Page 12 of Poisoning Ivy
Chapter nine
Monty
“What the fuck?” I rush at her before Killian’s even got a chance to draw his fingers out of her, pulling her against me so that I can see her eyes and check if they’ve rolled to the back of her head.
“She passed out from a finger in the ass?” Theo asks, sounding just as confused as I feel. I’d think she was faking it if it weren’t for the glassy look in her eyes. It’s like she just flipped a switch, disappearing somewhere in her head.
“The fuck did you do?” I snap at Killian, pulling her against my chest and swiping the hair off her face. It’s sticky with sweat and tears, and her expression is still completely empty.
“Nothing,” Killian shakes his head, and he sounds just as mystified as the rest of us. “I don’t understand.”
“Is she diabetic or something?” I snap, turning to her husband.
Most people don’t pass out from just a little ass play. But, of course, Ivy isn’t most people. She never has been.
“No,” Cody swallows, a little bit of his natural color returning. He doesn’t look half as concerned as he should be, considering his wife is about half-dead in my arms. “That’s normal.”
“Normal?” Killian scoffs. “That’s not normal. Is it low blood pressure?”
“No. It’s some kind ofgame.” He rolls his eyes, clearly annoyed. “She just shuts it down when she doesn’t want to deal with something. It happens a lot.”
I pull her head away from my chest so that I can get another look at her, those beautiful green eyes that are so empty. It’s like she just jumped into a void in her mind.
And suddenly, it all makes sense. The bruises, the accident, the fact that he was willing to let her be obliterated to spare himself.
“You hit her.”
It’s not a question—it’s an accusation.
“What?” He scoffs. “No.”
Killian’s eyes meet mine over the top of her head.
“The bruises. They’re not just from the car accident, right?”
“No.” He shakes his head, a muscle in his jaw ticking as he grinds it together. “No, they—some of them are too old to be. Her medical history showed a couple of breaks in the last few years, but I—”
His eyes flick behind me, to our captive.
“You abuse your wife?”
Cody laughs, but it’s not an amused sound. Good thing, too, because no one else is laughing.
“What happens between my wife and I is none of your fucking business.” His voice is a growl, possessiveness bleeding into the statement. But it’s not a protective possessiveness—it’s a cold sort, the kind that tells me he regards his wife as an object he’s paid for, much like his car or his house.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?” Theo laughs. “Youbeatyour wife? But you have the audacity to tell us it’s none of our business?”
“Who the fuck are you to talk about morality?” Cody laughs heartily this time. “You were about to rape my wife, and you’re going to talk to me about kicking her in the pussy a time or two?”
“Jesus.” I clench my teeth together and stand, pulling her with me. I feel sick, but I push it down as I drag her against me.
I remember her dad with his wicked temper, how we used to hear him screaming nonsense if he didn’t make it inside before losing his cool, and how her mother used to wear those giant sunglasses and gaudy silk scarves. I remember how Killian told me she was trying to run away from home the day she got bit by the snake. I remember the black eye, the split lip and the way she didn’t want me to see it so I just pretended I didn’t. I also remember the scars on her arm, and how she shrugged it off when I noticed them.
When I heard her dad had died, I thought, ‘good for her’. Even as pissed as I was that she left, I was glad that it meant he couldn’t hurt her anymore. But Ivy D’Aquino married the dime store version of her own father.
Jesus fucking Christ.
“Just leave her.” Cody rolls his eyes as I move past him, clearly unimpressed. “I told you, it’s normal. She’ll be fine. Just fuck her and get this over with…”
