Page 5 of Some Like it Violent

I was lonely, and it was when I was getting ready for bed that my mind reminded me of that fact, which felt harder with each passing day.

When I turned off the water and got out, the quiet hum of the space heater I brought in to make the bathroom extra warm was all I could hear as I dried off my wet body.

When I was pleasantly warm and dry, I wrapped the towel around myself, securing it under my arm, and then I turned off the space heater, unplugged it, and took it with me as I headed into my room, using my elbow to flip off the bathroom light as I went.

Once I was in my bedroom, I set the heater on the floor by my bed and plugged it in then turned it back on. This was an old house, and the windows and insulation were shit, which meant the cold air outside always made itself known as it crept in through the cracks and crevices.

I stared at my bed, confusion the first thing I felt as I stared at the clothes lined up neatly across the mattress. Clothes I certainly didn’t put there when I was in here earlier before I went downstairs to read by the fire. Clothes only visible because of the scented candles I lit on my nightstand and my dresser across the room, so it would smell like lavender and chamomile in here to help me sleep when I finally came to bed.

Fear quickly replaced that confusion, and I reached out to flip the light switch on my wall.

And that's when I felt it… a presence now in my room.

I spun to look behind me, never actually turning on the overhead light, and everything in me froze.

He stood right outside the doorway, looming in the dim light of the hallway coming from my lamp in the living room downstairs. The man had a hulking figure, massive in height and muscle, and I took a step back on instinct.

God, his presence was so overpowering that I felt it suck the air from the room.

Neither one of us spoke, and after my initial shock that I wasn't alone faded and my eyes adjusted, I realized what he was wearing.

A dingy prison uniform.

The fabric was faded and stretched taut over his broad shoulders, arms, and powerful frame. As he took a step forward, the candlelight from inside my bedroom caused shadows to carve harsh lines across his face. His features were brutal in the way I imagined a warrior’s would’ve been.

He wasn’t handsome in the classical sense, not with the raw power and danger that was clearly etched into every angle of his face and masculine line of his body. But he was still undeniably attractive.

I could barely breathe, so I focused on the way my pulse hammered right below my ear.

Everything in me said to run. To escape. To survive. But I couldn’t tear my gaze away from him, not when I was paralyzed with fear by his presence.

His gaze went to the clothes on the bed, then he slowly turned his eyes back to me. His head cocked to the side, and his dark gaze roamed over me, unblinking, as if he were a predator and didn’t want to miss any little detail of his newfound prey.

His slow and deliberate perusal of me sent terror shiver down my spine.

Because, at that moment, he didn’t look at me like I was merely at his mercy. In his dark and unwavering gaze was clear possession.

I tightened my hold on the knotted part of the towel I grasped in my shock. I squeezed my fingers around the material even more, keeping the fabric snugly against me and using it as a shield.

He was terrifyingly predatory.

His gaze lingered on my body far too long, and when he slowly lifted it to stare into my eyes, I held my breath. All I felt when I stared at him was this chilling emptiness that made my blood run cold.

“Get dressed,” he said with no inflection in his voice. It was void of… everything. When I didn't immediately do what he said, he stepped into the room and sucked out all the warmth my space heater produced as this icy chill crystallized along everything his gaze could reach. “Get dressed. We need to talk.”

I looked at the clothes—the ones he’d picked for me. I felt this wave of violation that he had gone through my drawers and closet, touched my things… my bra and underwear that were laid out neatly by my leggings and shirt.

“Do it now.” The tone of his voice told me this man had zero patience, and if I didn’t do what he said, he’d let me know how much that pissed him off.

My heart skipped a beat, and my body finally unfroze allowing me to at least do what he said. My hands shook as I reached for the clothes, and the whole time I gathered them up in my arms, I felt his eyes on me like a physical touch.

I knew at that very moment that after today nothing would ever be the same.

4

EVELINA

With my clothes clutched to my chest, I felt like I’d been standing and staring at him for the longest time.

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