Nothing Left to Lose

Sweet sixteen
is a day that every girl should remember as special in their lives.
In some cultures, it’s even considered to be the start of passage
into womanhood. My sixteenth was anything but sweet; it was more
like the passage into hell on earth. March 12 was the day my dreams
died and my life was sent into a downward spiral of pain, grief and
terror. My sixteenth birthday left an irrevocable scar on me, and
was the beginning of events that I would see repeatedly in my
nightmares.

Right now I was
standing in the cold of the night, queuing for admittance outside
club Ozone – unknowingly waiting for my traumatic ordeal to begin.
The balls of my feet were already aching, a product of the
ridiculously high heels that I wore. The cool wind whipped around
me, making the little black dress that I was wearing billow around
my thighs. My perfect boyfriend, Jack Roberts, was rubbing my arms,
trying to warm me up. We’d been standing in line for the club for
almost an hour, and finally were quite near the front.

“Jack, I’m not
sure this is gonna work. Maybe we should just go watch a movie or
something?” I whispered, eyeing the doorman, who was looking at the
line suspiciously.

“Anna, it’ll
work. You asked me to take you to a club for your birthday, so I’m
doing exactly that,” he replied, cupping his chilly hands around my
face.

I looked at him
and my heart stuttered. I loved this boy with everything I had in
me. He was kind, loving, caring, generous, thoughtful, and not to
mention handsome. With his short blond hair and sparkling blue
eyes, he was every girl’s dream. Literally. Every girl I knew was
in love with my boyfriend, but he had only ever had eyes for me.
We’d met when we were five years old. He’d asked me to be his
girlfriend the first time I saw him, and we’d been together ever
since. He was my everything, and we would be together forever. We
already had everything planned – finish school, then college, then
Jack would become a doctor like he’d always wanted to be, and I
would become an artist. Eventually, we would get married and have
kids. Perfect.

Three months
ago, Jack had asked me what I wanted to do to celebrate my
birthday; he said that I could choose anything in the world and we
would do it. So I decided to go out to a club, and then I wanted to
stay at a hotel, where we would have sex for the first time. After
three months of planning and scheming, we had finally convinced our
parents to let us stay out. Jack had gotten us both a fake ID card,
and I was so excited that I could barely contain myself.

Now that we
were here though, in the cold, surrounded by half-drunken people,
all I wanted to do was go back to the hotel and have him run his
hands all over my body to warm me up, and then we would finally be
together physically.

I smiled up at
him, my stomach clenching in anticipation. He smiled back and bent
his head to kiss me. I melted against him. When Jack kissed me, I
felt amazing, like my heart was flying, and like I was the luckiest
girl in the world. His hands slipped down to my ass, squeezing
gently, causing a small smile to tug at the corners of my
mouth.

When he broke
the kiss, he pulled back, grinning at me. His eyes sparkled in the
dim street lights. “I love you, Anna.”

My heart
throbbed again as my whole body broke out in goosebumps. I loved
the sound of those three words coming out of his mouth; I still
wasn’t used to hearing them even after all these years.

“I love you
too,” I replied, and I did. I loved him more than anything. He
kissed me again, pulling my body closer to his.

A gentle tap on
my shoulder made me jump and break the kiss.

“Hi,” a male
voice said from behind me.

I turned around
to see a man who was probably in his mid-twenties. He wasn’t in the
line of people waiting to enter the club; he stood the other side
of the ropes. He was quite good-looking, with nicely styled, dark
brown hair and brown eyes. A sleek, black, button down shirt
covered his broad shoulders, and he’d paired it with black pants
and extremely expensive-looking shoes. He was looking me over
slowly.

“Er, hi,” I
replied, smiling sweetly, trying to be friendly in case he worked
here. He wasn’t on his own; two other guys stood behind him.

“I’m Carter,”
the brown haired guy said, holding out his hand for me to
shake.

“Anna.” I put
my hand in his, shaking it politely. He didn’t let go, instead he
pulled me towards him, away from Jack.

“I can get you
in if you want, saves you waiting in the cold,” he offered,
smiling. My insides bubbled with excitement at the thought of
getting into the club. I looked back at Jack, who was frowning
angrily and glaring at my hand that the guy still held.

“Yeah? That’d
be great! It’s freezing out here,” I chirped happily, trying not to
jump up and down on the spot from excitement.

Carter laughed.
“Come on then, Anna.” He nodded to one of the people that he was
with, and they immediately unclipped the rope so I could step out
of the line.

I reached back
and grabbed Jack’s hand, grinning ecstatically.

“Er, Princess,
your boy’s not invited,” Carter said, sneering at Jack as if he was
something he’d just stepped in.

Confusion
settled over me. “What? I thought you said you could get us
in.”

He finally let
go of my hand and stepped back. “I said I could get
you
in.
We don’t need any spectators.” He jerked his chin towards Jack as
his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.

I frowned
angrily.
What a jerk!
He’d interrupted me and Jack making
out, but thought I’d go into the club with him and leave Jack
outside? “Right, well no thanks, I’m with my boyfriend. I thought
you meant both of us. Sorry.” I took the rope back out of the other
guy’s hand and clipped it back to the ring, then wrapped my arms
around the love of my life, glaring at Carter.

