I woke wrapped in the softest sheets and the strongest embrace I had ever felt. I snuggled back into Bastian’s warmth. His breathing was deep and he was snoring lightly. I thought back over the previous evenings events and smiled. He was right, I was a little sore, but I didn’t regret even one second of the entire night.

I almost couldn’t believe it was real. And I now understood why so many people enjoyed sex. The initial pain had faded away and the pleasure that followed had been so intense. I’m sure it helped that I trusted Bastian and had been able to relax and enjoy the ride, so to speak. Never before had I even come close to wanting to go that far with another human being. But with Baz it was like, I don’t know, natural.

Right. It felt right. He’s helping you out. Don’t read into this. Dr. Williams words about women getting attached flashed through my mind, but I shrugged them off. I wasn’t going to allow my emotions to play a part in the next three weeks. Well, no emotions aside from that spark.

My bladder was suddenly screaming at me, so I inched my way slowly out of the bed. Baz’s arm softly fell to the mattress as I departed and made my way to his bathroom. I closed the door and quickly made my way to the toilet. It burned slightly when I peed and I winced. I wiped gently, then flushed.

I looked at my reflection as I washed my hands. My hair was a sight to behold, all fluffy and mussed. I took inventory of the rest of my body. I looked pretty much the same, but I felt completely different. I smiled at the mirror and grabbed Baz’s toothpaste from the counter. I applied some to my fingertip and used it as a makeshift toothbrush. I opened some drawers until I found his aspirin and poured a few more into my hand.

He was exactly as I had left him, curled on his side, sleeping peacefully. I grabbed my water bottle from the night before to down my aspirin and noticed my clothes strewn around the room. I blushed as I spotted what used to be my underwear, then I giggled. He had surprised me last night. He was sexy, and strong and powerful, but he was also sweet and caring and gentle.

He was incredible.

He literally made sure I was his main priority. I felt, cherished.

It was just sex.

I knew that. Sex that I had thoroughly enjoyed. Sex that I planned to enjoy for the next few weeks.

“What’re you standing over there smiling about?” His voice was deep and gravelly from sleep. I turned quickly and smiled like a crazy person.

“I was just thinking about last night, and how I can’t wait for a repeat performance,” I answered semi-honestly. He didn’t need to know anything about my possible feelings.

He pulled back the sheets and patted the bed for me to climb back inside with him. “How do you feel?”

“A little tender. You were right to give me the aspirin last night. I just took a few more.” I set the water bottle down and sighed as I crawled into his arms.

“We’ll give you some time to recover.” He kissed the top of my head. “What time is it?”

“Early, I only woke up because I had to pee.” I yawned loudly, revealing just how tired I still was.

I saw him check his phone. “What do you have planned for the day?” He murmured into my hair.

“For once, nothing. I didn’t know what this weekend was going to hold, so I cleared my calendar. You?” I traced his bicep as we talked.

“You. You’re all I’ve got this weekend too. I’d like to show you something later on today, if you don’t mind.” His voice was drifting off again.

“Ok,” I whispered back. I felt sleep tugging on me and gave into the lull.

* * *

C’mon, Gemma. Don’t be such a prude. We’ve been together for over two years.” Steve’s alcohol laced breath fanned across my face as his grip tightened on my waist.

“I don’t want our first time to be like this. Drunk. In someone’s bathroom. I want it to be special.”

We were at an after-prom party being held at a fellow classmate’s house. Her parents were out of town and there was a loud party raging outside of the bathroom door.

He started kissing my neck. It felt good, so I didn’t stop him. “We’re not drunk, baby. We’re just buzzed. Touch me,” he demanded, as he shoved my hand down his pants.

I had given him lots of hand jobs in the past, so it wasn’t a big deal to me. I figured once he came we’d go back to the party. I stroked his dick and his hand slipped under my top, groping roughly.

“Ow! Easy, Steve. That’s too rough, it hurts,” I whispered loudly.

He abruptly let go, instead reaching around to unhook my bra and shove it out of his way. Once it was moved, he continued his rough groping. Pain shot through my nipple.

“That hurts, Steve. Stop!” My voice was slightly higher in pitch as I tried to push his hands away. He was always an asshole when he drank. I pulled my hand out of his pants and shoved hard against his chest.

He pulled me back in and kept kissing my neck. “Don’t act like you don’t like it. You sit here and moan in my arms and then say it’s too rough. I know what to do to make you happy.”

He’d never once made me happy in that respect. I had never had an orgasm at his hands in the entire time we had dated. His fingers had moved lower and were tugging on the waistband of my shorts, trying to shove them off. “It’s time, Gemma. It’s our prom night. I always knew we’d do it on prom night.”

