Protect Me

TW: This book contains heavy themes of s****l assault (up to and including r**e) from the beginning and extreme violence as the book progresses. If you are not sure if you'll be okay with it, I would rather miss out on a reader than have you destroy your mental health to read this. Please take care of yourself however you can. - - - MEDI "Get off me! Get off mmmm-!" His hand wrapped around my mouth, sealing it shut. His heavy chest pressed against my back, pushing me to bend over the edge of the couch as his other hand snaked under my skirt. "Shhhhhh," he cooed, his hot, wet breath on my ear. My stomach twisted with nausea as I continued to struggle, but he was just too strong. "I wouldn't want to hurt you. Imagine how upset your mother would be." I felt like I was about to vomit, but nothing came. He'd already bound my hands in front of me so I couldn't reach him with them. They were trapped beneath me as he used his free hand to wrestle my underwear down.I felt the weight of him as pulled them down. I felt his knee pushing my leg out as his entire body pinned me down. Tears stung in my eyes as I tried to kick him, to head butt him, to do something, anything, to defend myself. But nothing worked. I could hear him fumbling with his pants, feel him pulling himself out against me, already hard as he rested on my ass. The tears began to flow as he pulled back, and I felt him lining himself up against me. I struggled against him but he was too heavy, too strong. As I felt pain tear through me at his sudden penetration, I was immediately thrown back into the present. I looked around everywhere, my eyes wild as I tried to remember where I was, what I was doing. Usually, when I had a flashback, it was while I was asleep or a couple of times when I'd been intimate with someone. But I was standing, surrounded by busy looking people walking past. So what had triggered the memory of my mum's ex-boyfriend from so many years ago? I finally oriented myself as I gulped down air and realised I was at the airport. That's right, I was coming to live with my mother after losing my job. I hadn't been keen on the idea, but she had insisted, saying her husband's family had more than enough money to help me until I was okay again, and maybe I could get a job with them - though she'd been really vague on what they did. I wasn't sure how I felt about using their money, but if they could keep a roof over my head, I would be thrilled. It would be safer and more reliable than a shelter at the very least. I found her in the crowd, looking smug with her 'I want to speak to your manager' haircut and her long, manicured fake nails. Her usual 'I'm better than everyone' attitude was oozing from her every pore. Next to her, I found my trigger. No! No! No! No! When my mother had gotten married, she told me it was a small, intimate affair and she didn't want me flying all the way over for such a small thing, so I was never really sure which boyfriend she married. She'd often gone back and forth between them, so the only thing I knew for sure was that she wasn't marrying the last boyfriend I'd met because she told me they'd broken up on the same call she announced her engagement. Although I appreciated when my mother looked after me throughout her life, I had no problems being excluded from the wedding. I would have only been attending out of obligation anyway, and who she married didn't seem significant in my life. It had never even crossed my mind that she would marry the man I told her attacked me. She hadn't believed me, saying I was just jealous of her, but I never realised just how much she either didn't believe me or didn't care. When she had been muttering something about 'unforgivable' when she came home from their break up, I'd hoped it was about me. "Medi!" My mum called out, casually waving a hand in the air. I was frozen to the spot, ice sliding through my veins. I wouldn't get closer - I couldn't get closer - to the man who had assaulted me then left me bleeding on the floor, running to meet my mum at the door and rush her away for a date before she could look inside and see the state I was in. My mum's smug look turned to one of annoyance. She glanced around, obviously concerned with what everyone around her was thinking of her, then put on her sickly sweet fake smile and walked over to me, her arms outstretched. "My beautiful daughter!" I was still frozen to the spot as she embraced me coldly. "Whatever the Hell your problem is, it can wait until the car," my mother hissed in my ear. She unwrapped her arms from around me and hooked an arm through mine, pulling me with her. I didn't have a choice, she was practically dragging me towards the open maw of the wolf infront of me. I spared a glance at him and saw his predatory grin. My heart sped up and it felt like my brain shut down. Just get through this, struggling will make it worse. I turned my gaze down and focused on putting one foot in front of another. I couldn't make a scene. My mother's threat from my adolescence about having me committed if I didn't control myself echoed in my ears. I should have gone to a shelter. But my mother had never placed a hand on me in violence, so it hadn't even occurred to me that coming to her might have put me in danger. I knew she'd get on my nerves, but I figured that would be the extent of it. Not ... this.