Carter
shrugged. “Suit yourself. Maybe you’ll save me a dance.” He smirked
at me before he turned and walked straight into the club.

“What a
jackass!” I growled, watching his disappearing back. Jack laughed,
and all my anger melted away instantly at the sound. “What’s so
funny?” I asked, smiling at him.

“You just can’t
help yourself, can you? You make guys fall for you without even
trying.” He grinned as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me
closer to his body.

“I know, it
must be my irresistible charm,” I joked, fluttering my
eyelashes.

“Either that or
your incredible legs,” he teased, hesitantly rubbing his hands over
my thighs. I slapped his chest playfully and pulled him down to
kiss me again.

After about
another half an hour, we were finally ushered through into the club
with no problems. The doorman barely even glanced at our IDs. Once
we were through the door, I jumped up and down, squealing
excitedly.

“This is awesome!” I
cried, grabbing his hand and immediately pulling him to the dance
floor. The music was so loud you could almost feel the vibrations
through the floor.

“Let’s get a
drink,” he shouted in my ear after a couple of songs. I nodded and
he took my hand, leading me towards the bar. We had a quick drink
and then went straight back to dancing, losing ourselves in the
rhythm of the loud music. He had one hand on my backside the whole
time, making me feel hot and bothered. When he bent his head and
kissed me, I tangled my hands in his hair, kissing him back with
everything I had. We’d only been inside for an hour, but I was
ready to leave. The club was fantastic but what I really wanted was
what we planned for after – my night with him.

“Jack, want to
go?” I asked, running my hands down his chest. He grinned at me and
nodded eagerly. He had been ready to take our relationship to the
next level for the last six months but we’d wanted to wait until we
were both sixteen.

He took my hand
and we made our way out of the club, weaving through the crowd of
drunken people that were milling around enjoying their night. As we
got near the stairs that led down to the front lobby, the guy that
I spoke to in the line outside, Carter, stepped out and held his
hand in front of us to stop.

“Hi, Princess.
How about that dance?” he asked, looking me over slowly.

“No thanks,
we’re leaving,” I declined confidently.

“Oh, I don’t
think so.” He smiled and took my hand, yanking me forwards, away
from Jack. My mouth popped open in shock.

“Get your
fucking hands off her!” Jack growled menacingly, stepping forward.
I looked back at him with wide eyes, wondering if there was going
to be some kind of fight. Before I could even comprehend what had
happened, someone grabbed him from behind, holding his arms behind
his back securely.

I struggled to
get out of Carter’s hold, ripping my hand from his. “Get the hell
off me! Let him go! I don’t want to dance with you; I’m leaving
with my boyfriend!” I cried angrily.

Carter smiled
wickedly, not seeming bothered by this confrontation in the
slightest. “One dance is all I ask, and then you can go,” he
offered, waving his hand dismissively. Jack made a furious snorting
sound so the guy that was holding him shoved him roughly against
the wall, holding him there. I screamed and looked around wildly
for some help.

“For fuck’s
sake! You touch her and I’ll kill you!” Jack growled.

“No one speaks
to me like that!” Carter shouted angrily.

He stepped
forward and punched Jack in the face, splitting his lip. Almost
instantly, blood poured down his face. Carter pulled his arm back,
obviously about to deliver a second blow. He looked murderously
angry; his whole face was contorted in rage. Panic rushed through
my system at the thought of this guy hurting Jack. I couldn’t let
that happen. I wouldn’t.

“No! Okay,
okay, I’ll dance! One dance, just please don’t hurt him, please,” I
begged, with tears rolling down my cheeks.

“No, Anna!”
Jack shouted, spitting blood onto the floor. I looked at him and
felt my chin quiver at the sight of his bleeding face. My heart was
beating so fast that I thought I would pass out.

“It’s alright.
One dance, I don’t mind,” I lied, forcing a small smile.

Carter laughed
and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the dance floor. He pulled
me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me tightly, his face
inches from mine. I felt sick; my skin was crawling. I turned my
face away, refusing to look at him as he ground his crotch into my
hip. Bile rose in my throat, so I quickly swallowed it down. One of
his hands slipped down to my ass, the other onto my thigh. I closed
my eyes and willed the song to be over; my body was shaking in
anger and fear. I just prayed they weren’t hurting Jack while I
wasn’t there.

Finally, after
what seemed like forever, the song finished. I put my hands on his
chest and pushed as hard as I could, but he didn’t let go, he just
held me tighter, laughing.

“You know,
you’re so beautiful, Princess,” he breathed in my ear.

“Please, you
said one dance, please,” I begged, trying to squirm out of his
hold.

“I’ve changed
my mind. One’s not enough,” he purred, kissing my neck.

I gasped and
pushed him again, panic washing over me as I squirmed, trying to
get some distance between us. This time he dug his fingers into my
sides roughly. Pain shot through me, making me cry out, but no one
could hear because the music was still thumping around us.