Page 46 of Dirty Little Secrets
“So pretty bathed in my cum.” He smiles sardonically. “Like a good little whore.”
I hate him. When I first met him, I thought there was no way a man that looked like him could be so cruel and sadistic but he proved me wrong. Demons can sometimes be the most beautiful of beings. They have a way of making you thank them for goingeasy. Like tonight. This is child’s play compared to the shit he’s into. The things he would do to me if this was any other time. I’ve been spared because I didn’t come empty-handed. Like a reward for a good job done.
It's sick but I don’t have a choice. It’s this or death. I want a chance to live a life without my past in it. If I don’t. At least I tried.
He tucks himself away. “Now run along and be a good little whore and get me what I need. I don’t care what you have to do to get it.”
He clenches his teeth when I wipe my face on my sleeve, and I wish I could punch his pretty boy face and fuck it up. I plant a rehearsed smile.
“Anything for you, Brent.”
“That’s my girl.”
I’m not your fucking girl. I want to scream. I never was, never will be.
24
“Are you sure you’re okay in there?” Kristina calls out.
I catch my reflection in the mirror. My cheeks are pink from scrubbing myself raw in the shower. My eyes swollen for crying in self-pity.
“Yeah,” I say, grabbing the hand towel to dry my mouth. “Must have been something I ate.”
I’ve brushed my teeth three times since I got to the apartment. Threw up. When I looked at the dirty footprints on the beige tile by the rug, I didn’t realize I ran to the building on foot. After Brent let me go, all I could think about was the loofah and a hot shower scrubbing away every trace of Brent from my body.
“Are you sure you want to go out?” she calls through the door. “It’s okay if you don’t. We could just watch Netflix or something.”
I dry my face, catching the desperation in my reflection. I look like someone trying to outrun herself. The last thing I want to do is stay inside. What I need is escape. A night where I don’t feel like I’m drowning in my own skin. A night where I don’t feel weak for letting Brent manipulate and use me. I want to forgetthe way dread coils in my stomach whenever I imagine what he’ll do if I run. When Kristina saw me run to the bathroom as soon, I walked in, she asked if I wanted to hang out tonight. I nodded with my hand over my mouth holding back the contents of my stomach as I ran to the bathroom and shut the door puking my life in the toilet.
“I’m good. Give me a minute. I’ll be ready in fifteen.”
It’s Friday night, and in my obsession with hacking Drazen’s security system, I forgot Xaiden gave me the night off. That’s why he didn’t come back to the office.
“Good,” Kristina says. “Because I got a hookup to get us into Drazen’s restaurant tonight. It’s not a table, but we can dance and hang out at the bar.”
I’m not into drinking—obvious reasons being my mother—but tonight, I’ll make an exception.
The line to get inside the restaurant curls around the corner as we step out of the Uber. “Jesus.”
Her gaze follows the long line of people hoping to get a spot inside. “I know, right? It’s like this every night. You’d think they were waiting to meet a celebrity or something.”
We head to the VIP entrance, and I’m surprised to see Bash manning the door with an iPad in his hand. He looks up, face impassive.
“Side job?” I ask, trying to loosen him up. But Bash strikes me as the kind of man who was born without a smile. I’ve never seen one crack across his face, not even once.
He presses a finger to the mic in his ear. “Excuse me?”
“Standing out here—is it a side gig?”
It has to be. Xaiden didn’t have anything scheduled for the rest of the day.
He sighs and glances down at the iPad like my presence is a minor inconvenience. “I’m afraid there’s no time for side hustles in my profession, Ms. Summers.”
“Hey there, handsome,” Kristina waves. “Ronnie said he put me and Nori’s names down for tonight. Two for the bar and lounge.”
Wait...
“He’s here?” I ask before Bash can even scan the list.
