Axed: A Forbidden Dark Romance

She looks like she’s starting to lose it, and the way she’s shaking that gun about, I’m worried it’s going to go off.

Then, she stops, sucks in a deep breath, and shoves back the hood from her head. She stares at Eden with eyes that look dead. “Your so-called friends—you know, those people you think were so fucking good—lured me up to that cabin and made me live a nightmare that I would never wake up from! Your sick boyfriend, Wade, had asked me to go to the cabin with him. Said that you guys had broken up and that he’d always liked me and wanted to get to know me, and I fucking fell for it, hook, line, and sinker! When I got there, the others were there, waiting—Aaron, Annabeth, and Laura. And can you guess what I was there for? To be their fucking plaything!”

“No.” Eden shakes her head. “No, that can’t be right.”

“Oh, it’s right, Miss Perfect. Your friends were sick fuckers who got me to that lodge and raped me. They kept me there all night and the next day, and they all took turns, raping me over and over, defiling me, making me do things and doing things to me that no person should ever have to experience.” A tear runs down her cheek, which she rubs away with the hand not holding the gun. “And then when they were done with me, Annabeth put me in her car and drove me home. She told me to keep my mouth shut, not to ever tell anyone what happened. Said that even if I did, no one would ever believe me anyway.”

“No … I can’t … no …” Eden says. She looks at me, eyes imploring, and then back at Liddy. “I knew them. This can’t be right.”

“You knew jack shit about them,” Liddy sneers at Eden. “You only knew what they wanted you to see. The popular football players and pretty cheerleaders. Beneath the facade, they were sick and depraved, pure evil, and they got perverse pleasure from hurting people.”

I feel sick, just hearing her words. I knew they were bullies and assholes, but this … rapists …

“Why didn’t you go to the police?” My voice sounds like I haven’t used it for days.

“Did you not hear what I just said?! She told me that no one would believe me! And she was right. Who would have believed me against her and the others?”

“You could have tried.”

“You ever been raped and humiliated and threatened? No. Then, shut the fuck up! You have no idea what you’re talking about!”

“You’re right.” I hold up my hands, trying to placate her. “I have no clue. But killing them … was that the right way? They definitely should have been in jail for what they did to you, but killing them was not the way, Liddy.”

“Says the convicted murderer.”

“It’s one thing to kill a man in self-defense and another to murder four people in cold blood.” I sigh. “Maybe they deserved to die for what they did to you—”

“Not maybe. They did deserve it.”

“But we don’t get to play judge, jury, and executioner.”

She lets out a laugh. “You think I should have put my trust in the legal system? Didn’t work out so well for you, did it?”

She has a point there.

What they did to her that night messed up her mind without a doubt. There were men in prison who suffered the same kind of torture at the hands of other prisoners, and I saw how it broke them, physically and mentally. I was lucky the same thing didn’t happen to me. Maybe I would have ended up just like Liddy if it had.

So, maybe she has the right to play judge, jury, and executioner. What the hell do I know?

“The moment they stole my innocence, they handed me the right to kill them all. I was a virgin, you know, when they raped me. And I haven’t been able to be with anyone since. My one sexual experience was pure and utter fucking terror. So, I’d say, I was owed payback, and I won’t deny that I didn’t enjoy every single moment of their pain and agony and pleas with me not to kill them. ‘Don’t do this, Liddy! Please don’t kill me!’ ” She mimics a voice and laughs, going on a tangent about how she killed them.

I need to try to figure out a way to get Eden and me out of this. My cell is on the coffee table, too far for me to reach. Anything that could be a weapon isn’t handy. The only thing I can do is wait for an opportunity to present itself and tackle the gun from her hand.

I just hope and pray she doesn’t shoot us before I get the chance. Right now, I need to keep her talking but nothing that will anger her.