No. Oh,shit. No.
Phoenix pours everything out of the blender and into a glass. And his eyes snap up to meet mine.
Fucking hell. Don’t smile. Don’t you smile.
He does exactly that.
“You deserve to die,” I say as he steps toward me with the glass of ego and ruin. “I wish I’d been faster, wish I would have just pulled out my blade and made it messy, right there in that garage. I wish I’d gutted you and carved every finger from your body and fed your eyeballs to the vultures.”
“Words, words, little witch,” he says with both a snarl and a grin. “I think we’ve both had enough of them. Make your peace with whatever devil you worship. Rest easy knowing I will continue to heal the world.”
“Fuck you!” I suck in as Phoenix grips my hair and yanks my head back. He pours an ungodly amount of that vile smoothie into my mouth, and instantly slaps a hand down over my mouth so I can’t spit it in his face.
The taste is acidic. Something in it burns, and my eyes instantly water. I surge against the chair, but it’s heavy and solid. I only arch off it a little. My heart thunders in my ears, threatening to rupture my eardrums. I feel bile rising up my throat, my body trying to reject the poison of Phoenix’s blood. But if I throw up, with his hand fixed over my mouth, I will absolutely asphyxiate.
“Accept it,” Phoenix says, his whole body shaking as he holds his hand over my mouth. His grip is tight enough, I can’t bite him. “It’s time we end this, Willow. Drink, and let it be finished.”
I can’t. Ican’t. If I drink this down, I’ll die. Of that, I’m certain. Phoenix is too much of a coward to get his hands dirty, to do it himself. But he’ll put poison in a drink and force it down my throat.
Phoenix sets the rest of the drink on the bookshelf beside me, and suddenly, he pinches my nose. All my air cuts off. My body instantly convulses, panicked instantaneously. And before I can logic or reason with my body, my throat opens up, and I swallow.
“That’s it,” Phoenix says as he releases my nose.
My whole body revolts. He’s in me. This man, this monster, this toxic excuse for breath is inside me. His blood is now racing down my throat, headed to my stomach, where my body will absorb it. Phoenix fucking Marrow has infiltrated me from the inside out.
I yack. I gag. I use every abdominal muscle to try to eject him from my body.
The drink burns, my mouth tastes of iron. The humiliation is the point; the degradation is the sermon.
I gasp in a breath, and I’m too deep in survival instinct to protect myself. The second my mouth opens to drag in the oxygen I need, he dumps the rest of his smoothie in my mouth. His hand clamps over my mouth once more. He pinches my nose. And my body wants nothing more than to survive.
I swallow the burning concoction.
Even though I know I’m now fucking dead.
chapter twenty
LUCKY
The silks are still swayingabove me, there are scorch marks on the floor; my crew is spilling onto the stage like ants after a kicked anthill. I’m still standing in the crack of the curtain, staring at Willow’s empty seat. And behind me, I feel the eyes of six people who shouldn’t know I’m alive.
My family.
Holy shit. How does a life fall apart so fast? Twenty minutes ago, everything was fine. Fantastic. I was having the time of my life while performing, knowing the woman I love was watching.
And now?
I turn to face them.
They’re standing in the middle of the stage, frozen in disbelief. My father’s jaw is locked tight. My mother’s face is streaked with tears. My grandmother clutches her cane like she’s holding the earth together.
And my crew? They are fucking panicking.
The sound comes back all at once.
“Are you okay?”
“Lucky—holy shit, you fell?—”
