Page 70 of The Other Side of Together

I should plead for mercy. Beg, cry, do whatever he asks so I can stay whole, but his twisted face and words wind something inside me that uncoils in rage, shoving words out of my mouth. “I’m not your pet. You can’t cage me.”

He laughs more black into the darkness as he stands and stumbles up the two steps from the sunken living area,swaying across the marble toward me. “That’s unfortunate. I prefer my women caged.” He reaches for the wall, and I throw frantic words at him.

“I know what you do.” I crank the door handle but he’s a dark smear as he rushes me, slamming his hand against the door before his body crashes against mine.

“You have no idea what I can do.”

I tense as he fists my hair with one hand, the other slithering to my backside, yanking me against him. “You could have had the most glamorous cage, but now, I’ll strip it bare. No internship. No school. Nothing but you playing whatever role I give you. Doing whatever I want you to do.”

I squirm in his grasp, but his hand tightens. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I always get what I want.” He presses his mouth against my ear, hot and sticky, and I squeeze my eyes shut as he pins me against the door with his hips. “Every last bit,” he snarls, tugging my dress down.

I shove him, but he pins me tighter, his mouth forcing mine open so hard I thrash and dig my fingernails into his face. His hands fly over mine, but he loses balance and grabs at me as he falls, catching my earring and ripping it out.

I scream and grab my ear, warm blood pooling in my palm as I’m dragged to the floor. Tears flood my vision when I yank my leg from under him and crawl away, leaving bloody handprints on the floor. My dress peels off me as I scramble toward my room, but he catches me around the waist and jerks me backward, his rough hands gripping my stomach.

Rage and terror explode in a scream, and I kick as he drags me to his room and throws me on the bed. Rolling me to my back, he pins my hands above my head.

“I was going to ask your little boy how you taste but I’ll just find out for myself.”

When his mouth slams against mine again, I shove myknee into his groin. He curses and jerks away enough that I heave myself against him, knocking him onto his side before crawling off the bed.

I’m halfway out of the room when he grabs my waist and jerks me backward, the air lurching from my lungs with a grunt.

He spins me around, hurls me back on the bed, straddles me. His hand clamps over my mouth, the other tightening around my neck until he chokes my scream, and my eyes burn. I claw at his hands as blackness edges my sight and a static buzz drones through my head until his hand connects with my face.

The world slows, and acidic fear drips down my throat. My chest tightens with a trapped scream, my head vibrating with its echo. I use my waning energy to focus on the one thing that makes me feel everything but fear.

I’m at Marcus’s. His leg bounces to some awful hip hop song. He’s drawing a diagram on my arm. I laugh, then laugh harder when he protests. I’ve messed up his masterpiece. But he doesn’t care. He looks up at me. One glance sweeps away all thought and leaves only feelings.

My chest aches, and I struggle for air, but it’s too thick with dread. I can’t breathe…Fear pounds at me. There’s nothing between me and Nick. No—I’m not here. Not here.

When I was a child, mama told me about reincarnation. When we die, our bodies turn to ash, but our souls live on and, how good we are in one life determines the consequences for our next. But I always wondered what happens if your soul dies first.

My soul is dying. I hear it. I thought it would sound like Marcus’s voice since he keeps it alive, but…it’s…shattering glass. Crushing weight. Silence.

My eyes fly open, and I gasp for air but choke in darkness and cologne. Nick’s body slumps to my side, pinning my legs, and my eyes dart to Su Ling standing above mewith a broken vase in her shaking hands, her eyes panicked.

She steps back, drops the shard of glass, and I wrestle my legs from under Nick and scramble off the bed. But my eyes land on his pants around his knees, blood pooling under his head on the white comforter.

Su Ling tears me away from the room. “Put on your dress, I’ll grab your things. Your ride’s here.”

She runs to my room, and I stumble to the living room, grab my dress off the floor, quaking as I struggle into it.

When Su Ling returns, she’s holding my duffle bag. “Follow me.”

She leads me down the hallway until we reach a set of maintenance elevators. She swipes a keycard, and when the door opens, pulls me inside. We stop on P2 and rush out the elevator and through a double metal door.

A car is waiting for us in the parking garage, and she opens the door for me while she gives the driver hurried instructions. Her eyes skitter across mine before she closes my door and disappears inside the building.

The driver pulls out of the garage and looks at me through the rearview mirror, his long, wavy hair ruffling in the breeze coming through his open window. “You okay, love?” His British accent smooths the jagged edges of my fear, his eyes intent before he focuses on turning the corner when the light turns green. He puts down his visor against the setting sun and asks again. “Do you need me to take you to hospital? There’s one a few blocks away.”

I dab at dried blood crusting my nostrils but shake my head too fast and metal shards fly around inside my skull. I hold my head. “No. I just need to get home, please.” I touch my neck to hold myself together but the diamonds still dangling from it get in the way, cold under my palm. I reach for the earrings, hissing against the pain. There’s only one earring; the other is somewhere on the hotel room floor.

He glances at me through the mirror again, then nods and talks to the windshield. “You can borrow my jacket if you’d like.” He grabs it from the passenger seat and holds it over his shoulder.

I ease forward, holding my ripped dress up, and slide my arms into his jacket, wrapping it tightly around me like it will erase the marks and bruises rising on my skin. “Thank you.”

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