Page 73 of Like Fathers, Like Son
Dad Dory groaned, handing me his car keys, but halting me with a hand on my shoulder as I turned to leave.
“Because you need to consider the fact that Anneka may have run from you twice now. This could be yet another attempt to escape you. Is it time to accept that and leave her be?”
“No, I don’t fucking accept this attempt either. Or the tenth. Or the fucking hundredth. She’s mine, dad, and I’m getting her back if I have to drag her by her fucking hair, and lock her up for the rest of her fucking life.”
I ran for the door with them following me, and dad Dory sat in the front of the car with me, with my other dad in the back. I handed my phone across to dad Dory.
“Tell me where to go.”
He started directing me, and I drove as fast as I could, even though some of the roads were starting to get busy with morning traffic.
“Your mum says hi, by the way,” dad Dory said quietly, as he pointed at an upcoming turn.“That way.”
“She didn’t run. I know she didn’t fucking run, dad. We were planning for the future. She… fuck… she’s pregnant, I never even told you guys that. There’s so much more at stake than before.”
Both of my dads started congratulating me, but all I could think about was that someone was trying to take my baby away from me, and either it was some stranger, who was about to die today… or the woman I loved was trying to deprive me of her and our child.
In a strange way, I really hoped it was the former, because the rage building in me needed an outlet, and if it turned out to be her, she’d probably never trust me again.
Anneka
THE MONSTER TOUCHED ME way more than I wanted to be touched. It wasn’t sexual exactly, more like he was trying to fuck with my head before he killed me. My tears had dried, and in their place was a kind of dim acceptance that after all I’d been through with Blaze, I still wouldn’t get a chance at a future or happiness.
Would I end up screaming when this monster tortured me? I knew I would, but for as long as I could, I intended to withhold my reactions, and make it less enjoyable for him.
If only I’d gone with Blaze this morning. If only I’d said, screw it, I’ve never watched the sunrise from a beach, and I really should have. Had a part of it been an urge to say no to Blaze, just to see if he’d accept it? I think it probably had, but it had turned out to be the worst decision of both of our lives.
“Pay fucking attention, whore.” A burning pain spread across my left breast and I caught a flash of light and drops of blood, before I felt the same pain across the other. He was cutting me! He was slicing through my skin, and making me bleed.
The initial shock of the cuts was followed by intense stinging, and then horror, as he leaned down and dragged his tongue over each cut. He groaned with pleasure, like the taste of my blood was some kind of enjoyable taste, or delicacy.
Oh god. Was he a fucking cannibal? Would he carve off pieces of me to eat, while he kept me alive? Panic started overwhelming me again, and my attempts at calm indifference went completely out of the window, as I started to scream and beg him to stop. To let me go. To at least not hurt me anymore.
You’d think I’d be stronger after what Blaze had put me through, but I wasn’t. I was a coward. I was nothing more than a terrified girl who knew she was about to die, but not before she suffered unimaginable pain at the hands of a madman.
The monster looked like he was revelling in my terror, groaning and adjusting his jeans as he stroked the fingers of his other hand over my breasts, and down my stomach.
He picked up the knife again before he reached the area I was praying he’d overlook, dragging the cold side of the blade against my flesh as I trembled, and started quietly begging him to stop. My throat was raw from screaming, my voice hoarse and ragged.
He grinned, dragging the blade of the knife across my thigh, lightly enough to score through the skin without digging in deeper.
“How about you start screaming again for me, and I’ll stick to cutting the outside areas. You go quiet, and I’ll start carving you up from the inside out.”
Oh god. Please, Blaze, please find me. Please look for me and save me. If he could just save me, I’d give him anything he wanted.Just save me!
The knife dragged down my thigh again, and I screamed as the burning pain started to register.
44
Blaze
WefoundAnneka’scar,and it was tucked around the back of a fairly secure looking building.
I grabbed the handle to get out of the car and dad grabbed my arm, tightening his grip when I tried to pull away.
“Fuck’s sake, dad! If someone’s got her, they could be doing anything to her right now!”
Dad’s dark eyes looked sombre, and he glanced at my other dad before he spoke, like they were secretly deciding something, or agreeing on something at least.
