Page 42 of Pretty Pink Poison
He growled, “Complicated? Is that what you call him starving you?” He paced away from me and back and then away again before he swiped a hand across my nightstand and all the belongings on top of it went flying. “Iamgoing to kill him, Bianca, and I will put his head on a fucking mantel to stare at. His time is now very limited.”
I glared at him and his outburst. “How much did you drink tonight?”
“Not enough to deal with hearing you defend that dipshit for the way he’s treated you. Are you out of your mind?”
I tilted my head and raised my eyebrows glancing at my nightstand again to make a point. “Are you?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and took three deep breaths before he met my gaze, “I am when you’re near me. I’m unhinged and fucking toxic with you here, Pink,” he murmured.
“Can we stop with the nicknames? I can’t have you calling me that.” I groaned, feeling my thighs clench. “We’re not supposed to have nicknames anymore.”
“I’ll call you whatever I want.” He stepped forward, and I stepped back toward my bed… and my pillow. He frowned at my attempt to keep space between us. “You scared ofmeall of a sudden rather than the man who’s punished you in ways you won’t even admit?”
He was taunting me like he would have before, like we had something we didn’t now that he’d treated me like nothing for months and months.
I didn’t feel fear but rage then. He’d sent me off from the bathroom to rot in this resort. And I wasn’t doing well with it either. I wouldn’t have done that to him, no matter the circumstance.
It made me realize I didn’t know him, that I couldn’t trust him, that what I believed he was before was an illusion. “Maybe I am scared of the man who sent me away and abandoned me after what we did in the bathroom.”
“Abandoned?” He scoffed and then he swayed a little on his feet like his body was arguing a bit with his brain, like alcohol now had some control over him in a way he didn’t normally let happen. It made him more volatile and unpredictable, but it also gave me the upper hand. “You have everything you want in here.”
“Like what?” I scoffed. “Time to relax in silence? Ihatesilence. It’s filled with memories I want to forget! And what? All my meals picked out for me that I don’t even want?”
“Is that the only reason you’re not eating?” He brushed a finger over my collarbone, still concerned with that rather than my feelings.
“Who cares?” I yelled and threw up my hands, my robe flailing theatrically.
“Me,” he bellowed right back.
“You don’t,” I corrected him. “If you did, you’d allow me out of this room to go find the food I wanted.”
The man actually wrinkled his nose at the idea. “If given the choice, Bianca, you’d probably eat Doritos all day.”
“It should be my prerogative, you fucking asshole!” I screamed.
Something sparked in his eyes at me finally unleashing on him. It wasn’t anger or pity but rather amusement like he was entertained, like he’d missed our banter. Then, he wiped what I think was a small smirk from his face and growled, “Not while I’m in charge of you, baby girl. I’m not going to let you ruin yourself because of sheer impulsiveness.”
Baby girl?“Asnackisn’t impulsive.”
“It is when you fainted and we don’t know why. It is when you don’t eat half the time.”
“Well maybe if I had the option to order something sweet every now and then, I’d be more apt to be healthy.”
“Oh please. You haven’t given a shit about your health for years. Believe me, I know. You ate out night after night at the university. And you barely ate your dinner. You expect me to think you’re going to start taking care of yourself now?”
“Okay, first of all, I don’t appreciate you watching my every meal and then judging it over the years,” I argued. He scoffed like that was irrelevant. My anger spiked further. This fucker had some audacity. “And I didn’t eat dinner tonight because I didn’t want chicken and pasta.” I narrowed my eyes. “Want to talk about how you know how much I ate… Are you watching me that closely?”
“If I was, it wouldn’t matter,” he said with no remorse, and I hated that the flutters in my stomach started. What did I care if I was something to him or not? He was a monster, I remindedmyself. “You realize I’m allowed to watch you if I want. I’m allowed to do whatever the fuck I want with you.”
“Doesn’t make it okay. Matter of fact, I won’t allow you to do anything to me ever again. So I hope you enjoyed that time with me in the bathroom.”
He chuckled and shook his head, defiance sparking in his eyes. “You think if I wanted to have you, I couldn’t?” He wiped a hand over his face. “Better question… You think even if I wanted to but you didn’t that I would?” He stared at me like he was waiting for me to respond.
And I took my time considering the question. Would he do what he wanted knowing I didn’t want him to? Would he hurt me? Truly?
When I didn’t answer right away, he rolled his eyes. “Like you haven’t known me most of my life.”
“Well, I don’t know every side of you, Bane. I don’t know the version of you who takes a man’s head at the dinner table.”
