AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I don’t want to be here.
“She’s an ungrateful little bitch. That’s what she is,” Dad snarls. “Paying for her to go to a good school, setting her on a good career path, and instead, you’ve dragged her down some terrible path of sin with pornographic pictures and?—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence because I will not be responsible for what happens next,” Asher snaps back. “I came here to tell you how loved your daughter is but I see now, nothing I can say will change the opinion you already have. You don’t care about her or her happiness, you just care that your mold is broken.”
“Why you little?—”
Asher slides his arm around his shoulders and when he coaxes me to move, my legs obey.
“If those pictures, or news of those pictures leaves this house I will have you charged with assault, do you hear me?”
“Us?” Mom screeches. “You’re the one sleeping with our daughter!”
“This isn’t the end of this!” Dad yells and his voice cracks slightly.
Asher removed me from the house and brought me to a nearby diner where Finn and Caspian were waiting in a booth. Coffee was ordered but I can’t bring myself to drink it. Even the warmth from the cup was too much for my hands, so instead, I sat on the edge of the seat, bouncing one leg and wringing my fingers together.
“Emma,” Finn says softly. “Are you alright?”
“Of course she’s not alright,” Caspian mutters. “No one would be alright after this.”
“You know what I mean,” Finn replies.
“I’ve never seen him like that,” Asher says, leaning back into the booth with a deep sigh. “I knew he had a temper, even back in college but he was ready to strip the paper from the walls.”
“Fucking psycho,” Finn mutters.
I know they don’t mean to talk about me like I’m not here. They’re just nervous. Concerned. Our secret is being leaked and no one knows who will find out next. My cheek throbs painfully, even as I continue to toy with the split inside with my tongue. I can’t leave it alone, and in some strange way, the sharper pain is calming.
“I don’t know who would do this,” I say eventually, staring past them to a spot of nothing beyond the windows. “I don’t know who I’ve upset enough that they would do this.”
“You said it got sent to your father’s work email, right?” Asher says. “That’s publicly available so maybe it’s not someone close to you?”
“People close to me don’t have my dad’s personal email either,” I point out. “So that doesn’t mean anything.”
“Security is still pouring over the tapes from the night those pictures were stolen.” Caspian drains his mug. “And for my studio.”
Right. Caspian’s studio.
Warmth builds behind my eyes but I have no more tears to shed. Over and over I run through people in my mind that could have done this, but I don’t know anyone this cruel. I don’t think so, anyway.
“Is there anyone you’re in a disagreement with?” Finn asks softly, his eyes on me even as I stare out the window. “Anyone with a vendetta from your past that would want to hurt you?”
“No way this is random,” Asher agrees.
“The only person who hates me…or hates what I’m doing with you three is Meghan. She…she accused me of cheating when I was seeing all of you and you didn’t know. Then when we agreed to try things out with all of us, she called me a whore. Blamed me for getting drugged at the club because she thinks I was asking for it.”
“Asking for it?” Caspian snaps suddenly. “Who the hell says something like that?”
“She’s…she’s from a conservative background,” I reply tiredly as if that explains anything. “She has a lot of views to unlearn.”
“Hardly an excuse,” Finn remarks.
“But she’s not…cruel. Not like this. At least I don’t think so. I don’t know.”
I don’t know anything. From the car break-in until now, it’s been one exhaustive thing after another, and with exams in a few days, I have no clue how I’ll keep my focus through it.
What if my parents make good on the threat and call the college? What if Finn, Caspian, and Asher all lose their jobs because of me? I’ll get kicked out of Finn’s class, maybe not even graduate.
