BRIAN

Have you ever been booked and processed into a county jail? Let me walk you through it. First, you're escorted into a crummy little office and sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair, your hands still bound behind your back, across from a pissed off looking woman who spoke through her nose and looked at you and took down all of your personal information, lazily plugging it into the computer with overly manicured fingernails.

After forcing you to endure that nasally voice for a short eternity, they take you to an area for your mug shot, after removing your shackles and handing you a lovely little sign with your name, the county, and your inmate identification number. Remember getting your picture taken for your driver's license or your year book? They don't give you time to strike a pose or flash your pearly whites. They take one photo of your right profile, one from the front, and one of your left before shuffling you off for more torment.

Next, they take you into a room with a mesh cage separating you from rows of shelves, where a grumpy looking cop puts all of your personal items and throws them into a plastic bag, not giving two shits whether he scratches your Ray Bans or tangles up your platinum chain that probably cost more than his car.

Once you're stripped of your belongings, they strip you of your dignity by having you remove all of your clothes in front of a jeering audience, and then to top it off, they have you bend over and cough while spreading your ass cheeks. Seriously? What the fuck do they think I'm hiding up there?! They then hand your clothes off to the same person who took the rest of your shit and hand you the most horrendous orange jumpsuit and flat slip on shoes to wear along with the rest of your new roommates for the remainder of your visit.

A mesh bag was slung into my hands, complete with some threadbare sheets and a blanket, basic toiletries that would take the paint off of the walls, and a spare jumpsuit, and I was carelessly jostled and shoved down a row of basic cells before I was placed into an open one. Thank God it was empty. I threw my bag down on the bottom bunk and turned around just in time to see the barred door click shut.

"When the fuck do I get to see my lawyer? Shouldn't I be talking to him before you lock me up and throw away the god damn key?" I asked rudely. The cop, a black female who looked like she could tie me into a knot, tsked at me. "For you? A man who tried to kill his girlfriend?" I glared at her and she turned on her heel to walk away. "He'll be here some time in the morning."

I clenched my fists until my knuckles went white and dropped down on the bottom bunk, dropping my head in my hands and pulling frustratedly at my hair. What the fuck just happened? That fucking bitch turned my ass in. Both of those bitches ratted me out to the fucking pigs. As soon as I got myself out of this hell hole I'd give them a reason to have me locked up.

I heard a sharp, metallic tapping and looked up to see a bored looking cop with a night stick that he was hitting lightly against the metal door. "Get up, Haner. You get your one phone call now." I stared up at him for a moment, not sure what to do or who to call. Should I call Zacky and have him nab Lily Ann and lock her up somewhere so that I could get to her when I got out? Nah, that would be a waste of a phone call. Better call Matt and see what he could do about getting me out of here.

"Move it or lose it, Haner. I'm not waiting here all fucking day," the cop said, unlocking my cell door and moving aside so that he could escort me to the communal phones that hung on the wall at the end of the hallway. I picked up the receiver and punched in Matt's cell number, willing him to pick it up. Thankfully, he did on the second ring.

"Brian, thank fucking Christ!"

"Yea, yea, you guys have to come down here and get me the fuck out of here," I muttered into the phone, turning my back on the officer who was tapping his stupid shiny shoe impatiently. Excuse me, officer, but can you back the fuck off? I don't remember a damn time limit.

"We tried that. We're outside of the jail now. They said that due to the nature of your crimes, they won't be able to release you on any type of bail until a hearing has been set."

I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut and begging for this to have all been a nightmare when I opened them again. Nope, no fucking chance. "Well when the fuck is that going to be? They told me the lawyer won't be here until tomorrow," I complained into the phone.

"They said your hearing is scheduled for tomorrow at four, and they said we could be there to hear the conditions and bail you out afterwards if the judge allows it. But bro, Larry's pissed."

"Right now, I don't give a shit who's pissed. I'M pissed! This is fucking bullshit, Shadows."

"We're doing what we can, man. We'll see you tomorrow."

I sighed and hung up the receiver just as the officer was clearing his throat rudely. "I'm done," I said, putting my hands up and shuffling back down the hallway to my cell. I fixed the sheets on my bunk and settled myself down onto it, sniffing the soap that they gave me and grimacing. What the fuck did they even make this shit out of?

Suddenly, I heard an obnoxiously loud buzzing sound and a foreful "LIGHT'S OUT!" just before the whole place plunged into darkness. Moments later, a faint glow from a few emergency lights lit up the cell just enough for me to see the metal toilet and sink on the opposite wall. Groaning, I decided to try and get some sleep, hoping that the day would go by smoothly and quickly so that I could get the fuck out of here.

