Lies in Blood (74 page)

“
Is that not the reason?” I asked innocently.

Her and Jase winced.

“
It’s a long story, Ara, and I guess the event doesn’t really have a point of origin. It kind of all led to them having sex, but—”

“
The event? I’m lost,” I said.

“
Em had been given a hard time at school by a few of the jocks,” Jase explained. “There was this club…”

“
We had no choice but to be in it,” Emily cried. “If you wanted to be a cheerleader, you had to run with the jocks.”

I nodded in understanding.

“
They were about sixteen at the time,” Jase continued. “And a couple of girls started bragging about losing their virginity.”

“
And, naturally, the boys wanted in.” Em half smiled, rolling her eyes.

“
They came up with this lottery where they’d put girls’ names in a hat and draw them out.”

“
And, what, you’d sleep with that guy?” I asked.

Emily nodded. “Everyone did it. We . . . if any of the girls were against it, they never said anything.”

“
Why?”

“
Because you’d be labelled a frigid outcast.”

My brows went high and I exhaled loudly. I remembered too well the lows you’d stoop to to fit in at school.

“
One day, just after I first met David, my name was drawn,” Emily said.

“
To be with David?” I asked, nodding to myself.

“
No,” she said. “Brody, that big guy that always threw food.”

My lip turned. “Gross.”

She nodded, laughing once. “I went to the locker room at lunch, but Brody wasn’t there yet. So, I waited. And I was so scared I just wanted to leave.”

I pictured her there in the boys’ locker room, tugging her mini cheerleading skirt down her legs, shuffling her feet, checking the clock then the door. “Did he chicken out?”

“
He brought friends,” Jason said.

I stiffened.

“
They just wanted to watch—film it, you know?” Emily said, barely able to control her obvious upset. “I tried to back out, so they. . .”

“
They pinned her down.”

I covered my mouth. “Was David one of those guys?”

She shook her head. “He was in the club, but he never drew from the hat.”

And I strangely felt relief.

“
Anyway,” she said. “I screamed and tried to fight them off. But they were too strong for me. Then, next thing I know, Brody hits the locker and
your
dad’s there pinning him against it.”

“
My
dad?”

She nodded. “The boys scattered, and Mr Thompson wrapped me up in his jacket and took me to the office—called my mom.”

“
Those boys got a two-week suspension,” Jase said, his eyes narrowing with fury. “And that was it. They weren’t even forced to make an apology.”

“
Why?”

“
They told the principal they were just kidding—an April Fool’s joke.”

“
And she
believed
them?” I asked.

Emily nodded. “Just “boys being boys” was what they said. But—”

“
But?”

“
They looked at me like I was
nothing
,” Emily said. “I think they thought that, because my name had been drawn, I wanted it or something, you know?”

I could only drop my head against my fingertips, shocked but also not surprised.

“
And that’s how David and I became friends.”

My forehead crinkled. “How?”

“
He ran up to me the next day at school and said that what happened wasn’t fair. He said he’d make sure those guys never touched me again.”

“
What did he do to them?”

Emily shrugged. “But they never touched me again.”

Jase’s eyes shrunk with a knowing smile.

“
After that, we started hanging out more, you know. He and I, we . . . well, we just kind of got along really well.”

“
You mean because you ignored all his dark ways?” I said.

“
Yeah, kinda.” Her gaze went distant. “But, word had gotten out that I was frigid, and people started picking on me. Those jocks were the least of my problems then, and I was even kicked out of the cheerleading squad.”

“
So, lemme get this straight.” I held my hand up. “You nearly get raped by a bunch of boys, and
you
end up the outcast?”

“
Yup,” she said. “Until the night of Summer’s birthday party.”

“
What happened then?”

“
I walked into her house, and everyone just stared at me. But . . . I
always
went to Summer’s party. I just never even imagined I’d be
un
invited, you know? She was my best friend at the time.”

I nodded, taking her hand again.

“
One of the guys told me to get out, and David comes running up, grabs my hand and says, ‘She’s with me’. And that was it. That was the last time anyone ever picked on me. On Monday, at school, Summer came up and said I was back on the team.”

“
So, they thought you were going out with him?”

“
No. They knew he didn’t date anyone. But they knew he was ‘okay’ with me. So they kind of had to be too, but I knew they were all faking it.”

“
And that’s why you were so quick to jump on all the new kids.” I nodded to myself, thinking back to our first day. “Because you didn’t have any real friends left?”

“
Yeah, and . . . it kind of made me latch on to David in a lot of ways, too, since he was the only one who was genuinely nice to me. Well—” She brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. “Sometimes.”

“
And that’s how you ended up having sex?”