He wasn’t listening to me at all. “Steve, I don’t want this. Not like this. We’re in someone’s bathroom, for God sake. There’s a party right outside the door.”

I tried to move past him, but he grabbed me from behind and pulled me hard against his body. I could feel him fumbling with his pants.

“I said, it’s time,” he spoke the words through clenched teeth.

Suddenly, he was shoving my shorts down my legs and it dawned on me that he didn’t care what I wanted. Pure fear streaked through me. I could feel his hard dick between my thighs as he shoved me forward against the vanity.

“You’re gonna love it. You’ll be screaming my name. Stop moving,” he sneered as I tried to shove off the vanity. “I said, hold the fuck still.” He had one hand on the back of my neck and his other forearm across my lower back, holding me in place, while he tried to kick my legs apart. As the star quarterback he was strong, much stronger than I was.

“No! Please let me go. Stop, please stop.” I shrieked, bucking against him.

He released my back and his fingers were against my entrance. Tears filled my eyes as I continued to plead with him to stop. I was only slightly turned on from earlier and I started crying as he roughly shoved a finger in me. He pulled it back out and spat on it.

“This pussy should be wet for me, damnit. What the fuck, Gemma?” The hold on my neck tightened and I could feel blackness starting to close in on me as my oxygen supply started being cut off.

“Please don’t do this, Steve. This isn’t you, it’s the alcohol talking. I love you. I want our first time to be memorable and special. We said we’d wait until the time was right.” Tears were streaming down my face as I was gasping to get in air. Why was he doing this?

“Love? Fuck love. I’ve waited a long time for this and you’re going to give it to me. Two fucking years. Two years I’ve settled for crappy hand jobs and you letting me to finger you every so often. I’m not waiting any longer, this ends tonight.” His words were clear and concise, there was no longer any sign of drunkenness being at the helm.

“No! Not like this, please! I don’t want this.” I was screaming and I didn’t care if someone heard me. I was praying they did. This was a side of Steve I’d never seen in the entire time we’d been together. He’d been an asshole before, but never like this.

Fight or flight was a real thing. Adrenaline pulsed through me as I stomped down on his foot and quickly lifted my foot again and kicked at his shin. He howled and released me. I sucked in some much-needed air and grabbed at my shorts, yanking them back up and over my ass. I tried to move past him but his hands latched onto me again. He spun me around and shoved my back up against the wall, bringing his face so close to my own that when he spoke, spit flew from his mouth onto my face.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” He barked. I could swear the devil himself was glaring back at me through Steve’s eyes. They were blazing with anger.

“Please let me go. Please. You’re drunk.” I couldn’t stop the tears as I pleaded with him some more. Just then a loud knock sounded at the door and he shoved a finger to my mouth in a motion to shush me.

“It’s occupied,” he yelled in response.

“Are you almost done? We’ve got a line out here.” Bastian. I’d recognize his voice anywhere.

“Bastian, help!” I screamed against Steve’s finger.

“Gemma?” The concern in his voice was evident, even over all the noise. Steve looked at me like I had lost my mind.

“Hel-” Steve’s hand slammed down over my mouth to stifle my scream as he glared.

“Gem, is that you?” The doorknob rattled for a few seconds, then stopped. I sagged against the wall as I felt hope leave me, the tears continued to flow. Steve smiled an ugly, evil smile of victory thinking he had won.

“Now, where were we? Oh yeah, we were about to get it on. Stop acting like you don’t want it.” He moved his hand from my mouth to try to get my shorts back down. I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could say a word his lips clamped over mine and he shoved his tongue inside.

I pushed hard with my hands against his chest, but he wouldn’t budge. Self-preservation kicked in. I changed direction with my actions and pretended to be into it. I stopped struggling and moved my hands to into his hair, pulling him closer and moaning. As soon as his grip relaxed slightly, I sucked his bottom lip into my mouth, then quickly bit down on it as hard as I could.

“Fuck!” He screeched out, a hand flew to his mouth as he pulled back and I quickly kneed him in the groin just as the door came crashing open.

“Motherfucker!” Bastian bellowed as he took in the sight before him.

Me, a tear streaked mess, and Steve half bent over cupping both his junk and his mouth. Bastian didn’t give him a chance to offer an explanation and nailed him with an upper cut, knocking him on his ass. He jumped on top of him and pinned him down. “You stupid motherfucker. What the fuck did you do? What did you do to her? Answer me!” He gave Steve a second to respond.

“She wanted it, dude.” Steve grunted up from under Bastian’s weight, a stunned look on his face.

“It sure doesn’t look like she wanted it. Look at her, you drunk asshole!” Now that the door was opened, I just wanted out of the bathroom.

