Page 151 of Cashmere Ruin

“You—”

“A pathetic little side piece to some rich, married guy,” he cuts me off without ceremony. “It’s all over the papers, you know? Him with that blonde wife of his. Wouldn’t mind getting a piece ofthat, but I guess everyone has to make do sometimes.”

Suddenly, his hand shoots towards me. I pull away, but I’m not fast enough—his sweaty fingers close around my wrist, trapping me in the doorway.

“Let go of me,” I rasp.

“What? You don’t like married men anymore?” he mocks. His stale breath is right against me now, so close I could retch from the stench alone.

But what worries me the most is his other hand. It finds my hip and squeezes, hard enough to leave a bruise. I try to shake it off, but it’s useless. I’m useless.

Come on, react. For God’s sake, react! You’re not a kid anymore! You’re not young like you were when he last tried… when he…

I cast the memories off. They’re no good to me now. Charlie was there last time. He didn’t understand what was going on—only that his father wanted to hurt me. Back then, he saved me.

Now, there’s no one.

Before long, Tom’s hand starts sliding down, down,down.I’m paralyzed, a deer in the headlights. For a second, I forget everything: my brother in the next room, Matvey downstairs. All I can think is,This is it. This is gonna happen.

“You want it, don’t you?”

“No,” I croak.

“Fuck yeah, you do. You’ve always wanted it. That’s what all those skimpy dresses were about, huh? You wanted me to rip them off of ya?”

“They weren’t skimpy!” I cry out. “They were just dresses! I was seventeen, Tom!”

“And with a rack like a porn star. C’mon, be honest: you wanted to pull one over on Mommy, didn’t ya? Steal her man and then brag about it?”

He keeps pouring filth into my ear. I can’t do anything to stop it. Everything I say, he ignores; every denial, he mocks; and with every move I make to free myself, he only grips me harder.

React.

Fucking hell, react!

What if this was happening to your daughter?

That’s what snaps me out of it. Of all things, it’s May. May, who was born a girl in a world like this—a world I’m going to have to protect her from.

How the hell can I do that if I can’t even protect myself?

“Guess I can make the sacrifice.” Tom sneers as he feels up my thigh. “Fuck a couple cobwebs away since I’m at it. Maybe even put another bastard in ya.”

“I doubt it,” I force out. “You’d have to get it up for that.”

I watch the lust drain from his face. Fury replaces it instead. “You little…!”

He pries his hand off my thigh and raises it high. I squeeze my eyes shut and brace myself: it’s not the first slap I’ve ever gotten from Tom, but it’s the first in a long time. I don’t know how used to it I am anymore.

But before the blow can land, I hear a voice.

Hisvoice.

“Get the fuck away from my woman.”

46

MATVEY

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