Chapter Fifty

Boston


“What am I going to do?” I ask my brothers, feeling defeated as we all sat around the entertainment room later Saturday afternoon. “I don’t even remember what happened, but those pictures make it pretty clear to anyone with eyes what happened.”

“No,” Linc says, his face screwed up in confusion, “after I got off the phone with Aspen, I come in to the living room and found you with Mallory all over you.” He glances at the other two and Jax nods, huffing out a breath as he takes over.

“Why did you get so wasted, man? I haven’t seen you like that since Sabrina. Were you so desperate to get over Aspen, to forget about the mother of your child, that you said *fuck it* and let Mallory get to you?” He growls, the venom in his voice making his opinion of the blonde bitch clear.

“That’s just it, I only had one beer.” I tell them, taking in their disbelieving faces, “I’m serious. I’d been nursing the same cup of beer since we got there.”

“Just one beer?” Dal asks, piping in, “no shots?”

“No. No shots.” Sighing, I lean back in the chair, pinching the bridge of my nose and closing my eyes, trying to remember.

“When we got there, I searched for a bottle. You guys know my rule, but there wasn’t a single fucking bottle in the whole damn house. I watched Whitney filling a few cups from the keg. So, I joined the line, waiting for a drink. She filled a few more, passing them off to the people on front of me. When I got to the front of the line, Whitney said *hi* and grabbed me a cup from the ones on the table next to her. We chatted as she filled it, then she passed it over to me and told me to *have fun.*”

Needing a minute, I run my hands over my face before continuing, “I spent the rest of the time that I can remember on the couch, sipping on that *one* cup, watching everyone around me, getting lost in memories and feeling sorry for myself. Then, I started texting Aspen. Everything gets a bit hazy from that point, which is also, unfortunately, when Mallory came over to talk to me.”

“I remember being annoyed, wanting her to just leave me alone. Then, I began feeling strange. After that is one big blank until I woke up in bed with Mallory lying next to me. The both of us were completely naked.” I tell them, shaking my head, trying to remember something more, anything more.

“But, when we put you in that room,” Linc says, gesturing between himself and Jax, “I locked the door on our way out, so that no one would come in and bother you.”

“We’d both already had too much to drink and didn’t want to risk an accident by driving.” Shrugging, he gave a sheepish looks, “Locking you in a room by yourself seemed like the best option.”

“We even took turns checking in on you,” Linc says, gulping loudly when Jax widens his eyes at him, “Well, at least, until we didn’t.” He says, looking guilty. “I sort of got caught up with Raleigh-if you know what I mean.” As he says the last part, he wags his eyebrows, a smile on his face. “And I don’t know what happened to you.” Linc accuses, glaring at Jax.

“I was having my own fun.” Jax says with a sly smile.

“So, at some point in the night, Mallory joined me in the room that you two locked me in, and we fucked, even though I don’t remember it.” I say more to myself, nodding my head, still not convinced, “Right.” I mutter sarcastically, as something niggles at the back of my brain, something that I can’t quite put my finger on.

“What if you didn’t fuck her?” Dal asks, always the optimistic one out of the four of us, “if you were as wasted as they say, you wouldn’t have been able to even get it up.”

At his words, I angrily begin thumbing through my messages and pull up a picture that causes my stomach to turn. “I think I was able to get it up just fine.” I growl, flashing them the photo.

“Wait,” Linc says, holding his hand out, “let me see that again.”

I hand him my phone and he squints, analyzing the picture of Mallory sucking my cock.

“I think you’re wrong.” He says, still staring at the picture on the screen of my phone.

“Dude!“ I shout in irritation, “the proof is literally right in front of your face!”

“No, I mean look! Your eyes are closed, but your arms are laying at your sides,” he shows me the image again. Then, continues, “you’re not even fisting the sheets. I think you were still passed out.”

Dread coils in my stomach, along with a trace of anger that begins to burn hotter the longer that I stare at the picture. I swipe over to the next, and then the next, finding myself in the same state in each of them.

“She molested me?” I ask in disbelief, my voice coming out rough.

“She *raped* you,” Linc spits, his voice deadly flat.

“I have to get to Aspen!” I growl, standing as realization hits me that this means that I didn’t cheat on her.

"No!" all three of them say at once.

"You don't understand!" I shout at them, my emotions beginning to overwhelm me, "She broke up with me because she thinks that I cheated on her! She probably hates me." My voice softens as tears build in my eyes, "I have to fix this, make it right."

“No, not right now! Right now, you *have* to report this.” Linc snaps, but then his face softens, and he places his hand in my shoulder, “she raped you, Bos.”

“But, guys don’t get raped.” I mutter, feeling even more dirty than I had when I’d thought that I had willingly, knowingly hurt Aspen.

“*You did*. It does happen.” Dal says, standing up from the couch and turning to me, “Come on before whatever she must have given you is out of your system. We’ll go with you.”

“You think she date raped me?” I ask, my mid spinning as their words begin to take root, even though it’s still extremely difficult to wrap my head around.

“I do, let’s go.” He says.

I nod and let my brothers lead me from the room, then up the stairs and out the door. I slide in to the passenger seat of the truck that we share, completely in a daze.

“I was raped?” I murmur to myself, the thought seeming so foreign to me.

“It’s okay,” Linc says as he slides into the seat behind me, “we’re here for you. And, I promise that I’ll reach out to Aspen once we’re done at the station and explain everything. You just worry about *you* right now.”

“Thank you,” I say numbly, staring at my trembling hands in my lap, my mind still spinning at the reality of what’s happened.

As we drive, images that I'd seen in social media from the night that Sabrina was taken advantage come back to me, causing my head to spin even more as I realize what she must have gone through, how she must of felt. How violated she must have felt, how broken.

I can't help but compare the two events, noting both the similarities as well as the differences between what happened to her, and ultimately how it ended, and what happened to me and what's happening now.

*She lost* her *life. And maybe it’s not the same, but I feel like I’ve lost mine, with having lost Aspen because of this*, I think as we pull up to the police station.

Gathering my thoughts, I finally manage to voice the thing that had been niggling at the back of my mind, now that I've managed to make the connection, “First Sabrina, and now me.” As I say this, I don’t lift my head to take in my brothers reactions as I speak, “What are the chances that the two events are related?”

“I’m beginning to wonder the same thing myself.” Linc mutters from behind me with a sigh.

"I'm beginning to think so as well." Jax says from behind the wheel.

“You ready?” Dal asks from behind Jax, his fingers tapping against his jean clad thigh when I glance back at him.

I nod, telling him that I am, even though I’m really not. There’s no point in voicing that though.

“This needs to be done, right?”

"It does, and if what happened with both you and Sabrina are related...well, let's just say that I'm going to be having words with Mallory." Jax says, his eyes alight with anger.

"Me too." Dal and Linc both say in agreement from the backseat.

Heaving a sigh, I unbuckle my seat belt and then reach out to pull the handle, opening the passenger door, "Let's get this over with then. The sooner we do, the sooner I can make things right with Aspen."