He yanked Steve to his feet and forced him to look at me. “Apologize,” he hissed in Steve’s ear. There was a crowd watching from the doorway.

“Fuck that, she wanted it.” He tried to muscle his way out of Bastian’s grip, but as a wrestler Bastian had the advantage.

He squeezed tighter around Steve’s neck in what I knew was a sleeper hold. “Apologize, fucker.” He loosened his grip just enough to allow Steve to speak.

“I’m glad I didn’t wait all this time for love,” he whispered sarcastically. “And for the record, Trisha’s been more than happy to fuck me.”

I felt betrayal hit me like a knife in the back. She was a fellow cheerleader and, now, an ex-friend. That slutbag was fucking my boyfriend.

“I said, apologize. Now!” Bastian snarled louder and squeezed harder.

“Fine, I’m sorry,” the words held no sincerity whatsoever, but I didn’t care.

“Fuck off, Steve. Or rather take your pinky dick and go fuck Trisha some more.” I leaned forward and literally spit in his face. “You disgust me.”

I looked to my savior.

“Bastian, will you please take me home?” I calmly reached up and wiped the tears from my face. That asshole didn’t deserve any of my tears.

“Of course.” He leaned forward and whispered something in Steve’s ear right before his body went limp. He fell to the floor with his pants around his ankles, on full display for anyone who cared to look, but believe me there wasn’t much to look at.

Bastian asked a buddy to make sure his prom date got home safe. Then, as we walked out of the party, he pulled me to him, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

“Are you ok?” His arms offered the shelter of protection and relief finally flooded through me.

“I will be.” I mumbled still in shock. He opened my door for me when we got to his car and I climbed in.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I heard his voice from far away as I stared blankly out the window. “Gemma?”

When I didn’t answer, he let it go and we drove in silence. He took me to his house, or rather his father’s estate. It was completely dark when he parked the car and led me into the house. We went to the theater room, where he selected “Step Brothers” for us to watch, knowing it was one of my favorites.

I appreciated the distraction. I watched numbly and laughed on cue. When the credits started rolling the realization of what happened and what had almost happened earlier finally sank in. My tears could no longer be contained and they poured down my face.

Baz held my hand and listened as I poured my heart out to him. Every, single, hideous detail.

“Fuck him. He’s an asshole, Gem. He didn’t deserve you. He’s never been good enough for you. You deserve so much better. You need to be done with him.”

“I’m done. There’s nothing he could say that could change the way I feel about him now. I’m such an idiot. I thought we were in love. That’s probably part of what hurts the most. I thought he actually cared about me. And here he’s been fucking Trisha behind my back. God, she’s such a whore. Pretending to be my friend while she was sleeping with my boyfriend. Wait til I see her.” I shook my head in utter disbelief.

“You don’t know that for sure. Maybe he was just trying to get a rise out of you.” He looked at me sympathetically.

I shook my head again. “No, hindsight is always 20/20. I remember seeing them together on multiple occasions and now, well, it all makes sense. I was so naive.” I closed my eyes and dropped my head back against the plush velvet of the chair. The tears continued to fall and Baz wiped them away.

“You’re not stupid, Gem. You had every right to believe him when he said he loved you. He’s the idiot. He’s the one that fucked up a good thing. Although, if I’m being honest, I never really cared for him.” He shrugged when I looked at him in shock.

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” I grumbled.

“Well, one, you never really asked and I didn’t want to give unsolicited advice. Two, you seemed happy and that was all that mattered to me. You’re my best friend.”

I dropped my head to his shoulder.

“Thanks for saving me tonight. I was really scared. I thought you had left. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t back come when you did.”

I gulped for air as the fear from earlier gripped me again. I descended from the chair to the floor and wrapped my arms around my knees, rocking myself as I cried uncontrollably. Baz followed me down, wrapping his arms around me.

“You’re safe, Gem. I’ve got you. I’ll always protect you. Any way I can. Want me to kick his ass again?” He held me while I cried it out, gently rocking with me.

“Maybe,” I blubbered. When, finally, I had no tears left, I pulled back and wiped my face. “I have a question for you.”

“What’s that?” Baz looked at me with pure concern.

“What did you whisper to Steve?” I bit my lip as I gave him a quizzical look.

He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair before he answered. “You really wanna know?”

“Absolutely.” I responded, now even more curious.

“I told him to remember that I had enough money to make him disappear without a trace. And that if he came near you again, I’d make sure he had to endure things that would let him know exactly what it felt like to be forced into unwanted sex.” His smile got even broader, “Then I told him to say goodnight because his ass was going to sleep.”