AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Before he can stop me, I bolt from the room and out of the house.
I’ve made many terrible decisions in the name of freedom and adventure. My recklessness comes from not wanting to be confined to my skin. I want to see the world out there and give it the middle finger.
Risk. That’s what gets my blood pumping. Standing on the edge of a roof, the speed of a roller coaster, cliff diving, and even walking alone at night…I need them all to feel alive.
I don’t hold my life in high regard. If I had seen a therapist for more than a few sessions, we might have gotten to that part of my broken brain.
Maybe that’s why I always cling to these hookups, even when I hate myself the next day. I want the risk, along with the false affection they give me. That’s the reason I’ve been walking for the past ten minutes. I re-downloaded a hookup app and found someone to fill the void.
He said there’s a motel, just like the one I went to all last year, only a fifteen-minute walk from the house.
The motel looks just as run down as the one outside of Darien. I guess these places will always be used for fetish seekers and the ones willing to pay the price.
I walk up to the room. I read the message again, telling me there’s already a room ready for us.
“Sally.”
Chills stab at my spine. This can’t be happening. Why am I hearing him, of all people? Fear prickles my skin as his image pops in my head.
It can’t be him. He wouldn’t be here during the summer. He wouldn’t be on the app looking for someone like me.
I retrace every conversation I had with Dalton. They almost feel like distant memories, a fantasy of what could have been, of what I wanted but can never have.
“Sally,” he says again, and then I feel his hand brush my elbow.
Finally, my body reacts, pulling away from his touch and slapping his arm away.
“Aww, baby, don’t give me that look.”
I throw daggers at him. This is the first time I’ve seen him since graduation. We stayed out of each other’s way all of senior year. Why is he here?
He’s here to break me again.
“Wh—why are you here?” I ask, trying to steel my nerves against him, but the tremor in my voice betrays me.
“For you, baby.” His grin increases, and my nerves spike more than before. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while. Who would have thought you’d come all the way to my favorite vacation town.”
My heart roars in my ears, and blood pumps hot through my body.
He’s been watching me. How long has he known I’ve been here? The cove fires. Did he see me on my outings with Oliver?
Dalton inches toward me.
The fear cements my feet to the ground. He takes a step forward with a wicked grin. With some effort, my feet break from their restrictions.
But my escape is short-lived as he grabs my wrist, wrenching it back toward him.
I gasp as he pushes me into the motel room door, my head knocking back into the wood with a hard thud. Both of my wrists are restrained against the door as he presses his chest into mine.
My breaths come out short, trying to find any sort of air so I can scream.
“Let me go before I scream!” I bite out.
He lets out a bitter laugh before gripping my wrists harder. I wince from the pain.
“No one’s around. I lied about the motel. This one has been abandoned for a few years.”
“Why are you doing this to me?”
