Fix me

Chapter 29

“Please,” I whispered. “My mom will be back any minute.”

His hand moved to my throat, choking me.” “I’ll kill him.” He said.

I didn’t. Move. A. Muscle. His words froze me, a train slamming into my body, breaking crashing, crushing. A breath escaped past my lips, silencing everything but the words rolling off my cousin’s tongue.

“I’ll kill him so that we can be together. He gets in the way. He is tearing us apart.” His free hand, that one that wasn’t wrapped around y larynx, gently brushed my bangs aside, his fingertips skimming my forehead.

“Don’t,” I managed a whisper. “Please,”

“Shut up,” he pressed closer against me, burying his face in my neck. His lips touched my skin, burning me as my knees began to shake. “I’ll ruin him,” he breathes against me.

“No.” I said, finding my voice.

“Shut up.” He said again. His mouth moved up and his hand left my throat. His lips grazed my cheek. “He won’t come between us anymore; we can be together.” He kissed me and my stomach revolted.

“No,” I said again, against his lips. This made him press into me more, his hands groping.

“Stop.” I pressed my hands against his chest and shoved as hard as I could. His mouth left mine and then he was on the floor, dazed.

For a moment, everything stopped. The world stopped turning and I stared down at my hands. Those hands of mine that pushed back. Nothing had changed about them. Skinny fingers and bitten down nails and soft skin. Nothing to prove that they had fought back.

But they had.

I looked back up, seeping Jeremy get back up. He smirked. He smirked. He didn’t take another step closer to me, but that didn’t stop my knees from knocking together.

“You think you’re different now,” he said, chuckling. It was funny to him. His laughter sent chills to run up my spine and my back curved, trying to make myself smaller. “You think you’re different because you spend time with him? You think you’re strong. You’re not.”

He paused. That smile wouldn’t leave his face. He took one step towards me, keeping his hands in his pockets. There was a ringing in my ears that wouldn’t go away. “You’re still weak. Pathetic. And you’ll always be mine.”

A feeling of emptiness settled in my gut. No, I was Hunter’s. The words would not come out past my lips. I wanted to scream it in his face. I wanted those words to shatter him, hurt him. I wanted those words to tell the truth.

My mom stepped back into the room then, drying her hands on a paper towel. “Dinner’s ready,” she announced, looking over at my cousin. “Jem, I set a place for you.”

“That’s okay, Aunt Amanda,” he said, smiling easily and shrugging on his jacket. “I actually just got a call from my dad. He needs me home. But I’ll see you next week for Thanksgiving.”

He looked over at me one more time, his eyes telling a story. “Goodbye Violet.” He left and it was like he had never been there at all.

. . .

The weekend came and went. I didn’t see Jeremy at school on Friday and he didn’t stop by my house again. I spent most of Saturday with Hunter. He took me to the local coffee shop and we sat there for hours, me talking to him about everything that wasn’t the truth about what had happened on Thursday night and him listening.

On Sunday, I took a walk to Vanessa’s house. I didn’t go in, but when I passed it, I noticed Jeremy’s car parked in the driveway and I went home after that.