Page 25 of Cruel Love
When night came, I brushed my teeth, and got into bed, falling into adeep sleep that was once again plagued by a monster growing in my belly. Waking up in a cold sweat, I bolted upright in bed and flicked the bedside lamp on, gasping when my eyes landed on a figure sitting in the chair across the room.
I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and made sure I wasn’t stilldreaming, but after several seconds, and my heart slowing to its normal rate, I was certain that I was awake, and James was most definitely in my room. He’d been sitting in the pitch black, shirtless, and a glass of whiskeyin his hand. I wondered how long he’d been there, and if he was there to have sex with me. But then, why hadn’t he woken me up?
I couldn’t stop my gaze from dropping to his chest. I’d never reallygiven any thought to what James looked like without his clothes on, but I certainly didn’t imagine the enormous tattoo that covered his broad chest.The head of the eagle started just below where his collar bones met,and the wings stretched out, covering his defined pecs. The bird’s detailed tail feathers fanned out over his ribs, and its vicious-looking claws almost reached his belly button.
The tattoo was exquisite. It was mostly black, but had lots of shading,and must have taken hours upon hours to complete. I couldn’t imagine James sitting still long enough for it to be etched into his skin, he didn’t seem like he would have the patience for it. Yet there it was.
When he didn’t say anything or make any attempt to move from thechair, I finally coaxed my gaze back up to meet his. He was staring at me, an unreadable expression on his face that made the small hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Um…is everything okay, Mr. Carter?”I said tentatively, hoping Iwouldn’t be punished for speaking when I hadn’t been permitted to. But the way he was staring at me was unnerving.
He took a mouthful of his drink before standing and slowly prowlingtoward the bed. I braced myself for him to yank the covers off, and rip my legs apart so he could fuck me. Instead, he sat down on the edge with the same weird look on his face.
“Who are you, Mouse?”he said, the tang of whiskey hitting my face,and a slight slur to his words.
“What…um, what do you mean?”I replied, confused by the question.
I was nobody.
“What’s your story? What was your life before you ended up atPeartree House?”
I swallowed nervously, the scars on my back suddenly prickling.“Idon’t remember.”
His hand whipped out, wrapping around my throat as his featurestwisted into a snarl.“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not, I promise,”I whispered, tears stabbing my eyes.“I…Ihonestly don’t remember, I wasn’t allowed to remember.”
He moved his face closer to mine, his dark eyes bloodshot, his hotbreath laced with whiskey, telling me the glass he was clutching in his other hand wasn’t his first.“What do you mean, you weren’t allowed to remember?”
“Director Welch…he didn’t want me to remember my life before Iarrived at the house. I was made to forget,”I said, doing my best to tell him why I couldn’t remember my life from before.
My back started burning, the same way it always did whenever I triedto conjure up memories of my past. Instead of images of my childhood, all I could see was a black hole, void of memories.
“How did they make you forget?”James said, his grip around mythroat loosening a fraction.
A lone tear slid down my cheek.“I was whipped.”
He stared at me for several beats until his eyes widened, and heremoved his hand completely.“The scars on your back.”It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway.“Welch did that?”
“Ms. Milligan,”I replied, my voice weak.“But it was ordered byDirector Welch, he didn’t want me to remember who I was before I got to the house.”
“Why?”
I shook my head, and shrugged, the reply lodged in my throat.
A heavy silence fell between us as James’ eyes darted betweenmine, a myriad of thoughts racing in his head, but none that he verbalized. Abruptly, he stood and stormed over to the door, stopping to look over his shoulder at me.
“Don’t come to my room in the morning. I’ll come to you when I wantyou.”With that, he left, slamming the door behind him.
I let out a deepexhale, my body slumping, and as I stared at the spot where James had been sitting only moments ago, my head began to replay the strange encounter, leaving me more and more confused as to why James wanted to know about my past when he claimed I was nothing to him.
Chapter 10
James
Apounding in my head woke me. Slowly sitting up, I rubbed my eyesand took in the state of the drawing room where I’d fallen asleep. Shards of glass covered the polished wooden floor, and streaks of whiskey stained the wall.
I had no recollection of throwing the glass, but the evidence wasundeniable.
