Page 104 of Savage

Dylan looks around, then tugs on my leash to take me to the kitchen. He opens the fridge and pulls out the bottle of ketchup.

“Here,” he says, handing it to me. “Go spray it all over his fucking white living room.”

I stare at him for a moment, uncomprehending, and he waves the gun at me until I take the bottle from him into my trembling fingers.

Hunter is going to think I’m doing this because I want to. He’s going to look at the video feed and think I’m gleefully stealing from him and defiling his home. He’s going to be so pissed off that it’s never going to occur to him that I might not have wanted to do any of this.

I go into the living room and half-heartedly squirt the ketchup onto the couch, wincing as it gets onto the nice fabric. It doesn’t take long to empty the bottle onto the white furniture, then I turn to look back at Dylan.

He rolls his eyes at me. “Seriously? What happened to fuck the rich? Alicia would be so ashamed of you. You know she’d be right here with me, fucking this prick’s shit up.”

She would be disappointed in me for protecting my captor, someone who has had no qualms about using me. I don’t know if she’d approve of vandalizing his home, but then, it’s been so long since I’ve talked about her—let alone to her—that I don’t know anymore.

I toss the bottle onto the couch. “We’ve done enough,” I mumble. “Let’s just go before he gets back.” My breath hitches, and I have to fight not to throw up because of all of the nerves and misery.

“Man. I wanted to do worse. But yeah, let’s get the fuck out of here.” Dylan motions toward the suitcase. “You carry that. We’re gonna go on a lovely car ride.” He raises the gun at me, as if I’ve forgotten what the stakes are.

I glance back one more time at the bedroom.

The phone still isn’t ringing.

My shoulders slump as I get the suitcase and follow Dylan out of what could’ve been my home.

* * *

The house he takes me to is a dump, but that isn’t a surprise. Dylan’s never been able to keep any place clean.

I don’t think he actually lives here, though. It’s more likely that he found an empty place and started squatting. I get bad vibes from it, and the deteriorated walls and flooring tell me it might have sat empty for a while.

He catches my look and grins. “Pretty sweet, right? Apparently there was a grisly murder here some years back, and they’ve never managed to sell it.”

I shudder, trying not to look around to see what my—temporary—new home is. Dylan will find somewhere else before long, and it’s not like I’m going to get attached to here, not knowing that what’s going to happen here is potentially going to be worse than Ntimacy.

“How did you even find me?” I mumble, hugging my arms against my chest.

Dylan ties the end of the leash around a beam in the center of the room. “I went to Ntimacy to check up on you, and somebody there was nice and told me where you’d ended up.” He goes to flop onto the shabby couch. “I couldn’t believe it. Do you know how fucking much the guy paid for you? Like, Jesus fuck, I could buy myself a nice luxury car with that kind of money. And the dude dropped it on a used-up cunt like yours.”

I don’t know how much Hunter paid for me, and I find that I don’t really want to know. But the fact that he could buy a nice car with it… I can’t help but laugh, for all that it’s a bitter sound. “Yeah, I know I’m not worth even a quarter of that.”

I wonder if Hunter knows yet.

Why do I miss him?

The laughter turns into sobs, and I sink down onto the dirty floor to hide my face in my hands.

Dylan ignores me for a while, for which I’m glad. I don’t know what he wants to do with me, but I doubt it was actually to free me. I wipe at my tears and glance in his direction.

He’s fumbling with his phone, typing something with fast movements of his fingers. He’s never been the type to spend hours on his phone… but it’s been a while since I last saw him.

Or maybe it hasn’t been that long at all. Only a few months. Half a year?

“What are you going to do with me?” I ask quietly.

Dylan looks up from his phone at me. “Guess that depends on whether Dr. Fuckface is willing to pay for you. If not… eh, I’m sure I can find somebody to take you off my hands in another state. Benton City’s got a bunch of strip clubs too, I hear.”

I try to swallow around my tears, but it’s all I can do to remember to breathe. I’d told him I’d go with him and behave, that I’d suck and fuck whoever he wanted, but the idea of being sold to another strip club like Ntimacy makes me despair even more this time. I hadn’t known how horrible it would be then, but now? Now, I know just how bad it can be.

“Just leave him alone,” I whisper. “He won’t pay for me.”

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