"We had been dating for about a month when we went to my homecoming dance. I was crowned queen." Sera snorted as she recalled how happy she’d been that night, how childish, and naive. "It had been the greatest night of my life. After the dance, we went to a party at my friend Lisa's house. I never wanted the night to end, but I had a two o'clock curfew, so Jacob drove me home."
She closed her eyes as she tried desperately not to shed the tears pooling in them. She nestled closer to him, needing to know he was there, that Jacob was the past, and she would never have to see him again. That he couldn't hurt her anymore. Liam's hands massaged the back of her scalp as he hugged her closer to him.
"He was drunk, but I didn't care, nothing bad could happen to either of us," she continued in a strangled voice. "He pulled onto a side road and drove to a place we had gone to a few times before. It was private there; no one bothered us.
"He started to kiss me, and at first it was okay, you know. But then... I don't know; I don't know anything anymore." She blinked rapidly as she lost the battle against her tears and one slid free. "I can't believe I'm telling you this," she mumbled. "I haven't even told Kathleen. She'd be so mad at me if she found out I told you, and not her."
He clasped hold of her chin and lifted her head. She looked up at his handsome face as he tenderly stared down at her. "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to," he assured her as he wiped the tear from her face. The tender gesture nearly undid her. She blinked rapidly against the flood of tears filling her eyes.
"I know, maybe that's why I can tell you. Or maybe it's because, for some reason, I don't know why, but I feel I can trust you." Although, she often put her trust in the wrong people. First Jacob, then her parents, and most recently Michelle.
"You can trust me, Sera," he vowed.
"I want to." His hand stilled on her cheek as something flashed through his eyes, something filled with longing and wistfulness. Sera's breath caught in her throat, and she knew she could tell him anything, trust him with anything.
She raised her hand and took hold of his. She couldn't tell him the rest if she kept looking at him. She would get lost in him and forget everything else. For a moment she wished for that, but she knew if he was ever going to understand her, then this was something he needed to know. She lowered her head and buried herself within the warm security of his powerful arms.
"Like I was saying, I don't know what happened, but everything seemed to go from blissful to frightening in an instant. I tried not to be scared, but I was. I had planned on losing my virginity to him that night, but suddenly I wasn't so sure I wanted to anymore. I told him to stop, if only just to give me a few minutes to calm down and relax."
Sera's voice became tenser as she continued. Memories washed over her, threatening to suffocate her with their intensity. She could suddenly feel Jacob's hands on her again, smell his stinking, alcohol-drenched breath; taste blood in her mouth.
"No matter what anyone says, I told him to stop. But, he wouldn't. He just kept saying this was supposed to happen, this was our night, and I had said I would. He ripped my dress, tore the front out of it. I started to cry, and he told me to shut up, to stop being a selfish bitch. I tried to make him stop, I screamed, God did I scream, and I beat him until my hands were bruised and numb."
Sera's words tumbled out in a heedless rush revealing her intense grief. A fiery rage began to course through his veins as he thought of the man who attacked her, a man she had trusted. If Jacob had been standing in front of him, he would have killed him. He took a deep breath as he tried to fight against the animal thirst for revenge building inside him.
She took a hitching breath. "Then, he hit me," she continued, her voice small and extremely fragile. The sound of it tore at his heart, ripped into his soul. His arms squeezed around her in an attempt to block out the anguish of her past. It was impossible.
"That hurt so much," she whispered. "I nearly blacked out, but I knew if I did, he would do whatever he wanted to me. I somehow managed to claw his face as he continued to fumble and paw at me. He bellowed and smashed a fist into the side of my face. Blood spurted everywhere. It soaked him, and my dress, as it poured from my nose."
She forced herself to stay focused on the present and to get it all out. "I think it was all the blood that made him come to his senses. It coated everything. He started screaming at me to get out of the car, that I was getting blood everywhere and making a mess. He didn't have to tell me twice. I got out of there as fast as I could. I walked home through the woods, clutching my dress together, and leaving a trail of blood behind me.
"When I got there, I couldn't talk to tell my parents what had happened. My jaw was swollen shut, and I was in complete shock. They rushed me to the
