Page 107 of Monster

Our food was set in front of us then, and I realized I was famished.

Dominic looked at me and laughed. He tugged on my hair playfully. “Eat up, wildcat.”

I smiled and dug in, nearly moaning when I took my first bite.

Turning, I was about to ask him how he liked his food when I realized he hadn’t taken a bite. He was too busy looking at me.

I blinked, and he reached out, swiping something away from the corner of my mouth with his thumb.

My breath caught when he sucked on his thumb, never taking his eyes from me. I squirmed in my seat.

“Eat up, baby. Before it gets cold.”

I could only nod.

We both ate in silence for about ten minutes before I turned to him. “Are you really not going to let me go?”

There had been some part of me that thought he was joking when he declared he was keeping me and that he owned me. That couldn’t possibly be the case, and most sane men wouldn’t have uttered those words to begin with, but I was starting to realize there was probably nothing sane about Dominic.

He took another sip of his beer before he turned to me. “I’m keeping you.”

“Why?”

He let out a sigh. “Why are you fighting this, wildcat? Can’t you see I’m protecting you?”

“I don’t think it’s wrong to want a choice in the matter.”

He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal and went back to eating.

My cheeseburger was already almost gone, along with all my fries. I was full.

I made a move to get off my seat when he placed a hand on my thigh.

“I need the bathroom,” I said.

He didn’t say anything for a moment. Then, “You’ll come straight back to me.”

“It’s not like I have any other means to get out of here,” I grumbled. His lips twitched.

He finally let me go, and I hopped off the stool and left for the bathroom.

I quickly did my business, and, as I was washing my hands, I glanced at my reflection in the cracked mirror.

I’d always felt like something was different about me, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

I averted my eyes, turned off the tap, and plucked some paper towels from the dispenser to dry my hands before I used them to open the door in the bathroom. I almost didn’t want to touch anything in this place. It wasn’t as dingy, but it wasn’t a nice place either. And the other people here were questionable, at best.

I was just at the mouth of the hallway leading into the bar’s main area when another person stepped in front of me.

“Excuse me,” I said, moving aside for the man to pass.

He didn’t move.

Slowly, my eyes tracked up his body, from his dirty jeans up to the beer belly, beefy arms filled with tattoos, thick neck, unkempt beard, bumpy red nose, and, finally, dark eyes that looked black from where I was standing.

I backed up a step when he smiled at me, showing off a row of yellow teeth.

“My, what’s a pretty little thing like you doing in a dirty place like this? Don’t you know there are all sorts of bad men in this bar?”

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