“Wait until you feel it. You’ll be happy we’refancy fuckers.”
The shower is a glass enclosure lined with tile and a stone bench. On the ledge of the shower, I notice my watermelon mint body wash next to his.
Jerking my head, I ask, “Wait, why do you have this?”
Owen’s hand reaches for my face again, cupping my cheek and rubbing his thumb along my cheekbone. “Because I want you to feel at home whenever you’re here.”
His words turn me to goo. I feel the flutter in my belly.Shit. I’m swooning.
“Th-thank you,” I finally sputter out.
I watch as he reaches past me, grabbing the body wash, and lathers my body.
Leaning in and kissing along my neck, he whispers, “One day soon, I’m going to fuck you on that bench. You’ll be on all fours, with my knife in your ass and my cock in your stomach.”
Thank fuck for the heat of the shower, or he’d see the bright pink flush of my skin.
Owen smirks, the fuckhead, he knows exactly what effect he’s having on me.
“But now,” his demeanor goes from playful to grave. “We talk.”
He continues to wash my body, his hands roaming over my rounded hips before he begins.
“When I was ten, I was kidnapped.”
My eyes bulge, a shocked gasp bursts free before I can stop myself, but I don’t interrupt.
“Lev and I-,” Owen continues, trying to gain his composure as his hands travel up my stomach, “W-we, we were taken from school. Lured outside by Samantha—at least that’s what we suspect.”
The shock I felt before burns to anger, but I still wait to speak.
“As soon as she turned the corner, we lost sight of her, and a man snatched me and pointed a gun to my head to make Lev come more willingly.”
I feel when he moves. His hand pauses at my belly button, his chest pressing to my back as he lowers his nose to the hollow of my neck and inhales. Then, he murmurs something that I can’t make out and grips my waist as if he’s trying to ensure I can’t escape.
My heart ceases at his vulnerability.
“Lev was able to escape, and the guilt of that eats at him every day. It’s wh-why you need to try to give him a chance— him and Wes. Weallwere different after that, especially Lev,” he explains.
I stay still, allowing him to pour out his soul. It’s still not the time for me to do anything other than listen.
“When— while I was there, they kept saying it w-was m-my dad’s fault. All of our dads. That they didn’t listen, and since they wouldn’t, I would be an example for them to be taken seriously.”
Each time he reveals more, my heart rate ticks up, and my stomach churns. It’s like watching an oncoming accident and being powerless to stop it. You pray for a different outcome, but you know you’ll drive headfirst into the brick wall at a full rate of speed. I want to turn and hold him, but he continues to wash me. So, I give him what he needs to get through this.
“I was held for over a week. A week of hell. A week where I was repeatedly raped— my innocence stolen from me by some masked woman, before I was tortured and shared by her and the men who took me. The horror of my time there plagues me. Constantly told ‘I’m here’ because of whoour fathers are.”He snarls the last part.
My knees buckle, a flash of a younger Owen playing in my mind, broken and helpless. Tears cascade down my face, masked by the shower, but the water can’t hide the keening that rips from my chest.
Strong arms catch me before I hit the ground. Pushing back to our full height, I reach down, grab my loofa, and turn, loosening his hold. Water runs down on us, the soap washing away from our skin, neither of us caring, and I wash him. There’s no soap, but I don’t care. I just need to care for him.
The strength that they have— thathehas. I turn him around and choke back my sob. Hidden under an intricate lion eating a skull tattoo are raised scars. They crisscross his back down to his butt. My hand covers my mouth, and I close my eyes.
Who the fuck would do this? Anger takes root in my gut and burns through me. I’d kill whoever did this.
Owen’s earlier words play, ‘your cunt wrapped around me is better than killing,’ pushing me to ask, “Have-have you killed before Owen?” My voice is still choppy as I try to talk while I cry.
He spins, capturing my chin, “Would it scare you if I said we all have?”
