be honest, it was one of the longest conversations we had in a few months. Four sentences. It was surprising that he could talk to his guys all day long, but we start talking and he’s out of the room within minutes.