Letting My Brother's Best Friend Take My V-Card

PART 4-CHAPTER 177

JESS

My breath came in ragged gasps, each step through the snow slower than the last. The cold bit my skin, and my legs

screamed from the effort, but I couldn't stop. Not yet. I pushed myself forward, heart pounding in my chest as I glanced back over my shoulder. The flashlight beam sliced through the darkness, closer than it had been before. Eric was right behind me.

I stumbled, the uneven ground and thick snow pulling at my feet like they were trying to swallow me whole. My lungs burned with each breath of freezing air. I had to keep moving, I had to find a way out of this nightmare. But the snow was so thick and the cold so deep that Then, I heard it.

A deafening crack tore through the air, and in the same

instant, a searing pain shot through my right leg. I gasped, stumbling forward, then crumpled to the ground. I screamed, clutching my leg, the agony so intense I thought I might pass out. Blood soaked through my fingers as I pressed them to the wound, my mind unable to process what had just happened.

I'd been shot.

He'd shot me.

PART 4 CHAPTER 177

288 Vouchers

"Fuck!" I cried, pain radiating up my leg with every frantic heartbeat. The snow beneath me was stained red. My thoughts were spinning, pain blotting out everything else, but through the haze of agony, I heard his footsteps approaching. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

looked up, blinking against the blur of tears, and saw the beam of his flashlight cutting through the night, aimed right at me. He

clenched teeth, the words barely audible through

beam of the flashlight. He stared at me for a moment before, with no warning, he pulled back his fist and

at me to move, to fight, to do anything, but my body wouldn't listen. I felt his

OA 52

PART 4 CHAPTDE127.

In my ears, and the world around me felt distant, as

you know," Eric's voice cut through the haze, low and cold. His breath was hot against my ear as he carried me back toward the cabin. "If you'd just stayed

jolt of pain through my leg, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of hearing met scream again. I wouldn't let him win, no matter how broken I felt. "You always make things

"But it's okay. We'll

cold air bit at my exposed skin. The pain was too much, my body shutting down in response. The last thing I remembered was the cabin door creaking open and the warmth of the fire hitting my face before everything went black. When I woke up, everything hurt. My leg throbbed, my head pounded, and my mouth tasted like copper. I blinked, trying to focus, but my vision was still blurry, and my head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Slowly, I became aware of the ropes digging into my wrists. I tried Panic shot through me, sharp and cold, as I looked around the dimly lit room. It was the same cabin, the same place where this nightmare had begun. The fire crackled in the hearth,

<

TWIT & CHAPTER 177

288 Mounhe

on the walls. My heart raced as my gaze landed on Eric, who was crouched in front of

bullet had torn through my flesh was now wrapped tightly in white gauze, stained pink with blood. He looked up at me then, a slow smile creeping across his face. "There you are," he said softly, his

dry and scratchy. "What...what are

were the most obvious thing in the world. "I told you, didn't I? We'll fix

against my ribs. He was insane. Completely