Jealous Storm by Jack Stroke (book recommendations .txt) 📕

to yourself.”

“I will. I promise.”

Amber wasn’t sure she believed him. She decided to give him one last chance. Any more rubbish and she would leave.

They settled into an uncomfortable silence.

“You ever wonder what would have happened if I chose you at the party instead?”

“No.”

“Liar. You think about it. Maybe you and I would have had a kid now.”

“I doubt it.”

“No. I know what would have happened.”

“Happened with what?”

“With us. What would have happened without a doubt.”

“What?”

“More tickling.”

And like that, his hands were all over her once again. It was tickling, but it was more, his hands roaming her body.

“Ellis!”

“What, you don’t like tickling?”

“No.”

She squirmed as best she could but couldn’t get away from him this time.

“Okay. No more trickling.”

He grabbed her hand and forced it on his crotch. It was like he had shoved a crowbar down there. Amber pulled her hand away, jumping up once again.

“What? I wasn’t tickling.”

“You’re a pig.”

“You want to see it?”

“No.”

“Stop with the act, Amber. Don’t pretend you’re not into me. You still like me. That’s why you and Megan fight all the time.”

“I couldn’t like you less, Ellis. You’re repellant.”

“Whatever. You used to like me.”

“Before I knew you.”

“Nah. You still do. Come on. Let’s have sex. Megan never has to know.”

Amber wanted to yell and scream at him, except he wasn’t worth her breath. Instead, she stomped to the door. Only problem was the door was locked and there was no sign of a key.

“Oops,” Ellis said. “Guess you’re not going anywhere.”

50

Eighteen years earlier

Amber pulled the lock pointlessly.

“Ellis, let me out.”

“You can leave whenever you want. Let’s have sex first though.” He grinned, adjusting his crotch through his pants. “Come on, Amber. Don’t fight it. All of your dreams are about to come true.”

Amber’s lungs constricted, making breathing impossible. This couldn’t be happening. He had to be mucking around. She didn’t dare risk it. She bolted. Like a cat, Ellis sprung after her.

There had to be a back door, didn’t there? She’d only been to their place a few times. In a rush, Amber took the first door she saw, hoping it was a way out. It wasn’t. It was a bedroom. A bedroom was okay. Lock Ellis out and wait for Megan to return. She could do this.

Amber slammed the door. Ellis managed to get a toe in, preventing it from closing.

“You’re a tease, Amber. You don’t fool me.”

He shouldered through the door. Amber fell backwards onto the bed.

“I’m not a tease. I don’t want this.”

“Sure. Why are we in the bedroom then?”

“I was trying to find a way out.”

“Sure you were.” He loomed over her. “Play hard to get all you like. We’re having sex, Amber. The only question is whether you pretend you don’t want it or not.”

He grabbed her. Holding her wrists above her head, Ellis pinned her to the bed. She twisted and scrambled about with zero impact. He held her in place easily. If anything, he seemed to be enjoying her fight. Getting off on it.

Ellis forced his lips on hers, ramming his tongue in her mouth. His stubble scratched her face. She could taste the beer in his spit.

“Ellis. No… Please… I don’t want…”

It was of no use. He wasn’t listening. His hand ran down her front, briefly pausing on her breasts.

“Ellis…”

And then his hand was at her pants, attempting to pull them down. Pull them off. She could feel his erect penis shoving against her through his jeans. Like a terrible weapon, waiting to be unleashed. She tried to knee him, except she couldn’t move enough. This was horrific.

Should she fight or would that simply make everything worse? She wasn’t sure it was a choice. Even if remaining still might make it all over sooner, Amber had no idea if that was physically possible.

Or should she go the other way? What if she joined in? Not to try and give him pleasure, just attempt to speed up the process. Get it all over with. Except there was no guarantee he would stop. Even if she got him to ejaculate, maybe he still wouldn’t let her go.

For the briefest of moments she found herself floating above her body. Observing. He was rough, hurting her, but it was the complete and utter feeling of powerlessness that was soul-destroying. He was doing whatever he liked, and there wasn’t a thing she could do to stop him. Taking from her. Like she was an object.

And then mercifully something happened. He still had her pinned, one hand holding her wrists, the other on her pants, but he stopped moving altogether.

Had his better self won out? Had he realised what a terrible idea this was? What a mistake he was making?

Of course not.

The window above the bed was shaking, accompanied by the hum of an engine. A car in the driveway. Megan. Megan was home. Thank God.

What would he do now? It was undoubtedly his move. She watched his mind calculating, face still only inches from hers. He rolled on his side and let her go.

Amber couldn’t get to her feet fast enough. She straightened her clothes, trying to wipe his scent off her and doing everything she could not to cry. It seemed important. She didn’t want to show any weakness in front of this jerk.

The car door slammed. Megan’s voice floated in, chatting to Ben.

“I guess Megan’s home.”

Amber lingered. That’s it? That’s all he could say after what just happened?

She rubbed her eyes, blinking incessantly. She should say something and yet her mind actively refused to think of a single thing. She turned.

“Hey, Amber… Are you going to tell her?”

Feeling indignant enough to explode, she turned back to him. “Of course I’m going to tell her.”

Ellis shrugged. “Good luck with that.”

His arrogance stung. She could see it in his eyes. He couldn’t care less.

“Think she’ll believe you?”

51

It was a strange place to come clean, sitting on the wooden floor of the old Scout Hall with Vaughan in the dark in the middle of the night. He tried