tw: sexual assault, violence, drugs, graphic content, blood.

please don't pressure yourself into reading this if you aren't comfortable.
I'll be able to give you a light chapter summary at the end of this chapter if necessary.

SERIOUSLY, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

Amber Easton

3 years ago...

Frat parties.

I've never understood the point of them, as it just contains a crowd of students trying to get the "full college experience" while drinking their asses off or getting high on edibles.

To be fair, I've actually never been to any frat parties, so I guess I shouldn't have an opinion on those occasions.

Even though I've never experienced a frat college party, this definitely feels like one.

There's a swarm of people surrounding a bonfire, a bunch of couples sitting on logs and making out or drinking and nodding their heads to the beat of the music that seems to be last decade's top hits.

Fairly, none of the people here have ever attended a college or university, so this gathering really can't be considered frat. But on the bright side, everyone knows how to have fun, mainly because most of them are famous.

Looking to the left, I spot Olivia — I've met her a few times at some movie conventions, and it seems like she's getting more and more recognition for the roles she's had. I hope she isn't a cold-hearted celebrity because I'd really like to get to know her more.

Looking closer at the couples having a great time around the fire, it makes me feel appreciative that I also have somebody to enjoy this party with — Reece.

He's been my boyfriend for over a year now, and I've attended every single baseball game of his. It feels so nice to be by Reece's side, and watch him get on top of his league.

I must admit, it's been a little strange to watch his fame grow more and more over time, but I've found myself thickening my skin to the people around us having their own opinions. I respect Reece's job, so I'm more than willing to take pictures of him and his fans if necessary.

In this frat chaos, Reece sits by my side on the log. There's a black pocket knife in his hand, and he's digging the blade into the wooden chunk, sending small chips flying everywhere in order to carve both our initials inside.

R + A

"It's pretty." I praise him, resting my head on his shoulder. He likes it if I do that when people are watching. "You should put a heart around the letters."

Just like in movies.

"Nah... Too much work." He takes a chug of his beer, finishes the last touches of his art piece, and wipes the blade against his jeans to clean off the wooden specks. My smile slightly wavers as he closes the device, and hides it away in the pocket of his bomber jacket.

He clears his throat, and scans over my whole body, creating a crease between his eyebrows like it's the first time he's actually acknowledged my outfit.

He scans around the area to conclude that everybody is too engaged in their own shit to eavesdrop. "What are you wearing?"

"A dress?" I confusedly answer, looking down at the tight red dress hugging my body in all the right places, and curving it just the way I like it.

"I don't like it." He keeps his voice hushed, placing his finger under the spaghetti strap, and raising it a bit, before making it snap into place. His eyes trace over the curls I've left hanging past my shoulders. "Also your hair. Why don't you straighten it more often?"

"I don't care if you dislike it. I just enjoy it this way more." I calmly respond, watching as more people start swarming the area.

"You know I'd much rather see you without the dress, anyway." He pulls me closer to him, throwing me a cocky smirk. When he rolls his eyes in response, I just sigh. I want to tell him how his opinion doesn't won't change the way I dress, but my words are interrupted by another person coming into view — Brandon.

He's Reece's best friend and is also involved in the movie industry. I've never had a one-on-one talk with him, but I read somewhere he's on the list of the "Top 10 famous actors of the year".

"Marshmallows incoming!" Brandon hands us a wooden stick with a perfectly-cooked white treat. He continues giving out a handful of sticks to the people around the circle of the bonfire, making everybody snack on the treat.

Reece lets me bite down the sugary marshmallow, but about half of the white substance doesn't end up on my tongue, dripping onto my chin instead.

Now that a lot of people are watching us, Reece smiles, bringing his thumb up to the spill, and wipes it off in a caring way, but he adds a bit more pressure than necessary. "Ooh, aren't you a little clutz?"

His wording throws me off a little, but I keep my composure straight, washing the bitter taste off my tongue with the cocktail in my red cup.

My eyes fall to Olivia sitting near us. She shakes her head in disapproval at my and Recce's interaction. There's a boy sitting beside her, who she leans into, making me assume he's her boyfriend. I think his name is Nate or something. He's got this deep look in his eyes when he keeps scanning over me like he's trying to read me like a book.

"Hey, Amber." Olivia starts a conversation with me. "How are you? I saw you at the movie convention a few days ago, right?"

Her words bring a bit of surprise to me because, even though we're slight colleagues, I never expected her to talk to me on out-of-work occasions.

"Yeah! I loved your dress and your role in the movie." I match her smile.

I feel Reece squeeze my hand warningly — an action that must seem sweet to everybody around us, but it's meant as a caution to stop talking with her as quickly as I can.

For some reason, he doesn't like it when I talk to other people when I go to parties with him. Especially if I talk about my career. It's not like my music has gained much recognition, so I have no idea why he hates it if I mention it.

Maybe I'm just looking way too deep into this, and he actually meant to squeeze my hand in a lovely way.

"That's amazing! Nate told me how amazing your music is." She smiles, looking right into her boyfriend's eyes, making him smile down at her. "I'd like to hear more of it."

