Page 23 of A Debt So Ruthless

I hurry over to the bathroom door, opening it and peeking out to make sure Elio hasn’t returned to the room, then close it again. I put my phone on the counter, then I hurry out of my dress, leaving it in a wrinkled heap along with my panties and then hustle over to the shower.

At the last second, I change course for the bathtub. The adrenaline of the night is starting to dump out of my system, leaving my legs weak and wobbly. The last thing I need is to fall over in the shower, hit my head, and be naked and unconscious in this house.

I start running the bath, marvelling at just how huge it is. It has jets, too. I grab some body wash and shampoo and conditioner from the shower and get into the tub.

I breathe out slowly as the hot water fills the tub, running over my legs, soothing my shaking muscles. The body wash smells incredible, and I hate it. I try not to breathe in the tempting luxury of the scent as I use the suds to scrub every inch of my body until my skin is pink and sensitive. I do the same to my hair, scraping my scalp with soapy fingernails. As I work the shampoo violently against my scalp, flashes of the night go through my head. Gunfire ripping through my memories. My father running. That man with the gun getting shot in the head and stuffed into Curse’s trunk.

I realize I’m gripping my hair so hard it hurts, making fists around the sudsy strands. I let go, then plunge backwards until my head is submerged in the water. And I stay there. It’s a game I’ve played with myself ever since Mom died. Tipping back into the hot water and holding my breath for as long as I possibly can. Letting the ominous rush of the water block out everything else. Waiting, lungs burning, until the last possible moment before resurfacing. The euphoria that spikes through my body when I breathe again is like nothing else I’ve experienced. I feel that high everywhere – my chest, my head. Even between my legs.

The longest I ever lasted was a minute and forty-two seconds. Eyes scrunched shut, the tap still thundering fresh water into the bath, I start counting.

I only get to thirty-eight when a hand reaches into the bath, touching my shoulder.

The shock of the contact makes me inhale water. I sit up, coughing violently, eyes streaming.

“Holy hell, sorry! Sorry! Jesus, you looked fucking dead in there!”

I slap one hand across my chest and scrape soaking hair away from my face with the other. Right away, just from the voice, I know it’s not Elio. I would have known even before hearing the voice. He wouldn’t have grasped my shoulder that gently. He would have ripped me right out of the water.

A beautiful young woman is crouching beside the bathtub. She’s my age, or maybe a little younger, her loose, dark blonde curls with ombre highlights framing her heart-shaped face. Her eyes are narrowed as they take me in – warm, golden-brown irises framed by very long, spiky black eyelashes. Her shiny pink lips are puckered in a concerned sort of frown.

“Nope,” I say raggedly, my throat feeling water-logged. “Not dead.”

Her face relaxes a little, a smile tugging at her lips.

“Well, good. Who’s gonna use all this shit I bought if you don’t?” She gestures at the shampoo and body wash at the side of the tub.

“You bought all this stuff?” As I ask the question, I scoot over to the other side of the bath, turning off the water. Then I swivel back to look at the girl who’s appeared in this bathroom like some kind of fairy.

“Yup. Elio asked me to get the room ready for you. He paid for it all, of course. What do you think of this one?” She raised up the body wash that had smelled so heavenly. “It’s one of my favourites.”

There’s something disarming about her. I have no idea who she is, and I’m naked, but she’s chatting to me like we’ve known each other forever.

But I can’t afford to be disarmed. Not here. Not now.

“Elio paid for all this? What, is it all getting added onto my debt?” I ask, voice flinty. I cross both my arms over my chest and hunch down into the water.

“Oof. Yeah. Heard about that. What is it, five mil?”

“Make that six,” I grind out.

She sighs and puts her elbows on the edge of the tub, placing her delicate chin onto her interlocked fingers.

“We’ve all got debts,” she says softly. “Prices we have to pay just to occupy our rightful place. Some of us are saddled with that shit the second we are born.” Her gaze drifts down to a ring on her left hand – an engagement ring. She grimaces as she inspects it closer before flipping her hand to show me. “Ugly, isn’t it?”

It’s… something. I’m not sure anything with that many diamonds could be called ugly, but it’s certainly not something I would call tasteful.

“You’re engaged?”

“Yup,” she says flippantly, rolling her eyes. “To the human equivalent of a skid mark.”

Once again, I find myself totally disarmed by her. Beneath the perfectly applied makeup is a very young face. She looks like she could be in high school and she’s engaged.

Despite the walls I’ve tried to put up, I can’t help but feel a sense of kinship towards her. We’re both caught in situations we clearly don’t want to be in. For a split second, I honestly wonder if hers is worse. I may be subject to Elio’s whims, but at least I’m not engaged to the guy.

I roll my lower lip between my teeth, deciding if I should shut down, shut her out, or if I should give into the instinct that she may be a kind of ally for me here. She clearly has free reign of this house, which means she’s got at least some sort of power. Plus, as much as I don’t want to admit it, I like her. Her forthright, almost blasé nature reminds me a little bit of Willow. Maybe it’s stupid to trust her, but I could really use a friend in here.

“I’m Deirdre. Deirdre O’Malley,” I say, giving her a tentative smile. I want to offer her my hand to shake, but its soaking wet, and I’m naked, and it just seems weird.

---