Tears sprang to Kendra’s eyes. She blinked them away, refusing to shed any more goddamn tears. She needed to be rid of Master Asshole once and for all. Maybe if she finally told the truth—the whole truth—she’d be able to put it behind her at last. She’d tell the story and then put it in a locked box and drop the box into the ocean.
“Yes,” she said heavily. “He hurt me. Everything was fine, at first. I had an open bottle of wine in the fridge, and I poured us both a glass. Then, I excused myself to use the bathroom. I hadn’t peed all night and I was about to explode,” she added, managing a grin.
“Public bathrooms, yuck,” Dylan said.
“Exactly. I’d come to my senses a little bit while in the bathroom, remembering my other hard and fast rule of no sex on the first date.”
“I remember that one,” Dylan said with a laugh.
“Yeah,” Kendra agreed with a rueful smile. “So, I came out of there determined to send him on his way. He was waiting for me in the living room, his glass in hand, mine on the coffee table. The wine tasted a little weird to me, and I put it down after a few sips. He kept pressing me to drink up, which should have been a major clue, in retrospect, but I was oblivious. I wanted him to go by then, so I drained the glass and got to my feet.
“That’s when it hit me—it was that fast. I felt really woozy and sick, like I was going to throw up or pass out, or both.
“He acted all concerned, and jumped up to hold my arm. ‘You don’t look so good,’ he said, Mr. Solicitous. ‘I’ll just help you to the bedroom so you can lie down.’”
“This is not sounding good,” Dylan said, his face creased with worry and concern.
“No. It’s not. And it wasn’t.”
“He had date rape pills. That’s what that flaming dick did—put something in your wine,” Dylan said indignantly, his face twisting with fury.
“Yep. That’s exactly what the son of a bitch did. The lab work at the ER verified it,” Kendra agreed, her expression dark. “By the time he got me to the bed, the ceiling was whirling and I felt like I was going to faint. And, I guess I must have because when I came to”—she broke off, the lump that had risen in her throat making it impossible to speak.
Dylan pulled her into his arms. “Kendra, if this is too painful to talk about—”
“No,” she blurted, determined to find her courage once again. “I need to tell you, Dylan. I need to say it. I need to take away the power he still has over me.” She managed a wobbly laugh. “Like Caelan says, we’re only as sick as our secrets.” She pulled herself gently from his arms and lay back on the pillows.
“Okay,” Dylan said gently. “I think you’re right. You need to tell me. And I need to listen.”
Kendra again focused on the peaceful waves, reminding herself this was all in the past, and she was fine now. Just fine.
“I don’t know how long I was out, but when I came to, I was confused and disoriented, and my head was pounding. I was lying on my stomach and I couldn’t move. My arms and legs were spread wide, my face mashed into the mattress. I managed to turn my head, and I saw him standing there, butt naked, his cock fisted in one hand, a knife in his other hand.”
“Jesus,” Dylan whispered.
“Freaking out, I tried to leap from the bed, and that’s when I realized I was tied down—held in place by rope looped around my wrists and ankles. He must have had a gear bag in his car, because he’d used leather cuffs on my wrists and ankles, and plenty of sturdy rope.”
“‘There you are,’ he said, crouching beside me with a nasty smile. ‘Good thing you came to. I was just wondering if I should get some cold water to dump on your head. I want you awake while I do this.’” Kendra shuddered at the memory.
“My god, Kendra,” Dylan whispered, his eyes filled with compassion and fury in equal measure.
Kendra forced herself to continue, now certain if she could get it out, it would no longer have such power over her. “He sat beside me on the bed and told me he was going to make my dirty little fantasies come true. I kept telling him I didn’t want it. I didn’t want him. I begged him to let me up. I pleaded and cried. I even yelled my safeword, but he just laughed. He said that no never meant no in the scene, and I was just a prick tease who led guys on and deserved whatever I got. Then he…” The words died in her throat as the memory of the sharp, stinging pain of the blade dragging across her skin made her cringe.