“
No.” She looked at Jason and they both smiled. “David could be really horrible when he wanted. I mean, he was nice in the David-sort-of-way, but he’d make me feel stupid and worthless and, for some reason, that only made me want him more.”

I cringed along with her, knowing too well how easy it was to fall into that.

“
Bad thing was, I didn’t care what he did to hurt my feelings because, on the days he was nice, it far outweighed all the horrid things he said.”

“
She was traumatised by what those jocks nearly did to her, Ara,” Jason said. “She had no one to talk to that even believed her, aside from David.”

“
Even my own mother didn’t believe me,” Emily said.

“
The only other person who did was your dad, Ara.”

I saw my dad’s face in my mind—saw the way Emily used to look at him, and it all made sense.

“
Things weren’t good for me at home,” she continued. “I tried to go hang out with David as much as possible, but he likes his space, you know.”

I nodded.

“
And he had rules,” she said, her thoughts making her eyes distant. “I broke one of those rules, and that’s what started everything.”

“
What rule?”

“
I wasn't allowed to tell anyone I was at his house.”

“
Why?”

“
Just in case he killed her,” Jason said.

“
Oh.”

Emily shivered a little, her hand tightening on mine. “Anyway, one afternoon my mom got in my face about a few things, and I stormed out. She asked where I was going and, without thinking, told her I was going over to David’s. But, when I got there, he was in one of his moods, as usual. And when he found out that I’d told my mom where I was, he was so mad that I actually got scared. So, I left and told him I never wanted to see him again. He demanded I come back, but I didn’t. Later, he showed up at my house.”

“
Long story short,” Jason said, “Emily was his little lamb—the wide-eyed innocent creature that would follow him anywhere. For her to stand up to him like that—” Jase shook his head, exhaling. “He needed the upper hand again. He needed control of her.”

Emily shrunk a little more. “He was my first, Ara. And I really—” She closed her eyes for a second, her lips turning down so deeply her chin crinkled. “
Really
wish I could take it all back.”

“
Does he?”

“
Does he what?”

“
Does
he
regret it?”

“
Why do you think he never wanted you to know?” Jason said.

“
Was . . . did he ever plan to turn her?” I asked. “Knowing she’d die after being bound to him.”

Jason shook his head. “He’s done this to so many girls, Ara. I’ve lost count.”

“
What?”

“
Every time he took his biannual leave, a trail of girls were left in his wake—usually committing suicide within about two months of him leaving.”

“
And you were gonna be his next tragic summer romance,” Emily said. “Lucky for you, he fell in love with you instead.”

All the pictures of my past flitted to mind, so bright with the yellow light of the sun that every breath of summer filled me with nothing but joy, suddenly dying under the rolling cloud of revelation. But I wasn’t that surprised, not after everything I’d learned about him since the day we met. I’d seen the signs. I knew what kind of man he was. I also knew he was remorseful. Yet it hurt so deeply that he didn’t tell me any of this. And I just wanted to smack him. “Why would he lie to me? I asked him directly if he’d been with you. Why didn't he just tell me the truth?”

“
To be honest, Ara,” Jason said, “he regrets it all so deeply he can’t even say the words.”

“
The moment he fell for you, all that human compassion he’d pushed aside came rushing to the surface,” Emily said. “And he was dead ashamed of himself. He still is.”

David’s own words rang through me then, healing a small chunk of my heart, but not enough for me to forget the lies:
Love me for who I am now, not what I was then.
“Why is he so ashamed? Just for sleeping with you?” I kind of laughed. “You’re not that hideous, Emily.”

She laughed too, but the smile fell away quickly and she just sat there toying with the hem of her dress. “It was more because of . . .
how
it happened.”

My eyes flicked unconsciously onto Jason, who bit his lip. “Jase?
How
did it happen?”

“
He—”

“
It’s something you need to ask
him
,” Emily cut in.

“
Em, you know he’ll never tell me.”

“
Then you’ll never know,” she said, holding my gaze.

Jason’s green eyes stood out in my peripheral, slightly warmed with a hint of a smile he could never erase, but cold with the concern he had for me right then. I held Em’s gaze as long as I could, but she wasn’t backing down. Whatever David did to her, she was protecting him, and I wanted to know why.

“
Fine?” I said, standing up. “Don’t tell me. I’ll ask him.”

“
Ara?” Jason called.

“
Don’t.” I heard Emily say. “Just let her go.”

“
But she shouldn’t be near him, he might—”

I stopped listening. I just didn’t care what David might do. My limbs were driven by a force much stronger than fear or curiosity; they were driven by undiluted anger—years worth of lies and betrayal all rolling into one giant ball of fury.