“You’ll be fine. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Carter murmurs and I can’t help smiling at his affection.
My gaze flits to Bennett and I watch him shrug out of his jacket. His shoulders are broad, sexy, and I can tell there’s muscle under the crisp white material. How can I have two beautiful men wanting to dote on me like this? It doesn’t make sense.
“I’ll be right here, Cart,” he tells his best friend, then turns his green eyes to me. “I’m right here all night,” he assures me while getting comfortable on the sofa.
“Can I get you a drink or something?” I offer, and the salacious smile I’m met with tells me the and something caught his attention.
“Maybe later. Carter, I’ve got it.” Deep green meets sapphire and something passes between the men that I can’t read. Then Carter nods and cups my face in his hands.
“I won’t be long.” He plants a gentle kiss on my lips and leaves.
“I’m going to get changed. I’ll be back in a sec,” I tell my boss, who seems comfortable on my sofa.
Bennett nods and I can feel the heat of his gaze on me as I head into my bedroom. The memory of the card and snow globe assault me. I make quick work of changing into a pair of sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt. As soon as I’m back in the living room I allow the calm that Bennett offers to blanket me.
“Come here, honey. I don’t bite… Hard.” He chuckles playfully and I nestle in the crook of his arm.
“Isn’t this strange for you? I’m your employee,” I mumble into the spicy scent of his shirt. His arm tightens, as if he doesn’t want me far.
“No. It’s not strange. You’re under my protection, as long as you’re here, working for me. You know, Carter and I have grown to care for you,” he tells me, his arms tightening their hold. “We’d do anything to protect you.” His promise lifts the sadness and leaves a heavy fog of exhaustion that settles on my droopy eyelids and I allow sleep to come.
* * *
“Snowflake, come here.” He’s not drunk today. Maybe he won’t hurt me.
Stepping into the living room, I find him sitting at the dinner table with pages spread out in front of him. When I near him, I realize he’s got my diary pages which have been torn out of the book.
“What the fu*k is this?” He points to my words and fear grips my neck, threatening to suffocate me.
“It’s nothing. I promise.” I can tell he’s livid by the redness blotching his face. I can’t do this again. Last night was too much and now I’m terrified of what he might do. I spent the day with excruciating pain between my legs. The boy I used to like, Jeremy, said hello to me today, but I couldn’t even look at him. My fear has become unbearable and the thought of anyone touching me makes me retch.
“Nothing? You whoring yourself out to the boys at school?” The papers go flying in his fit of rage as he pushes up from the chair. It drops with a loud thud that makes me jump.
“No! I helped a classmate with homework.” Tears threaten, and as much as I don’t want him to see me cry, I can’t stop them from falling. He’s going to hurt me again. I wish I could leave, run away where nobody can find me.
“Bend over this fu*king table now.” He points to the dinner table where I usually have my meals and the thought of what he’ll do to me on there makes me sick to my stomach. Fear knots in my belly and I look into his cold gray eyes. There’s no feeling in them, no emotion. Just the sick fascination with me. “Snowflake, if you don’t fu*king do it, I’ll make you do it. Do you want me to make you do it?”
Shaking my head, I bend over the table, like he asked.
I pray that my mother will walk in. I pray, but no God can save me. There is no God because if there were, men like this wouldn’t exist. My school skirt gets lifted and my panties are ripped from my hips. The burn on my skin causes more tears to fall and I hate that I’m so weak.
If I were facing him, maybe I could claw at him, bite him, or something. A loud swat on my ass has me yelping, which is my first mistake.
“If you don’t shut up, you’ll get your filthy panties stuffed in your fu*king mouth.”
I nod as he presses my face to the table.
“So you like being a whore? Don’t you know I fu*king own your cunt? No man will ever want you because you’re broken. So I suggest you get the idea of love out of your fu*king mind.”
Another swat on my bare skin has me crying out, which is my second mistake. I watch him take the pages from my diary and crumple them up, stuffing them into my mouth.
I can’t move as his body presses me down onto the hardwood.
“You make me feel good, Snowflake. You’re not so white and pure, though, are you?”
I can feel his erection pushing into my ass.
“You’re going to learn that you’re fu*king worthless.”
The sound of his zipper echoes through the room.
I am strong. I am strong. I am strong.
Suddenly, pain I have never known before ignites and burns me from the inside out. My body feels as if it’s been ripped in half. Broken. I am broken. My screams are muffled by the pages of my diary. By the words that kept me safe. Now they’re the ones that torment me.
“That’s it. Take me. You’re so tight. I wanted this little ass for a long time.” He grunts as he ploughs into me. Driving deeper and harder and faster. My mind hides, my body aches, and my soul… that was lost a long time ago.
I know I’ll never be the same again.
“Ella…”
* * *
“Ella!”
Bolting up, I stare into Bennett’s eyes.
“What? Where am I?” Glancing around, I see the familiar bedroom. My bedroom. He must have brought me in here when I fell asleep.
“You’re in your apartment. I stayed because Carter is at the charity event.” Bennett’s expression is one of confusion. “You were screaming.” He slips onto the bed beside me.
It’s only when he reaches for me do I flinch. I know he won’t hurt me, but the nightmare is still vivid in my mind, rearing its ugly head, reminding me I’m a used little girl.
“What happened, Ella?” He’s staring at me and I know that look. There’s determination in his eyes and I know I’m going to have to try and explain.
“It’s a long—”
“Don’t give me a shit excuse, honey. I want the truth. There’s no way you’re fine after what I heard when you had that nightmare moments ago.”
I pull my legs up and wrap my arms around them. My heart thuds against my chest because this is the first time in my life that I’m about to tell someone what happened to me.
“Please, Ella, trust me.” His eyes hold nothing but sincerity. I haven’t known him for that long, but something about Bennett Ainsworth sets me at ease.
“Did Carter tell you about the box I got at dinner?”
He nods, waiting for me to continue.
“The snow globe is… it’s… was a gift.” Dropping my gaze to the sheet, I inhale deeply, needing to center my emotions. “My stepfather… I was sixteen and he bought me a snow globe.” Tears burn behind my eyelids and I have to swallow past the lump in my throat.