Page 13 of Beg the Night

“Really? None of them have given off the best vibes since I’ve been here. If I’ve learned anything in this life, it’s to assume menwill always hurt women, and their behavior when I got pushed into this cavern only solidified that.”

Her lips tugged down. “You’re very cynical. It’s making me sad.”

I picked at my dirty pants aimlessly. “I mean, the tier three’s name isSinner.Where do you think he got that name? I can’t imagine he earned it by being nice and loving to his friends.”

Margaret just shrugged. “I wouldn’t want anyone judging me without getting to know me first. I like to give others the same courtesy.”

It was a damn miracle Margaret had survived this long down here. She was too nice. Too trusting.

These men had ignored her completely, yet when I’d arrived, I’d garnered the attention of every one of them. Being invisible would have been far more palatable than the verbal abuse Blondie gave me.

He and his friends slept on the far side of the dungeon, a few feet away from where Sinner sat up in bed, using the moonlight filtering in from the window to read an old, tattered book.

His expression was softer than seemed possible for a man as roughened as he was. He almost looked peaceful.

It was disturbing.

If he was as strong as Margaret claimed, he should have no problems escaping this place. He could easily kill Director and slaughter the soldiers guarding the facility. Then we could all be free.

What was keeping him here? Who was controlling the prisoners?

Had Director really brainwashed them into believing they weren’t powerful enough to escape?

Either way, I wouldn’t sit around all month and wait for my death or worse. I’d spent my entire life taking care of myself.

And I would die before I let a man violate me in the name of governmental power.

FOUR

athena

Three more days passed. At first, I spent every waking hour expecting Director or one of her lackeys to storm into this damn room and… I don’t know.Dosomething. I couldn’t believe the way they were pretending like we didn’t exist. They fed us, but barely. And Margaret and I were left to share meals because the men ate about ten times more than we did.

We were lucky they left us anything at all. If Margaret weren’t here, I would have starved by now. They seemed to have a basic level of respect for her that they didnothave for me. I wasn’t sure why, but the more I learned about Margaret, the more I discovered that there was something special about her level of crazy.

It was growing on me.

Aside from chatting with my new companion, there was nothing to do but sit around and become very,verybored. I had been here for days. The others had been here for months—maybe years. How the hell had they not lost their minds? The only thing they did for fun was partake in the occasional fight, which typically ended in a pathetic brawl that had to be broken up when one of the guys got too aggressive.

I waited for someone to use their powers, but they never did. Not one of the guys tried to bust out or even wielded magic during a fight.

Margaret was right. The Ministry was nowhere to be seen. Yet they still held all the power.

“I’m your friend, and you’re my favorite person here, so I don’t want to hurt your feelings when I say this, but you stink. You need to shower and change into clean clothes, okay?”

I was shaking my head before she finished the sentence. “There is no way in hell I’m stripping naked only feet away from an entire dungeon full of men.”

“They aren’t going to hurt you. I shower all the time and they all leave me alone. They won’t even enter the bathroom when I’m there.”

The couple of times I forced myself to use the bathroom, I made Margaret come with me. Strength in numbers, right? Even though it only limited my privacy further.

Margaret seemed to understand. She was right, though. Every time she entered the bathroom, the men took notice and steered clear.

Again, there was some underlying respect I didn’t quite understand.

And I wasn’t confident they would extend me that same courtesy if she weren’t here.

So I’d deal with the smell of my own body odor. It beat risking a shower.

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