Page 87 of Merciless Prince
26
Shay
Wincing,I clutched my abdomen and sank to the bathroom floor, sucking down deep breaths.
Killian hadn’t returned to my room since the belting, and the last meal he gave me before that was over a day ago, meaning that two and a half days had passed without any food in my belly. It ached and gurgled constantly now, as if my digestive acids were turning on me and consuming me from the inside out.
I knew what Killian was doing. He was starving me out, hoping I’d become so weak and scared of dying that I’d finally break down and tell him the truth.
I could partially blame myself for that. After all, I gave him the idea down in the dungeon the other day, when he forgot to bring me a sandwich.
I no longer thought about him in terms of missing him, because I’d come to realize that I never really missed him in the first place. I only felt like I did because I was slowly losing myself to Stockholm syndrome, which made my brain form an emotional bond with Killian in order to protect me. It wasn’t real beyond that.
As for his so-called magic cock, that didn’t matter either. So what if he was the only guy who’d ever made me come? He obviously wasn’t the only one on the planet who could do that. He was just the only one that I’d ever happened to meet. There were probably a lot of other guys out there who could satisfy me, and they wouldn’t stick me in a dungeon or hit me with a belt.
With a groan, I stood up and put on the fresh set of underwear I’d brought into the bathroom. I couldn’t find the sweater and pants I’d selected, though. I was so tired from lack of food that I must have completely forgotten to take them out of the drawer in the main room.
I opened the bathroom door and immediately let out a shriek, one hand flying to my chest. There was a tall man with sandy hair standing right next to my bed.
“Whoa.” He put down the paper bag he was holding and averted his eyes. “Sorry. I didn’t know you weren’t dressed.”
“Who are you?” I asked, shielding my body with my arms. The man looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him.
“Derrick Curtis. I’m friends with Killian. We’ve met before.” He turned and grabbed a t-shirt from the chest of drawers. “Here,” he said, tossing it over to me. “Put this on.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled, slipping the shirt over my head. While Derrick was still looking away, I padded over to the bed and sat down, drawing the sheets all the way over my lap. “So… are you here to waterboard me? Grate my skin off?”
Derrick let out a light, awkward chuckle and shook his head. “No,” he said, stooping to pick up the paper bag. “Killian said you haven’t eaten for a while, so I thought I’d bring you some stuff. Hope you like pastrami on rye.”
He pulled out a wrapped sandwich and handed it to me. Then he reached back into the bag and grabbed a white cardboard container filled with fries and a can of cherry soda.
“You’re not a vegetarian, are you?” he asked as he flattened the paper bag to form a makeshift plate for the food.
“No,” I said, staring at the enormous sandwich in front of me. It looked delicious, but I didn’t trust any of the Hellfire assholes, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it contained cyanide as a seasoning.
Derrick opened the cherry soda and took a swig. “Look,” he said after he’d swallowed the mouthful. “No drugs or poison. That’s what you’re worried about, right?”
“I wouldn’t put it past you,” I muttered.
He nabbed a fry from the container and put the whole thing in his mouth. “These are fine too,” he said after he’d finished chewing. “I swear, it’s all regular food. I’ll even take a bite of the sandwich to prove it to you if you want.”
I leaned forward and picked up the sandwich. “It’s fine,” I murmured. “Thanks, I guess.”
“No problem. I figured you’d probably think I was up to something shady,” he replied. “I know Killian can be kind of… intense.”
“You mean fucking psycho?” I said between mouthfuls.
He laughed, eyes crinkling around the edges. Then he took a seat on the edge of the bed and reached for the fries. “Mind if I grab another one?”
“Go ahead,” I said.
We fell into an awkward silence as I devoured my sandwich. When it was all gone, I reached for the cherry soda and tipped my head back, gulping down the sweet fizzy liquid like it was the nectar of the gods.
Derrick sat and watched me, occasionally reaching for a fry. When he saw me wiping my hands on the paper bag, he leaned forward. “Listen, Shay… I know Killian can get into some weird shit, like whatever the hell that is,” he said, eyeing the X-frame in the corner of the room. “But I’m not like him. I’m just here to talk and listen. That’s it.”
“I already told Killian there’s nothing to talk about,” I said, looking down at the sheets.
He sighed. “Shay… none of us want to hurt your friends. I swear. We just need to know who they are.”