REGGIE

His hands dragged me from the backseat, rough and unforgiving. I would have screamed, but he had secured duct tape across my mouth to keep me quiet, the foul tasting adhesive making me feel sick to my stomach. I stumbled across the ground, my heels scraping the concrete and my eyes bleary from crying.

I couldn't figure out where we were at. It appeared to be some type of cabin, and the gray early morning light shimmered on a lake in the distance. I tried to say something from behind the tape, but stopped when I felt the uncomfortable pulling around my mouth. My eyes darted between the two of them as Brian pushed me into a pair of arms behind me and unlocked the cabin door.

If it had been under different circumstances, I would say that the place was gorgeous. However, this was not different circumstances, and I was only looking for escape routes. Brian resumed his tight grip on me, leading me across the room to a set of stairs. We walked up them, well he walked and I tripped, and I was taken into a lovely rustic bedroom.
I heard an unfamiliar rattling sound and my eyes widened in fear and surprise as I watched Zacky dropping a heavy looking chain and padlock on the floor next to the bed. I felt the cold sweat matting my hair to my forehead and neck and I pulled uselessly at the rope that bound my hands together behind my back.

Brian shoved me towards the bed roughly, forcing me to stumble and fall face first onto the low king-sized mattress. I struggled for a moment and manager to roll myself over onto my side, whimpering. The sound of my beating heart was deafening as the two men stood before me in silence, both wearing dark clothing, gloves, and masks of some sort to obscure their faces.

"Reggie, Reggie, Reggie," Brian tsked, pulling the cut-out ski mask off of his face and stooping down in front of the bed so that he could be eye level with me. I felt my body recoil as I watched his face, which was eerily calm and patient. However, his chocolate brown eyes were cold and hostile, which gave an even more terrifying contrast. "Baby, I told you that something like this would happen if people started asking question," he crooned at me, reaching forwards to brush my hair out of my face.

I winced and shuffled backwards so that I was just out of his reach. I shook my head frantically, emitting pitiful noises as I tried to plead my case. Zacky stepped forward and snatched the tape from my mouth, causing me to cry out in agony as the glue pulled my skin and the sparse hair from the lower half of my face.

"I didn't say anything! I swear! I didn't even hint at it!" I begged, mentally cursing myself for how weak and fragile my voice sounded. Zacky folded his arms, leaning against one of the bed's tapered posts that attached to the footboard. "You didn't have to, baby doll. It was written all over your face. Every flinch and wince whenever Brian touched you or talked to you. Did you think no one would notice?"

I gaped at them, still shaking my head but I was unable to speak. Brian scoffed and stood up, looming over me. "Sweetie, you didn't have to say a fucking word to make anyone start asking questions. All night it was 'Is Reggie okay?' and not to mention to fucking looks I got from Lily Ann. Zacky said she practically interrogated him while we were drunk."

I felt new tears spill down my cheeks as I hunched into a ball on the bed, unsure of what to say or do. Nothing I could say would matter anyways. I remember Lily Ann barking out questions in the kitchen, her angry whispers more like shouts that the rest of us could hear. Of course, no one really knew what they were talking about except for me and Brian, and I could remember that glare he shot me from our position on the couch.

"W-what are y-you going to d-d-do to m-me?" I stuttered through my sobbing, and paled as I watched them exchange smirks. I felt a knife graze my skin as Brian cut the binding off of my wrists, causing an aching throb in my shoulders as I tried to relax my body. I rubbed at my eyes, smearing my eyeliner and mascara into a blurry mess, and tried to calm my breathing. Neither one of them had moved once the rope had been removed, so maybe they would just leave me alone.

Really? Did I think this was how it was going to go? I shrieked as Brian gipped my thighs painfully, batting at him and trying to claw at his face. I was in no position to swing a punch without breaking my hand, but as I balled my fist up to attempt it anyways, I heard Zacky click his tongue. I looked up just in time to see his fist as it connected with my cheek, causing stars to dance around my vision. All I could think in that split second was how pretty those stars were.

I shrieked as I felt someone grab my shoulders, shaking me ever so slightly. "Reg, wake up! It's just a bad dream, please wake up!" I opened my eyes and stared into the face of my best friend, her eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Lil?" I croaked, reaching up to rub my face. She sighed n relief and reached over, handing me an ugly pink plastic cup of water.

"Thank God. You've been thrashing around for the past ten minutes. I held the nurses off for this long, but they were about to shoot you up with that sedative again," she breathed, sitting up straight from where she sat on the edge of my hospital bed. Right, the hospital. I wasn't in that cabin anymore. But did it really matter that my body was here, in the safety of my friends' custody, while my mind was still trapped in that rustic bedroom?

My eyes traveled around the room, spotting Kayla and Johnny sitting on the small vinyl love seat in front of the window and Matt and AJ against the wall near the door. They were all dressed in their Sunday best, or more like funeral finery if you took into consideration the lack of color and the seriousness on their faces. "What's going on? Did someone die?" I asked, trying to make a joke but frowning when no one laughed. Tough crowd.

