CHAPTER FOUR

As we turn the corner and near the apartment, we see Lucas, my sister’s fiance as of three days ago, leaning up against our door.

With messy blond hair and a lip piercing, topaz green eyes and a lopsided smile, he’s every girl’s dream and I can see how happy she is with him. He looks up and smiles when he sees us.

"Hey, sweetheart." Immediately Kel steps into his arms and he kisses her forehead.

“You don’t have your key?" she asks, smiling as she looks at him through her thick-lashed eyes.

"I do, just thought I’d wait for you. How did it go, Sophia?"

Lucas wraps an arm around my sister’s shoulder and then releases her to give me one of his well-known and loved bear hugs, lifting me off my feet easily.

I grin and laugh and wipe the moisture from my eyes before he sees it.

"It went great,” Kel says for me as Lucas takes my keys to unlock our door.

The minute I make it to the couch I set my dance bag down and plop onto the love seat, where Kel joins me.

“You were amazing," Kel says, obviously seeing my doubts after this performance. I know she’s right, but sometimes I can’t help doubting myself.

After that night, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to love myself and believe in my abilities again.

Four Months Earlier

The sound of a loud crash coming from the kitchen makes my eyes fly open in a mixture of surprise and panic.

Bryce comes home faithfully every day at six. Why would he come home at, God, two-thirty in the afternoon? My hands shake as I scramble to my feet, knowing what’s coming.

The only possible reason he'd come home early is because he's drunk. I make my way toward the bedroom door as a pit in my stomach forms; fear that I’ve come to live with stopping my body in its place.

“Where are you?" Bryce yells, making me jump when I see his cold eyes and clenched fists, ready to aim when the anger strikes him.

I lift my head and I search for any sign of emotion or humanity in his eyes, but all I see is anger. That’s all I ever see. Cold, dark eyes of anger and possibly hatred.

"I...I was sleeping, Bryce. I’m sorry." My voice shakes unintentionally.

He narrows his eyes at me, raises the empty bottle of whiskey in his hand, and throws it past my head, making me flinch and jump back from him.

"Do you know how worried I’ve been?" he asks, quiet venom in his words as he backs me into a corner and forces me to look into his reddened eyes.

His hand grips my chin and his fist clenches against it, making me whimper at the force of his hold.

"I’m sorry...I..." He doesn’t let me finish as his fist comes down hard on the side of my face and the pain spreads across my skin.

I cry out and fall back, my head hitting the hardwood floor with a hard smack. I feel the blood trickle down my face and my body trembles in fear for what’s to come.

He looks down at me with his brown eyes almost black with anger as he curses and kicks me in the stomach.

Once, twice, three times...I lose count as each blow molds into the other, searing the pain low in my abdomen as I shake with tears falling down my face.

I struggle for breath, and as he grasps my hair in his right fist, my eyes close and the darkness overwhelms me as the pain ceases and I black out.

The pain wakes me up as I find myself lying face-up in the king-sized bed in Bryce’s bedroom.

My clothes are in a messy pile on the floor as I feel my panties being slid down my legs and his mouth nipping at my neck. No, God, no! He can't be doing this. This can't happen...

"No...No...Please...stop..." I plead, having no strength to struggle against his hands trapping me against the mattress.

Bryce grins against my skin and grinds against my hips, making my body shake and tremble in fear. There was a time once when I thought I loved him.

I would do anything to please him. But now I know that was only a game to him. This is the man I've come to know.

I feel rough, merciless hands digging into my waist while his knee presses against my side.

The last of my laced underwear comes off my leg and I pull my knee up and attempt to buck him off me.

"No!!" I cry out, making contact with his stomach instead of his nether regions. I continue trying in vain to push against his hold, kicking my legs is useless.

“Oh, I love it when you fight me, princess. So feisty.”

I feel the rub of his lips against my jaw, my collarbone, my neck, and then my mouth. A whimper escapes me when he pushes his tongue in my mouth and takes.

“You. Are. Mine. Sophie.” He growls each word into the space between our mouths.

His chuckle is empty and cruel against my ears. I’m still struggling, forcing my head to the side to try to escape his weight, his voice, his cold, clammy hands gripping my thighs.

And when he takes and takes and takes, there is no one there to hear my cries of agony.The sobs break through my chest and I cry silently, willing this to be a nightmare.

My skin crawls with a dirty, horrid feeling and my eyes close, willing myself to die instead of live through this torture.

***

"Sophia, sweetheart, open your eyes," my sister’s sweet voice whispers as I force my eyes to open against the numb of pain in my body.

She's sitting next to me, kissing and squeezing my hand in hers. When I see her tear-streaked face and hear the beeps of a machine next to me, I realize where I am.

“What happened?" I choke out the words through a dry throat.

My head is pounding and I can barely open my eyes to see my sister and an unfamiliar man standing next to her.

Kel leans forward and kisses my forehead. I hear her intake of breath and wait for her to tell me what happened. Why am I here? In a hospital?

“Dad found you in your apartment this morning. You were beaten...and..." Her voice trails off, as if she's unable to finish her sentence.

I see tears build in her eyes and what's worse is when her voice breaks. "Do you remember what happened?"