Page 33 of The Devil After Dark
He pulled the mask off and I was staring into Cassio’s blue eyes. “I hope you learned your lesson, Angel,” he whispered.
“Fuck. You.” I seethed through my teeth. His hand in my hair pulled me down on the bed and I lashed out at him with my bound hands. “Let me fucking go!” I screamed as I flailed my body around, trying to get free from him. “Let me go!”
“Liana!” he said sternly as his hands grabbed me and he was on top of me a moment later, pinning me to the bed. “Liana, calm down.”
“No. Fuck you! I cannot believe you!” I screamed at him. “You fucking knew! How many times was it not you, Cassio? How many?” I was screaming and hitting him with my tied hands. He wasn’t even flinching under my pathetic blows.
He grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head as he leaned down close to my face. “It is over. It is just me now. I promise.”
“I don’t believe you,” I sobbed back. “I trusted you! I let you …” I could not even finish my sentence. I felt sick. I stopped fighting him and let my body go completely limp. Why had Ievertrusted him? He stalked me. He broke into my house. He monitored me. He tattooed his fucking name on my skin. I turned my head to the side and closed my eyes. Tears leaked from them and my body shook with my nearly silent sobs.
“Look at me, Angel,” Cassio coaxed gently. I didn’t. “It will never happen again, baby.”
“Who is he?” I asked quietly. “You know what, nevermind. Don’t tell me.” None of this would ever happen again. I was done. I could never trust Cassio again. I was not even sure I could look at myself in the mirror knowing I had been fucking multiple men without actually knowing it.
Cassio gently untied my wrists and removed the rope. I just left my hands where they were. I did not want to move. I wanted to disappear. I wanted this to not be happening. Then Cassio got off me, but stayed on the bed.
“Get out of my home,” I whispered.
He was quiet for a little while before he responded, “I’m not going anywhere.”
I looked over at him in the moonlight. I had completely surrendered myself to this man and he had betrayed me. I wasn’t sure I would ever forgive him. I rolled over and stood up. Then I quickly walked to my bathroom and slammed the door closed, locking it behind me.
A few moments later, the door handle jiggled. “Open the door, Liana,” Cassio said angrily on the other side. I just went to my shower and turned it on. Cassio banged on the door. “Open this fucking door right now!” he yelled. There was no fucking way I was opening the door for him. I stepped into the shower and let the water pelt my face. I was going to scrub away any sign of them and I was going to take a really fucking long time doing it.
thirty-six
LIANA
I had takenmy sweet time scrubbing my skin nearly raw. Then I had taken an equally long time putting on face creams and lotions. Cassio had banged on the door, yelling for me to open it until eventually he stopped. I was actually surprised he hadn’t kicked it in or found some other way to get into my bathroom.
I finally opened the door and found Cassio sitting on the bed glaring at the door—at me. He looked completely furious and I could not give a flying fuck. I ignored him as I held my towel around myself and stepped into the closet to find some clothes. I slipped into some sweats and an oversized t-shirt, but when I turned to my closet door, Cassio was blocking my way out.
I shifted my eyes to look past him and walked like he wasn’t even there. I simply tried to push my way through the small opening his body left. Instead, he pressed me against the door frame. His breaths were heavy as he tugged the waist of my sweats down, then my shirt up. The fabric of my shirt was balled in his fist as he drew a line with his finger across his name tattooed on my hip.
“Thismeans you don’t get to walk away.Thismeans you aremine. For fucking ever, Angel.”
I shoved his hands away and to my surprise he actually let go of me. Then I pushed past him and left my bedroom. I snatched a bottle of open white wine from my fridge and a glass. Then I climbed into my armchair and pulled a blanket over myself.
“You shouldn’t drink,” Cassio said from the hallway.
“You shouldn’t be in my condo,” I responded and downed an entire glass before pouring myself another.
I hadn’t even set the bottle back on the end table when Cassio took it from my hand and sat down in front of me. “No drinking. No other men. No clubs. No provocative clothes when I am not around.” Then he plucked the wine glass from my hands.
I just laughed. I had allowed a complete psychopath into my life. Then I pushed off the blanket and crawled over the back of my chair. In the kitchen I stood on my tip toes and pulled a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet above my fridge. I turned around to see Cassio in the doorway and I yanked the cork out of the bottle. He took a step towards me and I just raised my middle finger to him as I put the bottle to my lips and took a huge swig. I grimaced at the burn. Then I did it again. Cassio stopped and watched me as I continued to drink from the bottle, grimacing after each swallow.
I shoved the cork back into the bottle and returned it to the cabinet. “I drink. You have no right to say ‘no other men’ after allowing someone else to fuck me. I will stop going to clubs when you sell every club you own. And I will wear what ever the fuck I want whenever I want.” Cassio’s hands balled into fists and I saw his muscles flex. “Oh and I will cut this fucking tattoo off with a knife if I have to.”
“You will not,” he said tightly.
I turned quickly and pulled a knife from the knife block. I had every intention to fillet this tattoo right off my skin. Cassio hit the knife out of my hand before I even had a chance to pull my shirt up.Then he dragged me from the kitchen. I thrashed and cried in his grasp. How could he have done all of this to me? He wrapped me in his arms and held me tightly as I sobbed. My legs gave out and Cassio slid down the wall, cradling me against his body. I could not stop crying. I buried my face in his chest and let myself cry harder.
Eventually my sobs turned to sniffles. Then the sniffles turned to my throat and eyes burning and no sound coming from my body except my breathing. Cassio’s hand just gently stroked my back and my hair as he held me. “How many other men?” I whispered.
His hand stopped moving. “Just one other,” he responded. I wanted to believe him, but I had absolutely no reason to.
“How many times was it him and not you?” I asked.
