Chapter 20
FIONA
For five days, we fuck, cuddle, watch television, and gorge on the exquisite food they bring us.
We don’t ask why we’re kept here for so long, or what it means. We accept the time as a gift, praying his seed takes root.
What’s ironic is that we don’t talk about torture or any of the bad parts of our lives. We talk about the unbroken parts of us. How he loved the show Lost and hates Dr. Who. How he detests Peeps.
I tell him about how I’d skip band to go to Dairy Queen and loved playing dodgeball.
We watch the cartoon Gargoyles and listen to sad 90’s music. We fit as much living as we can into our time together, staving off thoughts of the inevitable.
But the opening of the door to our prison apartment brings us back to our harsh reality.
“Please, no!” I choke, burying my face in Hunter’s chest.
His big arms circle me as he pulls me in tight. “It’s okay, baby. They’re going to take care of you.”
“I don’t want to be taken care of! I want you.”
“Sit down.” Cole’s gruff voice rips through the room.
My blood is hot fury, but Hunter responds before I can.
“Can I have a minute to say goodbye?”
“I said, sit the fuck down!”
“Seriously?” Hunter retorts, his muscles tensing.
“If you don’t sit the fuck down, I’ll make you,” Cole threatens.
Through my tears, I see Atticus, Blake, and Grady standing behind Cole.
There’s no way out of this.
“C-c-can I just have a few minutes with him?” I beg.
Cole grabs a chair, drags it over to the couch, and sits with back of the chair between his thighs. He gestures to the couch. “Sit, and don’t make me say it again.”
“It’s okay,” Hunter whispers. “I did what I did and there’s no taking it back. Don’t make this harder on yourself.”
I allow Hunter to guide me to the couch, utterly devastated. I thought I could go on without him, but now I’m not so sure.
Once we’re settled, Hunter says, “Don’t draw this out.”
“I don’t intend to,” Cole says.
“Then what is this about?”
Cole looks from Hunter to me, then back to Hunter. “Ask me what I’ve been doing the last few days.”
“Quite frankly, I don’t give a fuck what you were doing,” Hunter snarls. “Get on with it.”
“I’ve been watching the testimonies of at least twenty women and what they went through at the hands of predators I reckon are worse than the dead that are walking. Predators you killed.”
That gets my attention.
