Page 25 of Sacrificing Zoriah

“What’s that?” he asks.

“They made me shit in a bucket but wouldn’t let me clean myself,” I admit. He never falters as he rubs my back. “Also… I think I liked the taste of Huxley’s come.”

“To the first one, that’s awful. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable that must have been. To the second, that’s good, considering they made you swallow a bunch of it.”

“He poured it too fast,” I laugh. “I almost drowned in come.”

“That would be unfortunate,” he laughs. “I can imagine the look of horror on your brother’s face getting the autopsy results.”

“That alone would land him in therapy,” I giggle.

“Him and the rest of us,” he adds with an amused tone. “Sleep, Zoriah.”

“Mmkay,” I sigh and close my eyes. I match my breathing to his and focus on his hand rubbing my back. Within minutes I find myself drifting off.

Chapter Six

Roman

Zoriah has been asleepfor a while, so I gently get up and tiptoe to the bathroom. I get the shower turned on and pull off my boxers while I fight back tears. I’m trying so hard to be strong for her, but it’s hard. I was so fucking scared that I didn’t sleep or eat the entire time. I am so fucking exhausted, but I’m afraid if I fall asleep, something bad will happen to her. I can’t get the image of her when I opened the door out of my head. She looked broken and terrified but relieved to see me.

It felt like an absolute honor to be able to clean her body. Maybe that sounds weird, but just by looking at her, I knew something terrible had happened. She trusted me in her most vulnerable moment to help her. Even now, she fell asleep in my arms knowing she was safe with me. That’s special to me.

I have never seen that much come on someone’s body before. It was dried all over her thighs, genital area, her chest, breasts, neck, and even in her hair. She was covered in blood, dirt, and her own waste. She definitely has a rash in a few areas from that and will probably need medication for how long everything stayed inside of her. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see all of that because it’s indicative of what she went through.

I know they didn’t want to leave her side, but we also know that her being surrounded by people isn’t a good idea. She is bound to crash, but how she will crash is up for debate.

Once I am clean and the water is cold, I get out and dry off. When I go back into the bedroom, Zoriah is in the same exact spot, sleeping peacefully. I quietly leave the room and go down to check on everyone else.

“Hey,” I say when I get to the living room.

“How is she?” Ben asks.

“Traumatized,” I say. “She’s being very hard on herself for how she is reacting to everything.”

“How?” Jim asks.

“Well… she is hypersexual, and it makes her feel insane,” I say.

“I mean… She needs to rest for a second before going there. That’s not even trauma-related. Her body is exhausted. You can see it in the way she moves that her body has been through a lot,”Jim says. “I’ve never seen her so… I don’t know what the word is.”

“Devastated,” Corbin says.

“Yeah. Obviously, she was just a little girl when Clara died, but I’d almost believe she handled that better,” Jim says.

“What happened to her mom?” I ask.

“Oh, man,” Jim sighs. “I usually drink to forget her.”

“You don’t have to,” I say. “She just mentioned having a nightmare about her.”

“I didn’t know she was having nightmares again,” Jim says quietly.

“She never stopped having them,” Corbin says gently. “She just knew it would cause you more pain, so she just talked to me about them.”

“So… Clara. God, Zoriah is just like her,” Jim says. “So… Corbin was with Huxley and another friend of theirs at a sleepover. Zoriah and her mom had spent the day shopping and just doing mother-daughter things. I was at work but trying to get off early so I could spend time with Zoriah before bedtime. Usually, Clara lets her stay up a little while. They were watching a movie when Clara called me in a panic from the kitchen. She said she had the doors locked, but the back door was wide open. I told her to grab Zoriah and get out. She kept me on the phone while she wentto grab Zoriah, but… There was someone in the house already. They had gotten ahold of Riah…”

“Oh no,” Ben says quietly.

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