Chapter 6
Chapter 6
When the bottle pointed at Claire again, she laughed helplessly.
“I’ll take dare.”
“Kiss someone here for three minutes-” her friend dragged out the words teasingly, then held up a piece of paper. “But with
this between you.”
“Seb, help me out.” Claire’s face turned red as she tugged on his sleeve.
“It’s just a game. Miss Brooks won’t mind, right?”
Claire looked at Mia. “Right?”
Mia nodded indifferently. “Do whatever.”
But Sebastian’s eyes went dark.
Like he was making some kind of point, he yanked Claire over and kissed her.
Their fingers intertwined as they kissed passionately.
The paper fluttered to the floor, but it felt like it punched a hole straight through Mia’s heart.
She quietly slipped out to the balcony for air, but Claire’s friends surrounded her with drinks in their hands.
“Mia, you know you don’t belong here, right? You reek of fish, wearing knockoffs, thinking you’re hot shit. You’re not even worth Claire’s pinky finger. What makes you think you deserve Sebastian?”
“I heard you paid for his college? Where’d that money really come from? Selling fish or selling yourself?”
“Here, forty-proof brandy. Bet you’ve never had the good stuff. Drink up!”
Mia kept backing up until she was cornered.
They sneered as they forced the glass to her lips.
Someone held her down roughly, pouring burning alcohol down her throat.
Her stomach felt like it was being ripped apart.
Mia collapsed on the ground, and a hand holding a fruit knife traced across her back.
“Fish girl, right?”
The ringleader smiled mockingly, carving those words into her back with the knife tip.
“Homewrecker. How pathetic.”
The smell of blood filled the air.
Mia was crying from the pain, her shaking fingers fumbling for her phone to call 911.
Chapter 6
Through her tears, she saw Sebastian holding Claire, kissing her deeper and deeper, like he wanted to meld her into his bones.
Mia’s throat went dry. She couldn’t even scream from the pain.
She remembered when she was eighteen, working part-time serving drinks when a customer forced alcohol on her and started groping her.
Sebastian had grabbed a bottle and smashed the guy’s head open.
But now she was lying here barely breathing, and all he could see was Claire.
When the kiss ended, Claire shyly buried herself in Sebastian’s arms.
“Hiss-”
The sharp blade cut down again, and blood pooled beneath Mia.
Humiliation and agony twisted together until even breathing hurt.
Right before she blacked out completely, she thought she saw panic in Sebastian’s eyes.
The stomach pump tube was slowly shoved down Mia’s throat as stomach acid and medication churned in her belly.
Her whole body shook.
Every rinse felt like being sliced apart by thousands of knives.
When she woke up again, it was the middle of the night.
The moment she stirred, Sebastian-who’d been sleeping with his head on her bedside-immediately woke up.
Dark circles shadowed his eyes as he gripped her hand with a slight tremor.
“I’m sorry. I never thought they’d go that far.”
Mia looked at his reddened eyes, but all she could think about was how his lips had looked when he was kissing Claire.
He didn’t need to apologize.
They weren’t anything to each other anyway.
She slowly closed her eyes, too weak to speak.
All she could do was lift her hand toward the door, telling him to leave.
“Mia…” Sebastian was quiet for a long time before pulling out a document.
“This is a settlement agreement for Claire’s friends. You need to sign it.”
Mia stared for a few seconds, her voice hoarse. “Settlement?”
“You shouldn’t have called the cops.”
Sebastian’s Adam’s apple bobbed as something dark flickered in his eyes.
Chapter 6
“They’ve learned their lesson, and they’re friends of mine and Claire’s. Just forgive them.”
Mia’s eyes filled with tears, but she bit her lip, refusing to let a single drop fall.
“You’ll do this for Claire, but what about me?”
Her voice shook uncontrollably.
“Did I just deserve everything that happened to me?”
Sebastian took a deep breath.
“Mia, Claire personally asked me to handle this. Don’t make this harder than it has to be, okay?”
