Page 25 of Psycho Beasts

Disjointed images flashed through my head of a gorgeous pale man with long black hair and a massive white snake around his shoulders.

I couldn’t remember how or why I’d met him; the boulder on my chest was too heavy.

It was crushing me.

The meaty fingers holding my face squeezed my cheeks until my teeth cut the sides of my mouth.

“Describe him to me,” the strange man demanded.

Tangy copper filled my throat and triggered memories of Dick’s fist slamming across my cheek. His punches had always cut the inside of my mouth.

I opened my mouth to speak, but stopped as I stared at the black words sprawled across his forehead.

It was the same word tattooed on the don’s neck.

The strange man shook my face back and forth violently, and the oppressive weight of fear returned with a flash.

I couldn’t remember what I’d been thinking. It was just out of grasp.

What I needed to do was escape.

“DESCRIBE THE DON TO ME!” the man alpha-barked in my face, his gross, warm spittle spraying across my skin.

Just like Dick.

There was a boulder crushing my chest, and every cell in my body screamed at me that this was the fucking end.

A man was hurting me.

There was only one way to respond.

I opened my mouth and, with all my might, spat blood all over the fucker.

He slapped me across the face. Front hand, back hand. Repeat.

The room spun, and the weight on my chest expanded endlessly into a mountain.

I would not survive.

I needed to escape.

My abuser arched a mangled eyebrow. “What about a man named Cobra? Tell me what you know about him. Anything at all and I’ll stop.”

A fuzzy warmth spread through my chest, and a small burst of happiness zinged across my lower back.

Images of a gorgeous man covered in sparkly jewels, pushing food into my mouth and arguing with me, flashed through my mind like a movie.

The warmth in my chest dulled into fear.

“DESCRIBE COBRA!” he alpha-barked.

With blood dripping down my lips, my aching face contorted into a smile. “Go fuck yourself.”

His fists descended in a haze of violence as he asked me questions.

Even as he beat me.

I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t stop smiling.

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