Her words warm my heart, knowing that my career choice has some meaning. "Thank you! You should come over to my apartment sometime. I could show you some more."

We exchange our phone numbers, making me grin in happiness at how nice she is. Throughout our whole casual conversation, I've felt Reece's grip tighten on me even more to the point where I'm sure my skin is red in some spots now.

He deliberately scans around the area, seeing everybody's eyes on us now. He clears his throat, now striping off his bomber jacket, and only leaving him in a simple T-Shirt.

"Here. Are you cold?" He offers me his coat, and I get a slight feeling that he won't take 'no' for an answer, so I nod despite I'm not that chilly.

His jacket fits loosely on my body, the arms stretching past my palms. To this, I offer him a smile, making him know I appreciate he takes care of me even when I don't ask.

We sit in front of the bonfire for a while, watching red sparks ignite in the air, and fly onto the grass every once in a while. Though, I get startled when somebody approaches us from behind. I quickly turn around to find Brandon being the one who almost gave me a heart attack.

He whispers something in Reece's ear that makes him pull close to me, and say, "I'll be right back, babe. Wait for me."

He kisses my cheek, nudging my shoulder, and disappears somewhere between the dark trees with a group of his other mates, leaving me to sit alone on the wooden log.

I turn my head to my left, meeting Olivia's eyes. She's now coming closer to sit down next to me, so I scoot over to give her some space.

She looks at me a bit worried, asking a question I totally didn't expect, "Are you okay?"

"Yup." I smile, not understanding where her worry is coming from.

"You sure? Maybe need a ride home?" Her concern makes me a bit nervous, but I'm quick to shrug it off.

"No, it's fine. Thank you." I smile at her genuine care, taking note of how her hair matches perfectly with the shade of the bonfire.

"Alright, well. I think we'll head home now." She points to Nate standing near his car. "I'd like to take you up on that invite to come over some time."

My smile has spread almost to my ears now because she seems like a genuinely nice person. "I definitely will."

"Cool." She pulls in a hug, before whispering in my ear. "If you need us to turn around and come get you, just text me, okay?"

I don't really understand where her worry is coming from. Maybe it's because there are a bunch of drunk strangers, or maybe it's because she doesn't entirely trust Reece. "Okay. Thank you so much."

With that, she's gone to disappear in her black Range Rover. My vision meets her boyfriend's eyes — Nate's standing leaned against his car, his hands crossed over his chest like he'd been watching our interaction this whole time. I offer him a smile, and he does the same, narrowing his eyes.

His intense gaze almost makes me want to look away, but he's the first one to break our staring contest, getting in the car instead.

Just as I start wondering where Reece has gone for so long, he comes strolling back into my vision. He scrunches his nose up in a way that makes me believe he'd just been doing drugs, which is very unlike his behavior. I instantly furrow my brows, wanting to ask him something about that, but he doesn't let me when he reaches for my hand and scoots me up on my feet.

"What's going on?" I ask as he leads me between the darkened trees, making me trip over a few branches.

"We're taking the party to my place. Brandon's driving us there, c'mon. His car is like a 5-minute walk from here." He keeps dragging me through the woods. I don't know if it's the amount of alcohol I've consumed or it's the tight Converse I'm wearing, but I can't take a single step without tripping over something.

For a minute or so, we try to make our way through the forested area, but it seems like this walk will be taking 10 minutes instead of 5, due to my clumsy stumbling. This seems to be thinning out his patience, and I hear him let out a few annoyed sighs every once in a while.

"I talked to this girl Olivia while you were gone. Turns out, she's very sweet. I think we might become friends." I make small talk to kill some time on this lengthy hike.

I expected him to at least smile or say something encouraging in response but all he does is let out another sigh like he's mad at me or something.

When he doesn't speak a word for another minute, I voice my concern, "Is everything all right?"

"What do you think?" His grip on my wrist is as tight as ever. "I don't want you to be talking to new people when you haven't even taken your time to get to know my friends."

"That doesn't make any sense." I shake my head in disagreement. "I can manage both. If that makes you feel any better, I'll put in an extra effort tonight getting to know your friends."

He's quiet for a bit, but I can see anger ignite inside him, as I trip over some wooden stomp again. This time, instead of letting out an aggravated sigh, he curses at me.

"Jesus fuck, Amber." I practically hear him rolling his eyes as he mutters, "You're lucky I still love you. Despite all your flaws."

"The fuck are you talking about?" I'm taken aback by his sentence because this is so unlike him. When I turn my head to look into his eyes, there's no more of the ocean-blue color that I'm used to seeing. It's all black.

This is the part in our close-to-perfect relationship that I don't understand — how can he be the sweetest boyfriend who offers jackets, and holds my hand while people are watching, but be the biggest stone-cold asshole when we're alone?

"I said you're lucky that I still love you." He repeats his words without hesitation, making me harshly swallow.

"How about you're lucky I manage to keep up with your shit?" I don't understand why we're even arguing, but I'm not letting him drag me like that. "I mean, do you seriously think anyone else could stand your mood swings?"

