“Not yoga.” I confirm, locking the door behind us and gesturing for him to follow me.
He doesn't hesitate, though I can feel him bristling as we get closer to the basement. Before I open the door, I turn to smirk at him.
“You're not scared, are you, Dex?”
“For myself? No.” He shakes his head and lets out a low breath. “For you? Definitely.”
“You worry too much.” I chuckle, leading him down the basement stairs. I flick the light on when I get to the bottom, and he jumps a little, startled to see the snake pressing up against the glass, her tongue flicking out of her mouth in greeting.
“That's Abby.” I tell him, watching his eyes as he adjusts to the sight of the large terrarium. It's the first thing you see when you come down here, and that's very much by design. My little doll is just on the other side of them. “She's the sweetest one. Want to meet her?”
“No.” Dex says quickly, tearing his eyes off the snake to turn to me. He looks rattled but also relieved. “This is your hobby? You got pet snakes?”
“Well, no…” I shrug. “I mean, I've been taking care of them. But that's not what all my time has gone to.”
I tip my head to the other side of the glass, which he hasn't yet looked past as he's been too focused on the reptiles slithering over one another.
He follows me out around the other side, and I flick the light on, letting it illuminate the room before us.
When his eyes fall on the figure on the marble slab, his eyes widen and his mouth falls open.
“Cal…” he says slowly, “what the fuck is this?”
14
Cal
“Meet my little doll.” I tell him, grinning proudly at how beautiful she looks right now.
I've been keeping her barely lucid more often lately, and I prefer her this way. It's less corpse-like, more doll-like. She looks like she's just fallen asleep, her thick, dark lashes softly closed. I dressed her before I left for work this morning, the way I've been doing every day since our initial week-long fuckfest. The light blue of the dress is beautiful on her fair skin, softening the harsh angles of her bones. I've done my best to keep her nourished through the IV, but I think she may have lost a bit of weight since I brought her here.
“I... what is this?” Dex asks again, eyeing her from a distance like he's scared to get close.
“She won't bite.” I assure him with a chuckle. “She can't.”
I move to her side, admiring her from closer, smoothing her cheek. She's an enchantress, bewitching me just with her existence. I feel calmer already in her presence, like there's nothing I can't do when I know I have her to come back to.
“Is she...dead?”
“Of course not.” I snort. He knows that, though, because his eyes have already latched onto all the monitors behind her, tracking the things I need to know to keep her alive. I've turned the volume off on the heart monitor. I like to raise it when I fuck her sometimes, to know that her body is reacting even when she's not making sounds.
I haven't needed to do that much since I've brought her out of the deeper unconsciousness. Even with the volume off, you can see how the beat rises and falls, steady, perfect.
“What...?” He laughs, but it's not an amused sound. He actually looks like he's on the verge of a breakdown. I scowl at him, surprised that he's so flustered. It's not as bad as when I called him to collect the girl who was already bleeding, shaking, and trying to run. It's not as bad as when I had no control of the situation.
This is contained.
“What did you do to her?”
“She's okay.” I assure him. “She's just drugged. It keeps her calm, and she can't hurt herself this way.”
And she can't feel it when I hurt her.
“No.” He shakes his head, and his wide eyes look haunted. “No, no, no. Cal, what did you do? This is kidnapping, rape…”
“Well, first of all, I didn't kidnap her. I bought her.”
He's silent for a moment as he gapes at me. “Youboughther? What do you mean? She's not a used car or a dog... you can't buy humans.”
