Page 27 of The Magic of Betrayal
Big Daddy:I have some meat that wants to attack you.
Bloody hell.
Me:Omg, Cam.
Big Daddy:Be safe, baby girl.
Me:Always. Gotta go, I wanna get home. I’m hungry.
I sent it off with four kiss face emojis and shoved my phone back into my pocket. Keeping in mind the advice my bestie had given me, I took a deep breath. I knew I needed to just talk with him about the coddling, and I should probably do it soon seeing as how my moods were zero to sixty these days.
The bottle of wine I wanted was a little out of reach, so I was stretching to grab it when a hand landed on my ass. Sucking in a breath, I froze. A large body pressed up behind me, and I was trying to figure out which of the guys had snuck up on me. Sighing, I closed my eyes and leaned back as a hand swiped my hair to one side of my neck, their lips hovering over my skin.
My nose wrinkled when a familiar magical signature skated along my body. That's when the scent hit me. His cologne. His smell. A hard ridge pressed against my butt and I stiffened, his hand clamping over my mouth before I could scream, his other arm snaking around my waist and securing me tightly to his body.
"I knew you still felt it, Saige. Look at how you respond so beautifully to my touch," Bryce growled in my ear and bile rose in my throat.
Shaking my head no, I called on my magic, vines immediately burst from my palms, wrapping around his wrists to pull him away from me, just as his hand was pulled from my lips, I opened my mouth to let out the loudest call for help, but instead, all that came out was water.
My eyes widened when Bryce spun me around toward him, his face furiously red and scary. The vines fell away, my panic caused me to lose focus on anything except for the fact that I was drowning. Bryce was fucking drowning me in the middle of the grocery store. Clawing at my throat, all I could do was watch as he chuckled deeply.
"Here's the deal, pretty. You. Are. Mine. You are always going to be mine. Your boyfriends won't be in town forever. You're nothing but a warm hole for them to fuck while they're here on business. They're not built for Emerald Lakes, they're always going to want more. Can you give them that?"
My heart was racing, tears stinging my eyes as I slowly suffocated.When had he gotten this powerful?This was next level magic.
His hand trailed down my waist, and he tugged on my t-shirt before leaning in to whisper in my ear, the heat of his breath and the feel of his hands on my body making me gag stronger on the water.
"You know I always enjoyed your body, but most mages aren't into fat witches, so maybe back off a bit on the snacking, hmm?"
Despite the fact that I was drowning, my face flamed in humiliation. I'd been trying so hard since I left his abusive ass to work on body positivity. He had always made comments about my weight, and I was ashamed that just one comment had me sinking back into a haze of embarrassment. My vision began darkening, bright circles floating across his hateful face.
My phone was going off in my pocket, the vibrations relentless, but I was helpless here. Scraping my hands down his arms, I prepared for the worst. Was he really going to kill me here, like this? No, he wanted my submission, and that was something I swore he'd never get again.What's one more psychological blow?
Nodding my head, and dropping my eyes and arms, I let myself go limp in his hold.
"That's what I thought."
The water evaporated instantly, as if it'd never been there to begin with and I started hacking, sucking in gulps of air.
"She's fine, she just choked on a sip of water," I heard Bryce telling someone who must've come to check on the alarming noises coming from this aisle. Peeking up at him, he was smiling, raising a friendly hand in a wave as his other hand gripped my wrist so hard I stifled a cry of pain. His grip twisted and I felt my bracelet break in his palm, pretty perfect symbolism for how all of my confidence just snapped and fell to pieces within three minutes of being in his presence.
Sometimes the most evil monsters wear the prettiest masks.
Bryce cupped my face with his hand, swiping his thumb across my cheek, clearing away the tears. "You know I love you, I just... I need you to stop pissing me off, Saige. The last thing I'd ever want to do is hurt you, but you're hell bent on pushing me to that point. You make me crazy." Releasing my wrist, the bracelet fell to the floor, destroyed. The little crystals rolled all over the ground.
My breathing was rapid, I couldn't think coherently, all I could do was stand there with hands on me that had no business being there, and the next thing I knew, his lips were on mine. Gentle, soothing, like he really did love me. And all I did was stand there.Pathetic. Weak.
"Do you feel what you do to me?" He pressed his hard cock against my stomach and I whimpered, a sound he mistook for want instead of what it really was, fear. Bryce had no concerns about anyone seeing us, the store was dead, and he lived to push his luck. My phone was vibrating again and I was positive it was the guys. A strangled sob came out of my throat when Bryce cupped my crotch through my leggings, pressing against my clit with his middle finger.No, no, not again. I can’t go through this again.
"I will have this. Soon." He stepped away from me and my knees hit the floor, "Oh, and Saige? This stays between us or I will drown every last one of those motherfuckers in their beds and leave them for you to find." And with that, he turned and left me a shaking, crying mess.
Abandoning my cart, I practically sprinted to the single person restroom and locked the door behind me. All I could hear was whooshing in my ears, like I was under water, and my hands were trembling as I gripped the sink.Fuck. What the fuck am I going to do? He fucking touched me, kissed me, tried to drown me!
My green eyes gazed back at me through the mirror, looking even more vibrant than usual due to the redness surrounding them. Black streaks from my makeup had me looking like a crazy person, like a weak person. Heat prickled at the base of my neck, spreading throughout my body in mere seconds.I'm not weak.
The vibrating in my back pocket snapped me out of the stare down I was having with myself and I saw Fischer's name flashing up on the screen.Fuck, how am I going to talk to anyone right now and not have them pick up immediately on the fact that something is very, very wrong with me?
Feeling guilty as hell, I let it go to voicemail, there was no way I trusted my voice right now.
