Itdoeshurt. Itdoesfucking hurt.
I lean against the window, my heart heavy.
12
Lia
“Logan… Logan, you’re not really… you’re not really going to do that… are you? Logan!”
His hand grips my wrists. Since yesterday night, I’ve gotten used to that, to the way he yanks me around, dragging me to wherever he wants me to go. I’ve gotten used to his anger. But I’m not used tothis.
Anger is too soft a word to describe the fury that is radiating from every one of his pores. By the time we’ve reached the back of the warehouse, I’ve lost my footing, and he’s dragging me on the ground, the skin on my thighs burning from the way I’m skidding on the rough surface.
“Please, Logan! Whatever I did, I’m sorry! But I didn’t do anything! Please let me stay with Aurora!”
He only stops when we’ve reached a small room at the other end of the warehouse. He shoves me inside, and my heart sinks when I lift my eyes and take in the iron hooks on the ceiling.
“Logan, please…” I stammer, tears bubbling up in my eyes. “Please don’t take her away from me.Please. Let me stay with her. I won’t speak anymore. I won’t do anything. I won’t evenbreathe. You won’t hear me.Please.”
He lunges at me, the suddenness of it preventing me fromcrying out. His hand squeezes around my neck as he slams me against the back wall, and my breathing grows ragged.
“Logan,” I wheeze.
“You won’t speak? You won’t breathe? So why the fuck am I hearing you now?!”
“Please, Logan. Please.” My eyes are glittering with tears as I search his features, trying to find any sign of the boy I once knew. In vain.
“Please. I just need to be with my daughter. Why did you force me out like that?”
The remaining car ride had passed in silence. His face had remained neutral. But the second we parked in front of the warehouse, he went ballistic. Dragging me out of the car, locking it behind us so that Everest remained trapped inside with Aurora.
“Your daughter’s in the car with Everest,” he spits out. “She’s safe. She won’t be hurt. I promised you that. But youwillget hurt. Ialsopromise you that. So be fucking careful what you ask for, Lia. Because I don’t think you want the kid around for that. Okay?”
There’s no reason to trust him, and yet I do. I know that everything he’s saying is true. About Aurora, and about me.
“Why now?” I choke out. “What have I done now? Why are you so angry at menow? Why—”
I mouth the rest of my question, his hand squeezing so hard around my neck I can barely talk. Is this the way I go? Strangled to death by the boy who used to care?
But then he releases me entirely. I fall to the ground, gagging and gasping for air. When I glance up at him, I’m surprised to see that ghostly look on his face again.
“Tell me what happened, Lia,” he says, his voice so harsh that it makes me shiver.
“What… what do you mean?”
“Why did you react like that before? When I fingered you?”
I stare at him in utter confusion. Why the hell is he bringing this up now? Why is he bringing it up at all?
“Uhm, no reason. I don’t know. Nothing happened.”
At once, his fingers dig into my hair, wrapping themselves around my curls, and then he yanks me up so hard it feels like he’s ripped my hair from my skull.
“Ow! Fuck, Logan!”
He flips me around, shoving me against the wall, then he pushes up my hemline, his fingers finding the sore flesh he tortured before.
I whimper when I feel his fingers zero in on that spot, even though he doesn’t pinch—for now. But I’m pretty sure he’s going to tear that flesh right off if he squeezes it again.
