The Virgin Bet

20

*You have been warned*

Flashback: Senior Year

"I don't want to do this." Charlotte whimpered, placing a hand on the toned chest of the man looming over her on the bed, who was currently sucking at her neck to form a hickey. She knew that she originally told him that she wanted this, but she was now having second thoughts as he had her back pressed against the bed.

"You know, are you ever going to grow up?" The curly haired man groaned, pushing himself off of her as a purple bruise formed on her neck. She knew she'd be covering that up with foundation for the next couple of weeks. "I'm starting to think that you don't love me at this point. You flake out every time after you already tell me that you wanted this." He chuckled harshly, standing up from the soft bed.

"You know that's not true." Charlotte whispered, watching his every move. He ran his fingers through his hair, clearly agitated that he got denied by his own girlfriend, again.

"Charlotte, you keep doing this. I'm sick of it." He clenched his fists tightly, the blue veins becoming prominent down his arms. At the worst possible moment, her phone began to ring. She was slow to reach and answer it, for she thought it was nobody important. He grabbed her phone first though, reading the caller ID as 'Jake.' With a cocked brow at her, he answered the phone. "Hello?" He asked with a raspy tone of voice.

"Hey, is Charlotte there? She's supposed to come to my house later and I was just wondering what time." The voice of a man spoke through the line, causing him to boil with rage.

"Forget it, she is not going to your house." He growled as he hung up the phone, throwing it on the ground and cracking the screen. Charlotte panicked as he turned back to her, wondering what had him so fired up. "Who the fūck is Jake?" He yelled at her, causing her to flinch at his loud voice.

"Harry, that's my partner for my senior project. I had no choice but to be partners with him, and if I don't finish this project I won't graduate. We just–" Charlotte was cut off as he began to storm over to the bed, making her jump off of it in fear as she backed up. "Why are you so mad? You're scaring me." She whispered, her soft eyes filled with fright.

"Partner my āss. You didn't want to have sex with me because you're fūcking cheating on me. Oh my god." He grabbed at the roots of his hair, his arms trembling with every move. "It all makes sense now." His continuous walking towards her caused her to back into the wall. She was trapped with no escape from the madman coming after her. His fingers ran through her hair, yanking it to pull her head back against the wall. "Listen to me, you will never see Jake again, and you will not go to another man's house ever again. Understood?"

Day 12 - 6:45 pm

"And after that, he... you know." Charlotte said, trying to keep her composure as she made a slapping gesture with her hand. It was so hard retelling that story, the day her ex just finally snapped. "That day started it all. He had a lot of built up violence and anger. It wasn't just that, he'd call me names. Luckily for me, I was able to get out of the relationship as soon as I could. Moving here to NYU helped lessen the blow, but somehow he ended up here." She let out a heavy sigh, not even wanting to look Cole in the eyes.

Cole was sat next to her on the floor, his arms wrapped around her as he had listened to her story. Guilt washed over him immediately, making small tears well up in his eyes. He shouldn't be sad over her, he wasn't supposed to care about her wellbeing. But he did. Knowing what she'd been through, and now him doing such a horrible action had really terrified her. He knew that he needed to be more careful, for her safety and health.