Page 51 of Loving the Liar

My rasp barely lifts above the buzzing of everyone’s voices. Reeves is still holding me tightly by the hair, but he’s talking with another man. He didn’t even hear me, so I doubt anyone else did.

And yet I see Chris’s back straighten, and he pulls away from Megan. She’s talking in his direction, but he ignores her, looking around until his eyes find mine. I believe with all I have that he’s going to get me out of this. If not for me, then because he loves my brother. He knows I’m not someone who thinks twice before putting myself in danger, especially for the people I love. He’ll know I made a mistake. That I need out.

Everything around me disappears as his gaze crosses with my teary eyes.

Help me. Help me. Help me.

His face falls when he sees the way Reeves is manhandling me, and in a split second, he’s already trying to make his way to me.

That’s until Megan’s hold tightens, and he stops dead in his tracks. His desperate gaze doesn’t leave mine, and I don’t know what exactly she says to him, but it’s enough for him to stay where he is.

My professor chuckles behind me. He follows my gaze to Chris and taps my cheek condescendingly. “Don’t look for help where there’s none. Murray has no power when he’s around his girlfriend. With a family as powerful as hers, it’s easy for her to keep control of him.”

His words are only confirmed by the way Chris’s eyes now avoid mine. There’s nothing left of the man who would do anything to keep me safe. He looks as helpless as I am.

Chapter Fourteen

Ella

She Gets the Flowers - Beth McCarthy

The Heras get to shower privately when we’re brought back to the part of the country club they call the temple. It’s a separate mansion where only the members of the Silent Circle are allowed to enter, and where they’ve explained all Aphrodites must come if they’re called by a Shadow.

A million questions run through my head. How often are they allowed to call me for services? Am I meant to just drop everything? Is it limited to this space, or are they allowed to jump me anywhere they want? Is my life completely over?

The men lead the Aphrodites underground, into a room with what looks like ancient Greece baths. Columns surround a giant pool of white marble where some women are already bathing naked with Shadows.

“You should stop crying, Ella. Tears turn me on.” I startle when Reeves wipes tears off my cheeks. I thought I had stopped, but I’m in such shock I can barely feel my body anymore.

I don’t even fight him when he undresses me. “The good news is, once you’re clean, you get to ask Zeus for a favor. Now that you’re part of the Circle, your one favor from us is free. It’s something the common people will never get.”

There’s a fountain on the other side that barely mutes the moans I hear. I don’t want to look at where they’re coming from.

I sniffle as he turns me around to face the marble steps that lead into the water.

“Clean yourself. I’ll be waiting outside to take you to Zeus. Once your favor is granted, you’re mine for the night.”

Reeves nudges me, and I step down into the water. I don’t know what makes me obey. The shock, the fear, the fact that I tell myself to just take one thing at a time.

The pearl necklace technique. Something my therapist had mentioned a long time ago. Pretend you’re making a necklace out of pearls. Take each at a time, slide them on the string, and before you know it, you’ll have a whole pearl necklace. I stopped seeing that woman at some point through high school, but the mechanism stayed.

The next pearl is to clean the dirt, sweat, and blood from the hunt. I think the drugs are wearing off and every cut is making itself known on my body. Mainly, the corner of my mouth feels bruised from when Megan backhanded me. I can’t believe I let that bitch win.

The exact same type of dresses we were wearing earlier are hanging on hooks right by the door. I grab one, struggling to keep it on now that I’m wet from the bath. It sticks to my skin, becoming even more see-through than it’s meant to be.

As soon as I walk out, a hand wraps around my wrist, pulling me to the side and slamming me against the stonewall of the damp underground. I wince when my head hits the stone, feeling dizzy for a second.

“Ella,” Chris growls in a low voice. Yet at the same time, he places his hand between the wall and the back of my head, caressing and soothing the ache in familiar gesture that calms me slightly. “You shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t have come to the initiations, shouldn’t have gotten caught, shouldn’t have ever set foot in this place.”

He doesn’t say it in a protective way. He says it like I’m doomed. Like there was something holding him back before, and that magic veil is gone.

His other hand comes to wipe the tears falling down my cheeks. I hiss when he grazes what I’m sure shows exactly where Megan hit me.

I wonder if he even sees it because he doesn’t say anything at first. He reaches for the inside pocket of his suit jacket. All black tonight, matching the other Shadows. When he pulls out some pills, I plaster myself tighter against the wall.

“Take these. Then you can tell me who gave you that bruise at the corner of your mouth.”

The undertone of a threat toward whoever put that bruise on me is discreet, but it’s there. Only an elegant man like Chris can warn of future violence with a soft order.

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