East Bound by Nana Malone (big ebook reader txt) 📕

judging you, love. I'm sure I would have gone to a party my cousin deemed would be fantastic."

"She didn't know either, and we just thought it was a... So anyway, we go to this party. We were told everything about the boys we'd be meeting. Specifically, I was told about this boy, Bram. What he liked to talk about. His school interests. What he studied. We actually had a lot in common. I guess I thought so, anyway."

Amelia kept writing. And then she prompted. "So you went to the party and you met him. What happened?"

"It was different than anything I'd ever seen before. When I was introduced to Bram, he seemed nice. Like he liked me. No, that’s the wrong way to say it. He just, I don't know, he looked like he'd hit the jackpot or something. Anyway, at first, he was fine. I was supposed to hang on his every word and laugh at his jokes. He wasn’t that funny, but I could fake it. It was nothing I hadn’t done on a date before."

I kept watching her, thinking how young she’d been.

"And then at one point, the woman who’d trained came and whispered in my ear that there was more work to be done, and I went with her. I told Bram I'd see him later, and he seemed excited. And then that woman, led me to a room and told me I was supposed to get undressed and—” Her hands started to shake as she took another sip of tea.

My stomach churned. "It's okay, take your time."

She took a deep breath. "I wasn't supposed to do anything. I just had to sit there and wait."

Amelia frowned. "Wait for what?"

"Twenty minutes later, that nice boy Bram came in. And I thought we were just going to, you know, hang out. I didn't”—she shook her head—"I didn't understand."

I hated to make her say it, but we needed to know. “You didn’t understand what?”

She sighed. "I didn't understand what was expected. What I was really there for. I was there for Bram, but not to talk to him or keep him entertained for the night. Bram expected sex. And I'd never done that before. It wasn’t a hostess job after all."

Amelia cursed under her breath and stopped writing.

I glowered at her, but then I saw that her eyes were shiny.

"At first, the kissing was nice. And I thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, but I didn't realize what he liked."

I swallowed, trying to force bile back down where it belonged. It was Amelia's choked voice that broke the silence. "You can tell us, Chantal. What happened?"

"He, uh, he liked innocent girls, girls who had no experience, and he liked it when they fought. He liked fear. Seeing them scared."

Amelia cursed under her breath.

Meanwhile I kept my hand on the table, and Chantal finally took it. Her delicate hand coiled in mine. I squeezed it tight, trying to convey to her that it was okay. That she was safe with us. "I'm so sorry, Chantal."

She nodded as her voice shook. "I didn't want to do that with him. He wasn't gentle, and he wasn't kind."

"Did you tell anyone? Did you say anything to your mom, a friend, anyone?"

She shook her head. "I only told my cousin. And I don’t know. She wasn’t much help. I think maybe she had it worse than I did. Afterward, we didn’t really talk anymore. She got into drugs and stuff."

I bit back a curse. "I'm so sorry. Were you able to leave after that?"

She nodded. "That woman, she came back and gathered us all up. She told us we were to report back in two months for the next initiation, and she’d give us a new file. I knew I was never going back. She tried to threaten us. Told us we'd all signed a contract. But I knew she was lying because I was underage and she couldn’t make me do anything, contract or not.”

My heart was breaking for her, but we had to hear the rest of her story. “What happened then?”

"I don't think mum really knew what was going on with me. Why I changed and became so sullen.”

"Okay." I didn't know what to say. I had to keep her talking. I chanced a look at Amelia, and her face was ashen. Her dark brown skin had taken on this gray ash pallor.

"Anyway. I thought it was over and I didn't have to think about him again. I thought I could go back to school and live my life. But he found me. I don’t even know how. I hadn’t given him my last name, but he still found me and said I had to meet him.”

Amelia leaned forward once again. "Did you meet him?"

She shook her head. "No. I refused. And he told me he was going to ruin me. There was a video."

My stomach turned.

"He said he was going to post it everywhere, and my friends and my father would see it. He said that I shouldn't have been such a slag."

I squeeze her hand again. "I promise you, Chantal, none of this was your fault."

"He wouldn't leave me alone. He kept calling. So I ran away to Australia. My aunt and uncle have a farm there, mostly off grid, and they let me stay with them. I changed my name, just desperate to have a new life, I guess.”

"Of course. That makes absolute sense."

"Maybe a couple years afterward, Mum said that boy that was looking for me had finally stopped calling. I didn’t dare come back though. I was too worried, too scared.”

"Of course. When did you come back?"

She licked her lips. "Two years ago, and I've been back and forth between here and Australia since. So I missed it when the news reports about his father came out, but when I found out, I knew I had to say something."

I squeezed her hand. "You are so brave. Thank you for doing this."

Amelia added, "Thank you