Page 389 of Lessons in Cruelty

Melissa huffs out a breath, finally succeeding in brushing hair out of her face. “Mom gets them from her doctor friend.” She points at me. “Y’know, if you fight ‘em hard enough, things can get pre-tty loopy.”

Loopy, like having a sex dream about my professor, loopy?

Would explain it.

Melissa stands to go to her closet, throwing open the doors and staring inside for a long beat.

“God, I’m drunk,” she mutters, then drags out a pair of pajamas and tosses them onto the foot of her bed.

I slowly swing my legs over the side of the bed, wincing at the sharp ache between my thighs. My skin feels like it’s stretched too tight over my flesh.

“D’y’know, I almost called Man-Child tonight?” She turns back to me, fingers a quarter inch apart. “This close, Haven. This fucking close. Then I remembered he’s in hospital.”

I push myself up, legs wobbling beneath me. The room tilts dangerously. I need to pee, need to change my tampon, need to…get my head straight.

Melissa squints at me. “You okay? You look weird.”

“Fine.” The lie tastes even worse than my mouth. “Just groggy from those fucking horse tranquilizers you gave me.”

She laughs and drops her cropped Chanel jacket to the floor like it doesn’t cost a few thousand dollars.

A glass on my nightstand catches my eye.

My stomach drops through the floor.

There’s a used tampon inside.

Why the fuck would I have put that in there?

Because I didn’t.

…I’m going to eat this sweet, bloody pussy…

Bastian’s voice.

His hands pushing my legs apart.

His mouth⁠—

“Jesus,” I choke out, swallowing back bile as I aim for the door.

“Hurry back!” Melissa calls after me, oblivious to my mental breakdown.

I stumble into the hallway, lock myself in the bathroom, and slide down against the door. My fingers tremble as I pull down my underwear.

Blood. But not just period blood. This is different. Darker in places. And there’s something else—a sticky residue that makes me gag when I realize what it is.

It wasn’t a dream.

Bastian was here.

He fucked me when I was drugged out of my mind.

And I think…I think I liked it.

The bathroom walls close in. I can’t breathe. Can’t think. I just need to get out. Away from here. Away from everyone.

I splash cold water on my face, clean myself up quickly. When I return to our room, Melissa’s snoring on her bed, still wearing most of the outfit she came home in.