“No.” I glanced over at Asher, his nod of encouragement fueling me forward. “I told him Asher would be back any minute, but he still wouldn’t leave.” My fingers trailed up to my throat as I remembered the way he’d—
“Then he grabbed me around the throat.”
“Had he done this to you before?”
“Yes. But…there was something different about this time.” I tried to keep my mind focused on what had happened that night. “His eyes…there was a darkness to his eyes.”
“And how did that make you feel?”
“Scared.”
“What happened after he grabbed you around the throat?”
“He…” I felt a sob bubbling up and pushed it down as far as I could. “He spat on me.” I paused and winced as I remembered. “Then he slapped me.”
“Then what happened?”
“He wrestled me to the ground.” The sob couldn’t be contained any longer, and I let it out, needing to find some relief in the memories coming back to me piece by painful piece. “I tried to fight but he kept telling me I was his.”
Mylee passed me a tissue and I wiped at my face, needing to get control of my emotions. I wasn’t going to satisfy Knox for a moment longer, but it was hard to keep them contained. I hadn’t had to tell anyone what happened that night since I’d given a statement. “Then what happened?”
“He pulled my hair so hard it felt like my scalp was on fire.” I remembered the white-hot pain burning over my skin. “I dug my nails into his arm, trying to get him off me.” I balled the tissue up and held it between my palms. “Then he threw me to the floor and my head smacked off the edge of my coffee table.”
“And how did this affect the way you acted?”
“I couldn’t get my bearings. Everything was blurry and happening so fast. I knew I had to get out of there, so I turned around but…but I wasn’t quick enough. He slammed his shoulder into my chest and knocked my breath out of me.”
Mylee nodded. “So, there was no way out?”
“Objection,” the same deep voice said, but his tone was softer this time.
“Sustained.”
“Did you feel like there was a way out?” Mylee asked, her gaze meeting mine.
“No. He trapped me and then…then he pulled my jeans down.” A tear ran down my face as my skin crawled. I could still feel the weight of him on top of me. “I begged him to stop, but he…he liked it. He told me to keep begging him, but every time I did, he just carried on.”
“You’re almost done now, Elodie,” Mylee said, her lips pulling into the faintest of smiles. “What happened next?”
“He…pushed himself inside of me.” I took another breath, determined not to shed another tear. “I told him no again, but he didn’t listen. He carried on, and I realized…I realized nothing was going to stop him.”
“Thank you, Elodie.” Mylee placed her hand on the edge of the stand again and gave me a slight nod, then turned around. “Your witness,” she said to the other table, but still I didn’t turn to look at them. I kept my gaze forward, waiting for the man who had objected several times to come into my view.
“Elodie,” he said, his voice deceptively soft. “You knew Knox from attending the same school as him, correct?”
“Yes,” I answered, keeping my gaze firmly fixed on the lawyer. His gray hair was receding and from the way his suit fit him, it had to be designer.
“And you’d been friends with Knox for a long time?”
“Yes.”
He nodded and took a couple of steps away from me. “But you didn’t live near each other?”
My stomach dipped at his question. “We did not.”
“Where did you live, Elodie?”
I wet my lips and swallowed, trying not to let him affect me. “With my mother.”