DENIAL

28

• this chapter has scenes of sexual assault and violence. You have been warned! Please skip that portion of the chapter if you do not feel comfortable reading stuff like that.

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"Damian? The door was open, so I just-" Alea stopped in her sentence as she heard shuffling upstairs. She locked the door behind her and began walking upstairs to his bedroom, hoping that he wasn't still mad about their fight. If sex is what he wants, why not?

He's her boyfriend.

She loves him, he loves her.

It makes sense, it's a normal thing for him to want to do. At first, she thought maybe it was an age thing. That perhaps she should wait until she was older, but now as she was raging with emotions from her argument with her mother— she doesn't care.

Alea wanted, no, she needed something to distract her. And, truthfully, she wanted to feel loved. It seemed like doing it with him would make him love her more and that's all she's ever wanted.

Her relationship with her mother is strained and complicated at best and her uncle comes around less and less due to his strenuous work schedule.

So, the feeling of being loved and appreciated had been very dim and low lately.

"Damian-"

As she walked into the room, a sinking feeling gnawed at her gut. The air was thick with tension, a tangible heaviness that she couldn't quite place. And then, there they were, tangled together on the bed – Damian and another girl.

Both of their shirts were off, his lips were attacking her neck as her body was entangled with his. Time seemed to freeze as her heart shattered into a million pieces.

"Fuck Alea!" He said, ripping himself away from the girl that now sat on his bed topless.

Shock pulsed through her, numbing her senses as she stood there, unable to comprehend what she was witnessing. It was as if her entire world had crumbled in an instant.

Every whispered promise, every shared moment, suddenly felt like lies.

All lies.

Everything they had.

It wasn't love. It never was.

He used her, lied to her.

She doesn't even know what love is, why would this be it? How did she allow herself to be so blindsided and stupid?

He never cared about her, he never loved her— he only loved the fact that he could control her love for him, he loved the fact that she cared about him so deeply that it was easy to manipulate her to suit his own desires.

Why did she only see it now? Why did it take this to happen so that she could finally see the truth?

"Alea.. baby-"

"No.. no. Don't, don't." She could barely get the words out coherently without choking on her words.

Tears welled up in her eyes, blurring the scene before her into a painful haze. Anguish clawed at her chest, threatening to suffocate her with its crushing weight. Alea wanted to scream, to lash out at them both, but all she could manage was a choked sob.