Tough Shit (Rejects Paradise 1)

“Yeah, I got it,” I tell him. “You can trust me.”

Nic’s eyes slice across to mine and seeing the honesty shining back at him, he nods. “The four of them were all involved in some sort of rape allegations,” he starts, making me suck in a sharp breath. “The whole thing is a fucking mess and I’m amazed by how they were able to get out of it. I’m telling you, O. If this shit happened in Breakers Flats, there’d be jail time and fucking heads blown off.”

“What happened?”

“It was nearly two years ago and there was some kind of party at Carrington’s place. Colton had his boys over, you know, the same ones who have been hanging around now.”

“Charlie, Spencer, and Jude?”

“Yeah, that’s them,” he says. “There were two girls involved and from what I read of one of their statements, she and her friend were invited to party with the four boys and they willingly went. One thing lead to another and they were fucking around and having a good time. That was the last thing the girl remembered.”

A bad feeling settles into my stomach and my mind instantly takes me to Jude. The three others are good guys despite their stubborn and douchey attitudes. “What happened?”

“About a week after the party, the girl received a recording of her being fucked along with a message, blackmailing her and her family. She had no recollection of being fucked but the evidence was there. What she does remember is that there were four boys at the house, four boys partying with them, and only four boys who could have been the one filming her being raped.”

“Fuck,” I breathe.

“Yeah, naturally all four of them denied any wrongdoing and as it was a week after, there was no DNA evidence. The other girl didn’t remember a damn thing either and because of that, it was impossible to press charges.”

“How is it that nobody knows about this?” I question feeling absolutely sick for the poor girl, especially after Jude came at me the way he did over the past few weeks. I guess on the bright side, she’s lucky to not remember it, but now she’s seen the evidence and I’m sure it’s burned into her brain.

“You really think Daddy Carrington was going to allow something like this to get out? He stepped in and had all their lawyers sort out a deal. It was settled in private and all parties were paid off and told to keep quiet. They all signed confidentiality agreements and that was the end of it. One of those boys is a rapist, Ocean, and the three others know and haven’t said anything which makes them just as fucking bad.”

I can’t help but agree and as I turn to Nic, I see the anger pouring out of him in waves. “It’s Jude Carter,” I tell him, feeling it in my gut.

“How do you know that?”

“I just know,” I say, cringing with the truth that’s sat heavily on my shoulders. “That time he came into my room, you know, right at the beginning … that wasn’t an isolated incident. He’s come at me a few times since then.”

“WHAT?” Nic roars as the car swerves off the highway. I gape at him as I struggle to keep myself from rocking around in the car. “Did he fucking touch you? How long has this been going on?’

“Calm down. He hasn’t fucking touched me. He just … tried a few times, but I had your gun and I was fine, besides, I think he’s given up now. He’s more interested in making me pay and giving me pathetic death threats. I can handle it, Nic. I’ve been handling it.”

“What do you mean making you pay?”

Fuck. I knew I should have left that part out. “He belittles me every chance he gets, tries to humiliate me, and then there was the time he threw me into the pool with the promise of never letting me out. It’s just stupid shit like that. He has no game and honestly, he lacks originality. I’ve seen you do worse … so much worse.”

Nic’s knuckles whiten on the steering wheel and he goes dangerously quiet. “Say something,” I beg him, hating the unease of not knowing how he’s going to react. Usually, I can read him like a book, but right now, I’m getting nothing.

“I fucking trusted you to be honest with me.”

“It’s a two-way street, Nic. I was honest with you until you beat the shit out of Jude and made everything worse. I told you that I could handle it and you didn’t trust me.”

His hands slam down on the steering wheel and in the blink of an eye, he pulls back out onto the highway, driving faster than ever before. “This is so much more than petty high school bullshit, Ocean. This is real world shit. How can you not see that? You can’t handle it. You’re just a kid.”