Page 216 of Love Me in the Dark
She nodded and shuffled her feet until she faced me once more.
“Put your hands down,” I ordered when she kept her bound wrists up against her chest, trying to hide her naked breasts from me.
Slowly, she eased them away from her body. I took in my fill in silence.
The girls given to me weren’t mine full time. I had only a certain time with them, so I didn’t pay too close attention to their appearance other than to be sure any injuries from before they came to me healed, and that they were in good condition when their real owners picked them up. But this woman.
Fuck, I could look at her like that all night.
“Are you injured anywhere?” I asked, walking around her to inspect her back and her ass. I’d already taken note that her ass cheeks were free of bruising before I started the belting. But she’d probably have a welt or two for the next few days now.
Before she could answer, I swept her hair away from her back and exposed a long angry welt across her shoulder blades. She’d been hit with a bullwhip.
I touched the welt, enjoying the hiss she let loose. “Someone was a bad girl,” I commented lightly, but inside anger boiled. This wasn’t how you treated a pet. Those assholes.
“Why am I here?” she asked, instead of commenting on how she earned the welt. Her shoulders rolled back, and her chin lifted.
“You’re here to learn. And I’m here to teach you.” I walked around her again. “Whoever bought you will be here in a week to collect you.”
“Bought me?” She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. It was then that the light from outside the kennel struck her face, giving me a clearer view.
“We’ll talk about it after you’ve had your bath and eaten.” I brushed her hair back from her face, then dragged my hands across her cheeks, wiping away some of the dirt. “Gabby.” The name erupted from the back of my brain, from deep in the past.
“What?” She jerked her face away from my touch.
The wind flew out of my chest. I stepped back from her, letting the information sink into my head while working through what needed to be done.
“After I get the bath ready, I’ll be back.” I stepped out of the kennel and made sure the lock was in place. She rushed forward to the fence.
“No. Please, don’t leave me down here.”
“Once you’ve proven you can behave, you won’t have to stay down here. But first, you get bathed and eat.” I reached my fingers through the links and stroked her knuckles. “Be a good pup, and you’ll be rewarded.”
I left her there, standing at the gate, her fingers clinging to the chain links as I climbed the steps back into the cabin. She didn’t yell after me, she didn’t beg me to let her go. No. Gabby wouldn’t. Gabby was a plotter. Gabby was a fighter.
Gabby was going to be hard to break.
But I would break her.
2
Gabby
I checkedthe perimeter of the fencing again, looking for any break in the links or any spot where I might be able to break down the wall. Nothing. The damn cell was basically Fort Knox.
Pressing my forehead against the fence, I took a shaky breath. There were no more tears to cry. I’d used them all up when I found myself blindfolded, gagged, and stuffed in the back of a van. What little I had left fell when I’d woken up in this cell naked and filthy.
I had no idea how much time had passed since I walked out of the library after my night shift. Had I been taken a day ago, a week, a month? I had no memory of much other than the stench of cigar smoke. The one time my captors had let the sedative wear off enough, I’d attacked them, biting someone’s hand hard enough to draw blood. The blindfold had still been on, but I could taste the metallic flavoring on my tongue.
Walking past the fluffy dog bed in the corner of the cell, I went back to my corner. I sank down to the floor and crossed my legs in front of me while leaning my head back against the cinder block wall. Whoever my keeper was now, he was moving around over my head. I could hear every step he took.
There was something familiar about him. At the time, when he was in the cell with me, manhandling me, hurting me, I felt it. Now that I was alone, I racked my brain trying to place him. His voice had that deep authoritative tone to it that you don’t forget when you hear it. I knew the voice. With his thick beard, though, I couldn’t place his features.
I recrossed my legs which put more pressure on my ass. The ache lingered, but the stark pain had eased.
He’d left the light on when he went back upstairs, which gave me a better view of the room I was locked away in. The cell was big enough I could walk several paces in all directions. The rest of the room seemed to be used as storage. Aside from the washer and dryer tucked away in the far corner. He must do his laundry down there.
Don’t make him human. He’s not human. He’s a monster.
