Her glare snaps to mine and there’s the glimpse of that fire that I fell in love with. A piece of the anger this gorgeous blonde showed me that night in the cemetery. I already knew then that I was going to marry her. Maybe she’s not as far away as I thought.
“Not what I think?” she repeats softly. “You drugged me.”
I didn’t have a choice when I chased her in the woods outside of the motel. It was the only way I could get her to Dollhouse. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
Her face tightens. “But you did.” I can see her body trembling under the blanket. “You let them rape me.” I run my hands through my hair at her words, wanting to hold her. “You let them cut me.”
I look away, swallowing the knot in my throat at what she remembers. When my eyes meet hers once again, they’re swimming in fresh tears. “Angel…”
“Don’t call me that,” she screams. Lowering her voice, she drops her gaze to the floor. “You stood there and watched while I begged them to kill me.”She’s trembling, pushed up against the wall, trying to make herself small. Needing to get as far away from me as possible.
I won’t let her do this to herself. She didn’t come this far to give up. My girl wants to fight.
I stand, and her eyes go wide with panic. “Nooo. Don’t you dare. Stay away from me.” She throws the water bottle at me, and I duck, hearing it hit the floor behind me.
Walking over to her, she begins to scream. I pull the blanket off her, and she tries to crawl away, but I grab her arm and yank her to her feet. She kicks and screams while I drag her to the bathroom. I shove the door closed with my boot so she can’t get away.
I position myself behind her and grab a handful of her matted hair, forcing her to face the mirror. “Look at yourself,” I command.
“No,” she sobs, eyes tightly shut. “Just stop…please. Stop.” Her body thrashes against mine as she shoves herself away from the counter.
“Open your eyes,” I shout, needing a reaction from her. One that helps her see what I see.
Her eyes open, and she stops screaming when she looks at her reflection in front of us.
I let out a long breath and soften my voice. “Look at yourself, Eve. All of you.”
“What?” She breathes. “I don’t understand.” Frantically groping at her naked body, she works to comprehend what she thinks she knows and what she sees. “You said we’ve only been here for two days.”
“We have.” I undo her tangled hair from my fist.
She turns to face me and looks over her shoulder at her back. “Where were we before we came here?”
“Dollhouse.”
Her watery eyes glance up at me. “But you…” She looks down at her arms and hands. “You let them… I was bleeding.”
“It was a hallucination, Eve.”
She bows her head, and all you can hear is both of us trying to catch our breath. After a moment, she says, “No.” Her eyes meet mine and fresh tears fill them. “No. It was real.”
“It wasn’t,” I assure her.
“I don’t understand.” She wraps her arms around herself.
“I had to make you think it was real,” I say honestly, and she sniffs. “I had to threaten you, chase you from the motel, sedate you in the woods. I had to plant doubt in your mind, Eve. I had to make you think I was going to hurt you, knowing that I was taking you to Dollhouse.”
“What happened when we got there?”
Sin and I silently follow Bill through Dollhouse. He comes to a door and holds it open for us to enter.
Stepping inside, I take in the cold, sterile room. Reminds me of a hospital, but it’s nothing like that. There’s an elevated metal table in the center. Restraints hang over both sides from one end to the other.
It makes me wonder if she’s been here before, in this very room, back when she was a doll. If so, what did they do to her?
“Place her on the table,” Bill orders.
I lay her down, and she shifts onto her side, curling into a ball. I have to readjust her because it’s not wide enough. She’s going to roll right off the side. “Kash-ton?” she whispers, her voice rough with sleep.
