Page 74 of Dmitri

“Kaleb, please!” I piss my pants. Urine drips down my legs, puddling on the floor.

“That’s a nice dress to clear your head in.” His grip on me loosens just as he stabs down one final time. I rip my arm away just before the knife embeds into my wooden tabletop.

Sobs wrack me as I hug myself.

“You feel that fear pumping inside you?” Kaleb growls in my face. Ripping the blade out of the table, he holds it at the hem of my dress, between my legs, and seethes. “That’s how I felt all night when I couldn’t fucking find you, Dae.”

My dress tears as he cuts the fabric clean up the middle. I’m so paralyzed with fear, I suck in big breaths and keep crying. “Kaleb, stop.”

“Who did you fuck last night?” He shoves his hand between my thighs, cupping my pussy, and I cry out because it hurts. I was already sore from Dmitri, and Kaleb’s brutal touch makes it worse.

“Myself,” I say through sobs. “I fucked myself, okay?”

Not a lie. Figuratively speaking, the actions I’ve taken recently, and the consequences I’m now facing, I did indeed fuck myself.

He leans in and smells my neck and hair. “You smell different.”

“It was lavender bath salts.” My stomach’s rolling. “I normally use jasmine.”

Our faces are so close I can feel his breath on my lips. With an angry, twisted smile, he wraps his hand around my throat and squeezes. “You turn your fucking phone off again, or let it die, and I will not miss next time. Understand me, Dae?”

The point of his blade is suddenly next to my right eye, driving his message home.

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

He drops the knife, the sound of it clanking on the floor shattering me. Relief floods my body like a dam’s burst. I cry so hard and ugly that I can’t feel my cheeks. My breaths wheeze out of my lungs. My legs give out.

“Shhhh.” Kaleb squats down and holds me close. “I hate when you make me be a bad guy, Dae. But it’s for your own good. You know that, right?” He gently tips my chin, so I’ll look at him. “Fuck, babygirl, I love your tears.” He drags a tongue up my cheek. “So sweet, just like you.”

My entire body trembles. I cry even harder.

How did I get this low in the gutter? How did I ever think Kaleb was my hero? When did I become this trapped and far from safety?

Then again, I’ve never known safety a day in my life. Hedidn’t drag me here; I was already waiting for him to find me in this Hell.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Kaleb says cheerily. “You go take a shower and wash the piss off. I’ll take care of the mess down here.”

I crawl away from him, still sobbing.

“Nuh uh. Get up, babygirl. You only crawl when I tell you to.” He hoists me to my feet and slaps my ass. “Go on now. Addie will be home soon. You don’t want her to see you like this, do you?”

My stomach plummets. More sobs tear out of me.

“Jesus Christ.” Kaleb snatches me up and hugs me tight. “Come on, babygirl. It wasn’tthatbad. Calm the fuck down.”

It’s thecalm the fuck downthat’s said in a darker tone. That’s the only warning I’ll get before he terrorizes me again if I don’t listen. So, I pull myself together. Wrapping my arms around his middle, I inhale the scent of cigarettes, booze, cologne, and laundry detergent and I pull. Myself. The fuck. Together.

“Better?”

I nod against his chest.

“Give me a smile, Daelyn.”

With all the bravado I can muster, I tip my head back and smile up at him.

He cups my face and kisses the tip of my dripping nose. “That’s my good girl.”

I finally break away and head upstairs to do what I’m told. I scrub myself raw in the shower. I bandage the cuts Kaleb just gave me. I tell myself I deserve everything I’m getting because I did this to myself.

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