Christmas Eve, eight years ago
Tam froze as Taylor Henderson remained in front of her. A flicker of fear ignited within her. She had been so careful to avoid him today and now here he was. She took in her surroundings, they were standing on the opposite side of the house from the party with no one else in sight.
‘What are you doing here, all by yourself?’ he asked as he took a step closer.
Tam stepped back as the knot in her stomach started to tighten. ‘I’m looking for Dylan,’ she said. ‘Have you seen him?’
Taylor shook his head and took another step forward. ‘Nope, it looks like it’s just us here.’
Again Tam clocked her surroundings. She looked behind her, thinking that there might be a way out, but the path stopped by another flowerbed and access to the front of the house was cut off by a high wire fence. The only way she could get back to the party was to get past Taylor.
‘Why would you want to hang around someone like Dylan Petersen?’ Taylor asked. A smile spread across his face. ‘There are better options.’
Tam gave him a nervous smile. ‘That’s not it—I want to know when he’s going back to town.’ She tried to walk around him.
Taylor stepped in her path. ‘You don’t have to run off, do you?’
‘Gemma will be wondering where I am,’ Tam said quickly.
‘It’s a party, Tim Tam—no one will be wondering where you are.’
Tamara winced at the nickname. Her grandad called her that sometimes, and he always told her that it was because she was as sweet as the biscuit. But hearing it roll off Taylor’s tongue made her shudder. He’d taken something innocent and sweet and made it … well, off.
‘We’re leaving soon,’ she tried again, ‘so I’d better get back. Gemma will worry.’
‘Oh come on, Tam, don’t run off.’
She doubled back and tried to walk around him again, this time she thought she’d been successful but then his hand shot out and grabbed her around the wrist.
‘Don’t run off,’ he said.
Tam tried to wrench her arm from his grasp but she couldn’t. ‘Let go, Taylor,’ she said as evenly as she could. ‘I want to leave.’
‘Stay,’ he said with a smile as he pulled her towards him.
‘I don’t want to.’ She tried harder to wriggle out of his grasp.
‘Yes, you do,’ he said. ‘I’ve seen how you look at me.’
Tam shook her head. ‘No, you’ve got that wrong. I don’t look at you in any way. Please, let me go.’
He released her arm and relief ran through her entire body. Perhaps her words had actually got through to him. She rubbed her wrist where his fingers had been, the skin was red and it was stinging. Once again she tried to move past him but this time he grabbed her by the shoulders and propelled her back towards the old garden shed. She fought back but he was stronger and Tam only came to a halt when her back was slammed up against the old, corrugated iron.
‘Aargh,’ Tam gasped as pain radiated across her shoulders. She pushed back but he batted her hands away, stepped in close and pressed his entire body against hers, pinning her to the wall. ‘Get off me!’
She didn’t get to say anything else as Taylor bent down and slanted his mouth over hers. The kiss was hard and mean and it terrified her. She scratched at his face and pulled his hair but the assault didn’t end. One of his hands clamped over her breast and she struggled to push him away. She tried to scream but her voice was muffled and the panic rose like a tsunami inside her.
‘Tamara, are you okay?’ came a voice from somewhere behind Taylor.
Taylor stopped kissing her and looked over his shoulder. She saw that Blake was standing by the lemon tree. She’d never been so happy to see someone in her life.
‘Get the hell out of here, can’t you see I’m busy?’ Taylor growled at his brother.
‘Don’t go,’ Tam managed to say in a small voice.
Blake was turning away but hesitated once he heard her. ‘No, Taylor, I’m not going anywhere—at least not until Tam says she’s okay.’
Taylor partially turned to confront his brother, Tam could feel the anger emanating from him. As he stared down Blake, his grip loosened and Tam took the chance. She drew back her hand and slashed at his face with her nails before shoving him as hard as she could then running towards Blake.
Taylor staggered a couple of steps back. ‘You bitch,’ he called out as he held his hand up to his bleeding cheek.
‘Go find Dylan,’ Blake said quickly when she reached his side. ‘He’s back with Gem and Will. Get out of here as fast as you can.’
Hot, burning tears were blurring her eyes but she managed to reach out and squeeze Blake’s hand before turning and running as fast as she could. She headed back behind the house and around the other side, hurrying through the crowd around the barbecue. Several people stared at her and she saw Blake’s mum look at her with concern. But Tam didn’t stop.
She could see her friends standing together not far ahead. Tears coursed down her face as she pushed herself to run faster. She didn’t stop until she barrelled into Dylan, who automatically opened up his arms to catch her.
‘Tam!’ Gemma called out as she rushed over to her. ‘What’s the matter?’
Tam buried her head against Dylan’s shoulder. She didn’t answer for a moment because she was trying to catch her breath.
‘It’s all right,’ he said softly. ‘Whatever has happened—everything will be okay.’
She looked up. ‘I … we’ve got to go. I can’t stay here,’ she said between sobs.
Dylan nodded. ‘Okay, we’ll go.’
Gemma gave her a hug, even though she was still in Dylan’s arms. ‘We’ll go,’ she said quickly. ‘But it’s too early for my brother to pick us up.’
‘I don’t care if I have to walk back to town, I can’t stay here,’ Tam whispered.
‘It’s all right, we’ll start walking and work out a ride as we go.’ Dylan guided her towards the old iron gate. ‘Will, grab our stuff and ring your mum to meet us on the way.’
The four of them walked through the gate and started heading down the dirt road which led back to town.
Gemma was walking close to Tam and holding her hand, while Dylan still had his arm around her.
‘Tam, are you going to tell us what happened?’ Gem asked gently.
‘I just really wanted to leave,’ she answered with her eyes downcast.
‘My mum’s not answering,’ Will said. ‘She’s probably busy at work or something. Dylan, can your dad … ’ Will trailed off when he saw the look on Dylan’s face.
‘I suppose that means we don’t have a ride,’ Gemma said quietly. By car, the journey to the Hendersons’ took under fifteen minutes but walking would take considerably longer. ‘You look pale, Tam,’ Gem said, ‘do you want to sit down?’
‘No, let’s keep going,’ Tam said. She began to sob, ‘I want to go home.’
‘We’ll get you home, don’t worry,’ Dylan said. ‘Do you think you should ring your mum? It might be the only way we can get back to town.’
Tam wiped her tears away and took a deep breath. He was right. Even if it meant that she’d get in trouble for going to the party at least she’d be home. She pulled out her phone and speed-dialled her mum. Tam sniffed back her tears, determined to be calm for her mother. It rang a couple of times before her mum answered, Tam could make out Lix’s voice in the background. As soon as she heard her mother’s voice, all her fear came rushing back.
‘Mum, I need you. I’m sorry … I,’ Tam stammered out. ‘He tried to … he touched me and tried to …’ She tried to get the words out but a lump formed in her throat and she could barely breathe as she gasped for air.
Her mum was telling her to calm down, talk slowly but she couldn’t talk.
Dylan took the phone. ‘Mrs Carrington, it’s Dylan. Tam’s okay, Gemma, Will and I are with her. We’ve left the Henderson place and are walking back towards town. Can you come and get us?’