Page 45 of Redd

How can I find them so I can kill them?

Biting her lower lip, she nibbled at a thick crack on the surface. “Maybe you should tell me why you were in that house first.” The sharp angle of her jaw worked back and forth, grinding her teeth together. “How did you know I was there? Did someone send you to take me?”

My brows shot up defensively, and I stared at her dumbfounded. “What? No, I wasn't there for you. I was there for something else, I just found you instead.”

“What were you there for? What the hell could you ever want from that place?”

Dragging my hand over my head, I scratched at my scalp.How much do I tell her? Do I tell her everything?

Not yet. First I need to know about her.

“It doesn't really matter, you're just lucky I was there. I don't think you would have made it another month looking the way you do—which is why you should eat something.”

“I told you, I'm not hungry.”

“Yeah, and?” Turning back around, I opened up the bread, and took out four pieces. Fumbling through the stuff on the counter, I searched for the peanut butter. “Just cause you say it, doesn't make it true. I can hear your stomach growling from over here.”

Unscrewing the top, I made us each a sandwich, wrapping them in a paper towel and walking back into the living room. Holding it out to her, she stared hungrily, but didn't reach out to take it.

Shaking her head, Bijou bit the inside of her cheek, her eyes eagerly devouring the food, but her mouth refusing to accept it. “No, I said I wasn't hungry.” Her tone was harsh, like she had just fought some imaginary battle between her belly and brain.

Angling my head, I just stared at her. Her body needed food, she was weak and skinny, deprived for way too long. It made me hate the man that had her, I wanted to chain him up and let him starve just so he knew what it felt like.

“You're obviously hungry, take it.”

“Don't tell me what to do, you don't own me,” she barked. Scooting around to face me, her hands slammed into the floor. “This morning you barely said a word to me, now you want to boss me around and force me to do things.”

“I'm offering you food, I don't think that's me bossing you around. And this morning wasn't a good time to talk. My head was still a little fucked up, and my sister was here.” Shaking my head, I sat on the couch. “I never expected to find you, it went nothing like I had planned. You, those men, it all took me by surprise. I needed some time to sort through it.”

“And did you. . .” Pausing, Bijou loosened her fingers in the rug, plucking at the fibers. “Sort through it?” Under hooded lids, she looked up at me, her eyes searching for answers, aching to know what I was thinking, what I was planning on doing.

I couldn't blame her for her curiosity. She had been held in a four by six foot room for lord knows how long, and suddenly I show up. Her world had been turned upside down. She didn't want to go back there and she didn't know what to expect here.

I couldn't give her the answer she was looking for, it was another question that she would have to live with until I figured it out.

“I don't know.” Biting my sandwich, I held out hers again and nudged it in the air. With my mouth half full, chewing slowly, I spoke through clenched teeth. “But I can tell you one thing, you'll never go back to that place. That's a promise I can make you.”

“You can't make that promise. Not if you have any idea who you're dealing with.” Her hand greedily came up and snagged the food as if I was playing a sick joke on her, and would yank it away before she could grab it.

What the hell has that man done to you?

Whatever he's done, I'm going to erase it.

A light smile tugged on my lip as I watched her cheeks engorge with food and heard her moan softly as the flavor hit her taste buds.

For that single second in time, I didn't see a broken girl at my feet. . . I saw someone else trying to survive.

We're not that different.

“Tell me then, tell me who I'm dealing with.”

Cocking her head, her mouth stopped moving and her eyes grew wide. “You really have no idea?” A small crumb of bread hung on the edge of her lip as her mouth crooked in disbelief.

Leaning forward, I attempted to brush it off with my thumb. Her body began to tremble, jerking away as my finger grazed her skin.

She's been through fucking hell.

I won't let anyone hurt her again.

And I won't let him have her back.

“Start at the beginning, Bijou, I need to know everything.”

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