“We’re gonna have to do that when we go to lunch with my dad. It—it may be hard.”
“No cages,” I whisper, a shiver running down my spine as I remember the cage I was forced into when I first met Rowan.
For whatever reason, the thought of that cramped space seems to make my skin crawl. The transport cages don’t bother me as much because they’re made for the fighters, who’re a lot bigger than I am.
“No cages,” Rowan says, reaching out and squeezing my hand. “But—but my dad and Jett have similar ideas and expectations. They want you to be an obedient pet. He’s probably going to want you to kneel at my feet. And if there’s food, he’s going to want me to feed you by hand. That sort of thing.”
“That’s okay,” I say, nodding slowly.
Rowan’s jaw ticks, but he lets out a sigh of relief.
“I’m sorry, I wish there were a better way to handle this.”
“It’s fine,” I say, squeezing his hand reassuringly. “This is for the best. I’d much rather kneel at your feet than Jett’s.”
Do I like the idea of kneeling at his feet in front of his dad? Definitely not. But that’s more so because we have to do it in front of his dad.
For whatever reason, the idea of acting like a pet doesn’t feel wrong, but I think the emotions those thoughts bring are too confusing for me to think about right now.
“Okay then,” Rowan sighs. “Let’s see what I have for us to eat. I don’t know about you, but I’m fucking starving.”
CHAPTER 21
Ash
My body aches as my arms nearly give out from underneath me as I press myself up.
“What, getting tired already?” Griffin pants out.
“Fuck off,” I growl, my arms shaking as I continue to do pushups.
Like hell am I going to lose this competition to the newbie.
I woke up after a fitful sleep where the regularly scheduled program of my nightmares was interrupted byherbeing torn to pieces by Rage.
Don’t get me wrong, the regularly scheduled program of my nightmares is full of blood, gore, and violence. That’s been the regular schedule of my life for years, but there was something haunting about my dreams last night.
I woke up with the bitter taste of rotten strawberries at the back of my throat, her screams of terror echoing in my ears.
There’s not much for us to do in our cells, so I immediately threw myself into some bodyweight exercises. I needed fuckingsomethingto do with these feelings.
Then the newbie made it a competition, and I don’t lose.
He’s strong, though. I haven’t seen him in the ring yet, but he’s probably stronger than me, if we’re going by raw strength.
I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing just yet.
He seems friendly enough, though, which makes for better company than Rage has been.
Rage isn’t as crazy as everyone seems to think he is, but we’ve also never had an actual conversation.
So, in conclusion, the jury is still out on whether I dislike this new guy.
I collapse down onto my chest as my arms can’t take my weight. We’ve been at this for well over an hour at this point.
“Ha! I win!” Griffin says, making a show of waiting to collapse until after I’ve given up.
New verdict: fuck the new guy.
