It brought me some semblance of comfort and I knew it shouldn’t have. This shouldn’t be happening.
I swallowed and slowly eased his fingers out of me, eased his hand away before pulling my hand back, fixing my skirt, and wrapping both of my hands around my glass. What was wrong with me?
I was just a cheating whore. Steven couldn’t have been more than 50 feet away and here I was, letting this…this…manfinger me.
“Another debt paid,” he hummed, pulling my eyes back.
I watched as he took another drink, the shame coating my skin. Another debt paid. Another installment.
He was sadistic.
A sadist.
And I was giving myself over like a starving dog, lapping up the bits! I mean who else had he fucked with those fingers last night, and I was justlettingit happen? So drunk on him that I didn’t even consider shouting at Jake, begging for help.
I should have yelled. I should have screamed. I should have donesomethi—
The curtain ripped back, and I sat straight up, my heart racing. Shit, that was too close. Way too close.
Yet the thrill that it sent across my skin was fucking exhilarating. Seconds sooner and he would have caught us. Seconds sooner and he would have seen me in the middle of an orgasm he could never give me himself. Seconds sooner and I would have been punished worse than ever before.
A punishment I wholly deserved.
I looked over, Steven walking up, a smile on his face. Relief filled me and then disdain. No beating, but there would be other things.
Steven took me in. “Are you getting sick? You look flushed.”
“Nope, just hot in here.” The lie tasted horrible on my lips.
His smile widened and he grabbed my hand, pulling me from the stool. “Good, I don’t want to smell sick on you when I fuckyou tonight.”
Perfect.
A crack sounded behind me as Steven dragged me to the door and I looked back just in time to see that the man’s glass was suddenly leaking from the cracks that now littered the sides of it.
I frowned, letting Steven pull me out the door. Those glasses didn’t just crack. It was almost impossible for that to happen. They must have been worn thin from Jake’s constant drying.
I rolled my eyes and turned back to Steven. Ever since that first night in the alley, I had compared them. Everything Steven did and said, how he caused my body to react. It disgusted me.
Everything about him made me want to throw up, but even as the thought of leaving him simmered through my mind, it brought with it a type of terror I hadn’t felt before. Not even when I had been tied to that chair in the basement.
This was different. I don’t know why, and I hated everything about it, but it was different. I wanted to leave him, but I physically couldn’t, and I think I hated myself more than anything else in the world because of that simple fact.
I was trapped. Like a feral cat in a cage. Claws snapped off, teeth shaved down. There was no escape. Not for me.
Never for me.
14
Everett
May 11th, 2022
Iwatched from a coffee cart down the street as Olivia slowed and glanced back, and seconds later, a girl with natural red hair appeared feet in front of her.
They exchanged a few words, Lucy stepping between them a moment later as Olivia’s fake smile shifted to something more guarded.
After a moment, she shook her head, and the girl laughed and waved her off before Olivia turned away and continued for the sidewalk.