"Do you seriously think there's somebody on this planet that wants you? Better be thankful you still have me." He fires the words out like bullets.

When I don't respond, he just continues his harshness. "I mean, it doesn't seem like your mother wants you if she's moved to another state. Your dad isn't here anymore to listen to your whines." He looks me straight in the eye, making me believe I don't recognize him anymore. "You have nobody left except for me."

My dad passed away just a month ago. From a stroke caused by type 2 diabetes.

Tough blow.

"God. Get a grip for once." I know better than to add fuel to his ascending fire. I understand he's not in his right state of mind due to the substance he's just taken, but it certainly doesn't excuse his awful behavior.

Just like a godsend, the headlights of Brandon's car become visible between the trees, meaning this argument is soon to be over. As I had suspected, Reece pulls me in closer when one of his friends exits the car, his attention now being diverted to us.

"I-I'm sorry, babe. I didn't mean it." His words start fucking with my head. It's like he pretends to be the perfect boyfriend when everybody's around.

When I don't respond, he takes a sip of whatever's in his red cup and opens the passenger door for me to get it. "Why don't you get into the front seat, princess?"

I understand he somehow wants to make up for what he said, so I give him a chance to do so, getting in the front seat after letting out a huge sigh.

Moments later, everybody else enters the car as well. I turn my head around, watching Brandon make his way into the driver's seat, and Reece getting into the backseat accompanied by some other two guys I don't even know. Maybe Reece was right, and I should be making an effort to at least learn their names.

The first minutes of the drive go by in absolute quiet, only the low sound of the radio taking up the space. I'm honestly so over this party, that I'll head straight to bed when we arrive at the destination.

"So..." Brandon turns down the radio to let me hear his voice better. "How were you enjoying the party, Amber?"

With his question being diverted directly at me, I respond instantly. "It was pretty great. I'm just very tired."

I rub my eyes, scanning over the way his lips spread into a wide and opening smile while he glances down at the GPS system. "Well, we've got about a 40-minute drive, so you can get some sleep now."

"Maybe I will." I nod, watching him run his fingers through his honey-colored locks. Every action he does is completed with such grace, I now understand why he's such a well-known actor.

"I saw everyone going crazy watching the TV show you starred in a few days ago." I try to make small talk to keep my promise to Reece that I'll at least try to communicate with his best mates.

"Oh, yeah, I've got a lot on my plate with acting right now." He grips the steering tighter, before quickly changing the subject. "So, what do you do for a living?"

"Uhm... I'm just expanding my hobbies. I make some music here and there, but nothing too serious." I respond and steal a glance into the backseat to realize everybody's already fallen asleep. God, it hasn't even been 5 minutes.

"Really? I think I've heard some of it. It's great how people can start a good career at an age like yours." He smiles, also looking in the mirror to check out the backseat.

"Well, I've just turned 19, so it's not that momentous. But thank you." I fiddle with my nailbeds, not seeing where this conversation could be further leading.

"19, huh?" He mutters under his breath in thought, before turning the radio's music louder.

I count we've driven through 3 songs in absolute silence, the rocky roads making the car sway in a lulling way. It isn't until a really slow song comes up that lets me rest my head against the sturdy seatbelt, and close my eyes for a second.

I don't even catch myself being able to count any more songs when I've already dozed off into sleep.

~~~

A cold touch.

I'm immediately brought out of my dreams when I feel a freezing touch land on my knee.

It takes me about 3 seconds to comprehend that I'm still in the car, only the radio is turned off. I flinch right away when I grasp that the strange touch on my knee is leading back to Brandon.

Once he realizes that I'm awake, he instantly pulls the hand away, adjusting it onto the gearstick instead. He pushes on an apologetic smile, whispering. "Oops. It's really dark." He insists his hand just blindly slipped. "My bad."

I clear my throat, immediately feeling uncomfortable in his presence, so I cross my legs over each other. I quickly glance at the car's panel, seeing we've got about 20 minutes left.

I tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear, now understanding that I'm never falling asleep here again. Now that I haven't got songs to count to keep track of time, I keep glancing at the clock, but the minutes seem to be going down twice as slow now that I'm paying attention.

We sit there for exactly 4 minutes, and Brandon needs to make a big turn left, so he steers with one hand, needing to hold onto something for stability.

His hand ends up on my thigh again.

This time, he doesn't immediately remove it, making me tense up as hard as ever, my whole body on high alert.

"The fuck do you think you're doing?" I push his hand off right away, watching a small set of red fingerprints ignite on my skin from the pressure.

I steal a look in the backseat, watching everybody still snore, meaning they aren't able to see Brandon's actions.

"Hey, it's not my fault your dress is so revealing." He doesn't even apologize this time, just throwing a shrug my way instead. To that, I instantly pull out my phone, searching for the only person's available contact — Olivia.

I've seen enough movies to know what could happen if I don't act fast enough, so I start texting her even though we aren't really friends. I type in the words with shaky fingers as fast as I can, being afraid Brandon's doing to take it away from me before I can finish.

To Olivia:
3:47 am

*live location attachment*

It takes less than a