Lily Ann was absently stroking the back of my hand, something she used to do a lot whenever she would get nervous or was agitated about something. "They're going down to the court house for Brian's hearing. Depending on the judge's deliberation, he'll probably be released on bail."

I gaped at her, ignoring the rest of the room, and clutched desperately at her hand. "No, no, they can't do that Lil. He'll come after me! He's going to fucking kill me!" I cried, earning some incredibly concerned and pitying looks from around the room. Lily Ann did her best to try to calm me down, and Matt stepped forward.

"Sweetheart, I'm not sure what exactly happened between you and Brian, but I can promise you we won't let him come near you until we figure out what's going on." I wanted to snap an angry retort at him, but stopped when I saw the sadness in his eyes. This man was empathizing with me, someone he had only known for a brief time, during a situation where his brother and long time friend was being accused as an abusive and potentially murderous psychopath. I could see how devastated he was, torn between wanting to protect me and wanting to believe that his brother was innocent.

I pursed my lips and nodded, unable to speak. I held Lily Ann's hand in mine, afraid to let go. I felt useless here, and terrified, like a mouse caught in a trap waiting to either die a slow and painful death or be put out of my misery by the man of the house. Nothing was going to make me feel better while I was still vulnerable here, where he knew where I was. Clutching my best friend's hand was the only thing that gave me any sense of security.

I smiled gently and accepted the hugs from each of them as they shuffled out of the room to make it to the courthouse in time. Lily Ann and I sat quietly for a little while, my eyes cast down onto the white hospital-issued blanket that covered my lower half. Frowning, I ran my thumb gently over the bruises that decorated her wrist and lower half of her hand. "Lil, what happened?"

She snorted, which surprised me, and smiled triumphantly at me. "Brian grabbed my wrist after I broke his nose," she said proudly, causing me to release a startled gasp. "What?!" She shook her head, squeezing my hand gently in hers and waving me off with the other. "Nah, it's okay. I went to find him after the chaos yesterday and I punched him in the face when he practically admitted to doing this to you," she frowned, like she was lost in thought. "Okay, so he didn't say it in so many words, but everything about him screamed guilty. I kind of snapped when he blew smoke in my face."

I laughed uneasily, attempting to adjust myself in a more comfortable positon. When the fuck were they going to take this god damn tube out of my side? It was uncomfortable as hell and pulled painfully whenever I tried to move around. "So he grabbed you?" She nodded, still smirking. "Yea. Shoved me against the wall when I tried to clock him again. I've got a wicked bruise on my back, but it's totally worth it to know that perfect fucking nose is going to have an awful bump in it."

I shook my head, watching her affectionately as she stood up to retrieve one of her precious energy drinks from the small fridge on the shelf. Since when did hospital rooms have such commodities? "Where'd the fridge come from?" Her eyebrows lifted over the upturned can and she looked back at it like it was the first time she'd really noticed it. "Oh, that? Zacky bought it and convinced the staff to let me keep it in here. I've been here more than our house. It's a surprise I even still have a job." She shrugged and took another long gulp.

I tensed up at the mention of Zacky's name, unaware that she was still with him. But of course she would be. If they hadn't figured out who'd done this to me already, then they'd probably put on an award-winning performance. "Lily?" I asked softly, looking into her beaming face and regretting that I would have to be the one to say anything. "Did you ever watch the footage on that little camera from Zacky's house?"

She frowned, the space between her eyebrows wrinkling, and she shook her head. "No, I can't say that I ever did. I forgot all about it when everything happened that night at the club," she said slowly, as if this was the first time she'd heard about it. "Why?" I sighed, pretending to be more interested in twiddling my thumbs than talking to her.

"You should probably go watch it," I muttered softly, picking at invisible loose threads and pieces of fuzz that didn't exist. I heard her crush the can in her dainty hand before tossing it into the small plastic trash can near the couch. "Reggie, what the fuck is on that video?" I winced at the sharpness of her tone and looked up at her, guilt etched on my face. She was staring at me, her blue eyes seeming to stare right into my soul and I wilted.

"It might be better if you just watch it for yourself," I said, my voice small. She narrowed her eyes and sat back down on the edge of the bed. I felt like shit, considering I had never kept anything from her before, and I wasn't sure if she'd accept my desperate attempt at keeping her safe as a reasonable answer. We had always been in this together, no matter what shit we had managed to get ourselves into, and even though I had always been the one to orchestrate a plan to fix the situation, I never once kept her in the dark for the sake of protecting her. How would she be able to bail me out of jail if she had no way of creating an alibi for me?

