My hand fit into his. “It doesn’t matter. I’m still coming.”

A deep breath left him and he rested his forehead against mine. “We’ll go to the police station. I don’t want you there. Those guys are going to be there. I don’t want them to see you, to know about you, nothing. I need you here, where you’re safe.”

“Oh.”

He tipped my head up with a lone finger under my chin. When his lips touched mine, the kiss was tender. I gasped and surged towards him, but he didn’t deepen it. As his lips left mine, all of me wanted to go with him. I fought to keep myself on the ground.

“I’ll call you tonight, okay?”

I nodded. I couldn’t talk anymore.

And then the door closed behind him. Everything in me went with him, except for my body.

*

They were gone all day. Analise called me at seven that night and asked if I wanted to stay at the mansion. I did. Garrett was gone, and she told me it wouldn’t be until late that Mason and the guys would be free from questioning. They had been taken to the hospital to be cleared before any interrogations could go further.

A chill went down my back at that word. Interrogations.

It was after ten before I got the first text message. I had gone to the mansion and settled in my own room. I had just crawled into bed when my phone lit up. It didn’t stop for a long time after that. The first was from Becky. ‘Did you see the clip? Holy cats!’

‘What clip?’

‘On YouTube. Mason & a baseball bat!!!!!’

My heart started pounding and I started my laptop. Becky kept texting through my wait. She couldn’t believe how scary he looked. She couldn’t wait until school. She couldn’t sleep; nightmares of Mason would keep her up. She didn’t think it’d be a nightmare. It’d be a wet dream. Lol. Mason was super hot. scary. Definitely scary, but hot too!!!

I ceased answering after her second message. Then she started on a different path.

What would Cass and the rest say? Oh my gosh. What about the rest of school and Jessica? They all hated me still. Did I know that?

My phone kept beeping, but I pushed it aside when the website came up. I searched for Mason Kade and baseball bat. Too many links came up, making me nauseous, but I clicked on the first one. My hands were so sweaty. I held my breath.

Loud yelling and curses filled my room. I jumped from the intensity. Then the camera was shaking as someone ran with it. A guy yelled in the background, he was clearer than the others. He must’ve been closer to the camera. “WATCH OUT!”

Someone screamed out in an angry growl and a loud whoosh sound happened next. The camera shifted and Mason was front and center. He had the baseball bat in his hands, winding up to swing. Hatred was dark over his face. His lips were curled in a furious scowl, and then he swung. There was no hesitation, and the camera watched as he hit the back of a guy’s head.

The camera rattled. “Holy shit!”

The guy dropped to the ground and Mason moved on. Suddenly the lens zoomed in and a close up of Mason’s hands was shown next. He tightened his grip and started to swing again.

Then there was nothing.

The image blurred to a frozen stop and the screen went black. Other images filled the screen; they were other clips that I might want to view next.

Vomit burst up, and I ran to the bathroom. One of my hands held it in until I stopped over the toilet. Then I spewed it out. It went everywhere, on the toilet seat, on the rim, on the wall, over my toilet paper. I groaned and held myself up. My stomach rumbled and my throat convulsed. I threw up three more times until I was weak and my eyes had tears in them.

After I cleaned everything up and made my way back to the computer, I slid into the seat and stared at the screen. I’d grown numb. Maybe it was the vomiting, maybe it was shock. I had no idea, but I was frozen. I sat there, staring at the screen. It might’ve been an hour, maybe a few minutes, until I heard a thumping sound. Then I looked down and saw my hand.

It wound up and slammed down on my leg. It went back up again and hit back down. Then again and again. The thumping sound was me. I was hitting my leg. My eyelid twitched and my lip trembled. A bruise was forming where I hit, but I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t want to stop it.

I gasped for breath and swung my head around. I blinked back more tears and tried to force myself back to reality. I was held suspended somewhere else. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t stop my hand. My heart was racing. I gasped again. Pain seared through me. It felt like something was on my chest.

I wondered if I needed to throw up again.

Everything was detached from me. It was me. I was detached.

And then I heard a small sound in the background. It sounded so far away, but my head swung down. My phone was lighting up again, inches from where I sat. I saw it was from Adam and tried to grab it. My hands were clumsy. They dropped the phone twice before I fumbled it to my ear and grated out, “Yeah?”

“….you okay…”

“What did you say?”

I couldn’t hear over my heartbeat.

“…Sam?...”

“What?”

His voice grew clearer this time. “Are you okay? Do you want me to come over?”

“Adam?”

“Yes.” He seemed to be yelling. “Are you okay? Where are you?”

“At the house.” I looked towards my door. Was he there? How had he gotten in?

“No one’s there. It’s all dark. What house are you at?”