“Is Mr. King…a King? Is that what makes you as precious as a princess?” He smiles at me crookedly. “I’ve missed you,” he hisses in a hushed voice, stroking his knuckles across my cheek. “Are you ready to come back to where you belong, yet?” he asks, fingering one of my curls, then tucking it behind my ear. Ishudder under his cold touch and wonder how long it will take for someone to come looking for me. It feels like I’ve been gone for ages when in reality, it’s only a couple of minutes.
“I’ll never come back to you, never,” I say firmly, through gritted teeth.
“So stubborn. My beautiful girl. So stupid.”
“You can’t make me come back. You won’t.”
“I won’tmakeyou do anything, Arianna.” He laughs and takes two steps backwards, dragging his feet as he goes. “I’d never take you without your consent. You should have figured that out by now. No, you’ll come of your own accord.”
“Don’t hold your breath. It’ll be a cold day in hell when I come back to you.”
“You think you can shut me out? You think I’d let you go that easily?” He lurches forward and slams his palms against the wall on either side of my head. “You haven’t even let go ofmeyet, I’m in here…” He taps the side of my temple with his index finger and I flinch away from him. “I’m deeply ingrained, I affect everything you do. I’m right, aren’t I?” he spits, tilting his head and staring into my eyes. His eyes are black, they’re almost inhuman, and having him in such close proximity hurtles me back to the time where I had to look into these soulless eyes every day. “I may have taken my eye off the ball for a split second when you left. But since I found you, I’ve been in control of everything. They say you control your own destiny, Arianna…well, I control yours. You think there are coincidences?” He laughs a bitter, twisted laugh. “There are no coincidences, Arianna. I’ve controlled every situation you’ve been in, even the ones you can’t quite remember yet. I always have. Always will. And the sooner you see that, the sooner we can give up this game of cat and mouse, before someone gets really hurt.” He drops his hands from the door and straightens out his suit, smoothing out imaginary creases. “Does the kingknow about me?” he asks as casually as if he were asking me about the weather.
“Yes,” I whisper.
“Speak up,” he yells in my face, making me jump.
“Yes,” I try to say more firmly but by raising his voice, he’s forced the adrenaline to rush faster through my body, and I have very little control over it.
He steps back letting his hands swing by his side and his voice drops back to a low, dangerous level. “You’ve told him…everything?”
I shake my head. “No, not everything.” My voice sounds small, even to my own ears, which makes me shake harder in anticipation to the yelling that could follow. But it doesn’t.
“You’ve told him that I visited you, in your new workplace?” he questions, raising a brow.
I look at my feet but don’t answer.
“I thought as much.” He laughs. “You know, I would never let my woman work. It’s a man’s job to provide everything his woman needs; I’m thinking Mr. King isn’t a real man.”
He’s goading me, I know he is. Trying to get a reaction. Well, he can suck it this time. I’m not rising to it. “He’s taken you, a little broken bird, under his wing. He’s trying to fix you because it suits his white knight image, and god knows you’re broken. I did the breaking. And, when he’s done trying to fix you, he’ll move on to the next girl that stumbles through the door of The Kingdom, one that he can control and manipulate, making them think he’s Mr. Fucking Wonderful. The man who thinks he has everything,” he sneers, and the more he talks, the more I can see him getting agitated.
“What do you want, Jonny?” I ask, trying to keep my voice neutral.
“All I ever wanted was you, Arianna. I still do.”
“And if you can’t have me?”
“That’s not an option. I want you, and I’ll stop at nothing to get you. You’ll see,” he says resolutely.
He strides toward me and reaches for the door handle. I step aside and he grabs the back of my head and pulls me to him, planting a hard kiss on my lips without warning and consent. But Jonny never waited for consent for anything. He wanted what he wanted, and he took it. He lets me go abruptly when I push at his chest, and I wipe my lips with the back of my hand.
“You’ll see,” he says knowingly, pulling the door open. “Oh, one more thing…I wouldn’t tell King about our little chat today, you never know who will suffer for it.”
He winks, smirks, and then he’s gone.
His parting words to me spin through my head along with everything else he’s just said. My knees weaken and finally give in, and my stomach lurches in breath stealing cramps, threatening to return my lunch.
I run to the stall, just in time to drop to my knees and empty my stomach. It feels like the walls are closing in, the room is spinning.
“Ari … are you in here?” Lottie’s voice cuts through the dizziness, but I’m unable to call back as my stomach starts to heave again. “Oh god, what’s wrong, Ari?” I hear her pushing open all the stall doors until she finds the one I’m in. “You’re sick … Shit.” She curses as she pulls all my hair back from my face and rubs my back until I finally stop being sick. “Your lunch must have been really bad for it to come back up that quick, huh?” she jokes.
I take a deep breath and manage to stand up far enough to turn around and pull the lid of the toilet down. I plonk myself down, with no control whatsoever. I have no strength left in my body, and I rest my elbows on my knees and drop my head in my hands.
“I need to go and tell the moms what’s going on in here, and then we’re going to get you home, okay?”
“No,” I shout. “Please don’t go anywhere, Lottie…” I beg, as panic sets in that I’ll be in here alone, again.
“I’ll be two seconds, okay. Just stay right there,” she orders before she flies out of the door.