"Reg," she said slowly, her tone leaving no room for argument. I felt like a naughty child who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar before dinner, and I caved. "Zacky sent a video to Brian that night that you two went on a date. Apparently, he had his own camera set up and filmed himself raping you while you were drugged. They had some sort of agreement to share videos of the two of us, and I found it before Brian watched it. I'm so sorry Lily Ann, I wanted to tell you but they threatened to hurt me and rape you together if I said anything." I gasped, pouring out my pent up guilt in one string of breathless sentences.

She didn't say anything. She didn't move. She didn't even blink for a few seconds. I couldn't tell if she was angry, upset, furious, depressed. She gave me no inkling as to what she was thinking. If I closed my eyes, her silence and stillness would have made me thought she disappeared. Finally, after a few minutes of uncomfortable, treacherous silence, she spoke. "What did they do to you, Reggie?"

I paled under the intense scrutiny of her icy blue eyes, playing absently with the blanket. I chewed on my bottom lip, and she arched a brow, making it clear that she wasn't moving or changing the subject until I came clean. "He attacked me that night," I sighed, feeling a fresh batch of tears roll down my cheeks. "He raped me and hit me. After the club, I just remember them taking me out to some cabin. It had to have taken a few hours, because it was morning when we got there. It's spotty after that. I keep remembering little by little, through my nightmares, but nothing that would really explain all of this," I gestured to the hospital room.

She looked at me through watery eyes and pulled me to her in a gentle hug, handling me with care as if I were a delicate piece of china that she was afraid would shatter. "Oh Reggie," she breathed against my hair, allowing me to cry shamelessly into her shoulder. We sat like that for what seemed like forever, until one of the doctors entered the room and we parted.

"Miss Williams?" Lily Ann turned to face the older man, a clipboard in his hand and a nurse behind him with a cart covered in various medical instruments. "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to ask you to please step out of the room. We'll be removing Miss Clarkson's chest tube and running a few tests on her, which will probably take up the rest of visiting hours."

His no-nonsense tone suggested that there would be no room for questioning the sudden enforcement of the visiting hours, and she looked back at me with a gentle, sad smile. "Alright, babe, I'm going to head home and get some sleep. I have to work in the morning anyways." She leaned down and hugged me, and I didn't question it. The worn, frayed look around her eyes suggested that she'd spent way too many nights in this uncomfortable room as it was, and I knew how much she hated hospitals.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, Lil. Be careful," I muttered into her shoulder, and she gave me a final squeeze before whispering into my ear, "I'll watch the video tonight." I pursed my lips and nodded as she released me and stood up, gathering her things and heading for the door. She glanced back at me one more time before disappearing into the hospital.

LILY ANN

I didn't really want to do this. I knew I had to, but that didn't make me want to do it.

AJ had called me earlier to let me know that Brian's bail had been posted, a startling amount of $10,000 which I didn't consider nearly enough for that piece of shit, and that he would be facing trial in six months. And who said celebrities don't get bitch slapped with justice?

Zacky had called too, and I forced a cheerful tone as we talked about anything and nothing, completely avoiding the topic of Brian and that hateful look he had given me outside of the hospital before the police arrested Brian. He offered to stay the night with me, but I politely declined, giving him a bullshit excuse about period cramps and needing to get some sleep for work in the morning. He said he would come to the mall and take me out to lunch, and I accepted before getting off the phone and throwing it to the other end of the couch like it was a venomous snake.

I had already plugged the corresponding cables into the RCA slot on my TV, and the remote was poised in my hands as I nervously clicked my tongue and tried to find some excuse not to watch it. I had a feeling I'd know what I would find. Why would Reggie have any reason to lie to me, especially with everything that happened to her? She put her life on the line, literally, to protect me from whatever these nut jobs were capable of, so I owed her this.

I hesitantly pressed play and leaned back on the couch, fast forwarding through a few hours of silence and an empty room. Finally, I saw myself stumble happily into the room and onto the bed, while Zacky stepped in front of the camera, apparently setting up his own. How did he miss this one? Probably because it was so small.

I forced myself to sit still and not cover my eyes as I watched him violate me on the screen, a detached voice in my head marveling at how clear the video and audio quality were for such a small camera. Probably my psyche's attempt at remaining sane. When the video was over, I numbly stood up and walked to the bathroom, emptying the contents of my stomach into the porcelain bowl until I was dry heaving painfully.

I stood up shakily and stared at myself in the mirror, pale and foreign compared to the reflect I knew from months ago, and I gripped the edge of the counter tightly, my knuckles a mottled combination of white and red. I challenged myself in the mirror, and my reflection seemed to taunt me over my naivety. I screamed and threw my fist into the mirror, splintering the glass where my face had peered back at me.

I dropped to the floor, passing out from either exhaustion or shock, the image of a hundred pale, angry faces haunting me.

Notes

Two chapters today, people! Yay!

<3