Page 7 of Sadist

“Uh…well, until now?” she replied, raising a brow at me as if it were obvious as she pulled a small key from the back pocket of her dark cargo pants. She tossed it to me, putting her hand on her hip as she waited.

She had no weapons that I could see. Aside from the cargo pants and boots, she wore a simple khaki T-shirt that was too thin to conceal anything. The door behind her was wide open, and the hallway beyond was empty and quiet.

“Behave,” she crooned, seeming to notice where my gaze had gone. “You wouldn’t make it two steps. Unlock the cuff and follow nicely.”

She gave me a serene smile, raising her brows at me as she widened her stance, her hands clasped loosely behind her back, waiting.

I had already removed the cuff and was massaging my bruised wrist where the metal had chafed it nearly raw. Pushing a lank lock of blonde hair off my face, I contemplated the pros and cons of going for the door…or for the full bucket off to one side of the room. The idea of throwing its contents at her was more than a little tempting.

“Touch that bucket and you will absolutely regret it,” she warned quietly, as if she had read my mind.

I chose option two. Dropping my shoulder and lunging, I threw my full weight behind the assault aimed for her unguarded stomach…and met with nothing but air. Stars exploded behind my eyes a moment later when Theo’s elbow connected with my temple.

I staggered, stunned, and trying to clear my vision.

“For fuck’s sake,” she sighed, a firm hand wrapping around my arm to steady me as I swayed. “I warned you.”

I slammed my elbow back, trying to catch her off guard, only to have my wrist gripped harshly, my shoulder screaming in protest as my arm was twisted up behind my back.

“Can younot?” She gave my wrist a firm squeeze. “Please stop before you hurt yourself. Now move.” She released me abruptly, shoving me forward.

I whirled on her. She was slightly shorter than my five foot six, which did absolutely nothing for my ego after how thoroughly I had just been manhandled.

“Go. Where?”

We were barely three inches apart, but she still managed to run an unimpressed look up and down my body.

“To shower for a start.” She reached up and picked what looked like a pea out of my hair. “You reek and have…food…in your hair. I thought you might want to avoid the rotting corpse look for your debut in front of the camera.”

“My what?” I scowled at her, trying to make sense of her words.

“It turns out Daddy Vanguard is a little hard to get hold of, and we need to get his attention.” She swept her arm toward the door. “Off you go, Sweets, a bar of soap awaits.”

God,I didn’t want to do anything this woman told me, but the thought of hot water was embarrassingly persuasive, so I stalked for the door, my back stiffening at the sound of her amused chuckle.

My cell was off a short hallway, and we passed three other doors before reaching a keypad-secured door at the end…Theo blocked my view with her body as she punched in the code and swung the door wide, beckoning me through.

The next room was…not at all what I was expecting. We were in some sort of industrial-style building with grey concrete wallsthat had been decorated with graffiti and murals. The large room had been separated into sections…and it was…a home. There was a gym in one corner, a kitchen set up along another wall, a picnic table nearby with a large sun umbrella at its center, and fairy lights woven around the underside. Various large potted plants were placed strategically, providing an odd mix of lush green foliage against the harsh concrete. Light streamed through filthy, barred windows that sat high in the walls, and huge lights hung from a ceiling crossed with exposed metal beams. Off to another side was a desk set up with a dual-monitor computer system that my gaze snagged on long enough for Theo to give me a poke in the spine to keep moving.

“Shower is over there behind the curtain. The boys will be here in twenty, so I would hurry if you don’t want to be caught with your pants down.”

I hurried toward the curtain, trying to take in as much as I could in the process. There was nothing that gave me any idea of where we were…and there were only two other exits from this room. The first was a massive set of metal double doors that had equally hefty deadbolts, and a huge potted tree sat in front of them. Then there was a door similar to the small, windowless one I had in my cell, with an access keypad glowing in the dim light.

It took me a moment to figure out the shower after I had drawn the curtain and let myself breathe a sigh of relief within the semblance of privacy it gave me.

Stripping quickly, I glared at the mess of copper pipes on the wall, finding the ones that branched off to the overhead rainfall shower and playing with the two small levers on them until the water that spilled out in a heavy torrent was a good temperature.

I couldn’t stop the groan as I stepped under the water, the heat and pressure washing away the grime of the past few days. Wiping water from my eyes, I blinked at the neat row of bottleson a shelf, found some shampoo and lathered my hair before standing under the hot stream of water for as long as I dared. I managed to turn the water ice cold as I was trying to turn it off, my shriek drawing an amused snort from somewhere in the room. I spotted a neatly folded stack of towels on a stool in the corner. Everything here was perfectly in place—even the ferns in metal holders bolted to the concrete looked as if they didn’t have a frond out of place, immaculately manicured without a single leaf lying on the ground beneath. I grabbed a towel, mussing the rest of them in the pettiest display of irritation I think I have ever partaken in. It gave me the smallest glimmer of satisfaction to see that haphazard pile in an otherwise meticulously neat area, and I quickly set about moving the rest of the sparse items nearby out of their neat rows and piles.

“Are you quite done?”

I jumped, nearly dropping the bottle I was holding, and spun to find Theo eyeing me with a raised brow. My towel slipped, and I dropped the bottle as I snatched the fabric back around me, soap splattering across the hem of her pants as it hit the floor.

She closed her eyes for a brief moment and then held out some clothing to me.

“What are those?”

“What do they look like?” she asked with a deadpan expression.

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