Page 96 of Ruthless Prince
When I still couldn’t get hard, especially after he brought up my beloved younger sister in such a disgusting way, he sneered and said he’d show me instead. He took the beautiful woman on the bed viciously in every single hole, choking and slapping her until she screamed, and as he was doing it, he told me to watch and learn. If I didn’t, I’d be fucked over by the first woman I let into mylife.
I tried to learn. I tried to please him. I spent the next year forcing myself to get hard to the mental image of that prostitute’s face while she was roughly fucked, and when my father took me back a year later, I was finally able toperform.
That still wasn’t enough for him. I didn’t last longer than a few minutes, and I didn’t want to hit her, despite the association between pleasure and pain that my young mind had developed as a result of his previous lesson. Dad told me it was a shame, and that I’d probably have to learn about feminine wiles the hard way, to his utterdisappointment.
He was right. The first girl I fell for turned out to be a fucking monster, just as he predicted, but instead of hurting me, she hurt mysister.
I wouldn’t let that happenagain.
I dried Chloe’s face with a clean towel and grabbed one of her hands. “Sorry I haven’t come to see you in a few days. I’ve been busy withsomething.”
Sheblinked.
“I should’ve told you about this sooner,” I went on. “I don’t want you to hear about it from someone else, and I don’t want you to be afraid. But here it is. I’ve brought Willow Rhoadeshere.”
She blinked again, slower this time. I wondered if even the tiniest part of her brain understood what I wassaying.
“You don’t need to be scared. She can’t get to you,” I said. “I promise she’ll never hurt you again. She’s trapped, and I’m going to punish and humiliate her every day for the rest of her life for what she did to you.Okay?”
Chloe’s head lolled slightly to one side, and her eyes closed. “Willow,” shemurmured.
“Holy shit.” I leapt up. “Eloise! Get overhere!”
The nurse hurried over. “Whathappened?”
“She spoke. She fuckingspoke!”
Her eyes widened. “What did shesay?”
“Just the name of someone I was talking about. It was soft, but she definitely saidit.”
Chloe’s eyes opened again. “Willow,” she repeated in amutter.
“See?” I said, staring at Eloise. “What does thismean?”
Eloise held up one palm. “This could be a good sign, but don’t get too excited,” she said in a low voice. “Sometimes patients in her condition have… moments. Littleblips.”
I shook my head slightly. “Blips?”
“Small moments where they suddenly become lucid and regain their old functions. It’s exciting, and you might think it means they’re getting better, but it rarely lasts. You’ve probably heard of something similar happening with dementia sufferers. Sometimes they might seem better during the day, but in the late afternoon, their symptomsreturn.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of that.” I frowned. “But you said it could still be a positive sign,right?”
“Yes, maybe. I’ll get Dr. Hicks. You stay put. See if you can keep hertalking.”
She hurried out of the room. I turned my gaze to Chloe and sat backdown.
“Hey,” I said, grabbing her hand again. “Do you rememberme?”
She moaned and began to droolagain.
“I’m your brother,” I said, gently wiping her face. “Logan.”
She let out another moan. “Willow?”
I nodded and smiled. “Yes. We were just talking about her. Youremembered!”
Chloe’s arm suddenly shot out, and she grabbed my shoulder, fingernails digging into my skin. “Run,” she whispered. “You need to run and hide, or she’ll get youtoo.”
