His friends follow. They seem amused, making jokes, jeering him on, and taking bets as they continue to drink.

I try to scream. To beg Royce, “Please, just stop! Royce, please!”

It’s to no avail. The anger in him consumes him completely and I’m not left wondering as to the cause when he begins to rail at me.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out, you whore?”

Spittle sprays into my face as he yells at me, telling me how he happened to walk by Vera’s house that morning and saw us in an embrace.

How he spied on us.