Page 14 of Darkest Game
Liam walks away, leaving me alone in the kennel once more. The dogs have stopped growling at me so at least there’s that.
Married. To Liam O’Connor. Just to spite my two brothers-in-law. I’m a plaything for these men. It feels like Denis all over again: controlling my life. Dictating what I get to do and not do. Liam made it clear that he will not honor the sanctity of marriage but that I will be expected to.
I’ve never been one to cuss but in this moment I let myself think: fuck him. Screw these men for taking me from a home where I could be happy after years of unhappiness. Screw them for forcing me to sit in a kennel all night long as if I’m not even human.
And screw them for making me marry the enemy just to hurt my family. Where I’ll be married to a man who clearly doesn’t want me and yet, I’ll be expected to be loyal to him. The whole thing is messed up.
All I can feel is numb.
I don’t even register when a man approaches the kennel right away.
“Hey, pretty girl,” he growls at me. With a gasp, I get up and back to the other side of the kennel, as far away from him as I can get. “Mmm. You are pretty. The boys inside weren’t lying when they said that.”
Even in the darkness, I can still make out the man’s features. He’s short with a round stomach and stinks like beer and cheese. He’s the kind of man my father always warned me about: the kind who thinks they have a right to you but they don’t even come close to deserving you.
If my father could see me right now, he’d be bursting through the doors of the house and killing every single one of the Irish men inside. I wouldn’t be stuck inside this kennel.
For a moment, I worry that Mikhail and Nico won’t come for me. I’m sure Natalya and Sasha are asking for it but how much are Mikhail and Nico willing to risk? I’m not their wife. They have no obligation to me.
“Leave me alone, please,” I whisper, drawing inwards on myself. If it weren’t for ballet, I’d probably have hunched shoulders by now for how much I curl myself into a ball. When I was a child, I only got into ballet because my father encouraged it and because he was disappointed Sasha showed no interest in it. I wanted to make him proud, so I became a ballerina for him. And then I fell in love with it. Knowing I could move with grace and acting more like Natalya gave me courage. It gave me a community, even if I wasn’t super close to my fellow dancers. Now, I don’t have any of that anymore.
“Leave me alone please,” he mocks, scratching between his legs. My nose wrinkles in disgust. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you find me gross. You’re not all that either.”
“Please. I don’t want any trouble.”
“You don’t want any trouble.” He scoffs. “Standing there in that cute dress of yours. You’re just asking for trouble. I could come inside there and have my way with you, you know.”
And yet, he doesn’t, which tells me that he doesn’t have the key to open the kennel. Liam locked me in here. Hopefully he’s theonly one. I may not like Liam but I’m at least not worried about him trying to rape me. He said it so himself – he has no desire to do such a thing to me.
But this man… I can see the lust in his eyes. He wants to hurt me.
“You know what?” he grunts. “I think I’ll have fun with you in a different way.” And right before my eyes, he unzips his pants and pulls his penis out. I almost gag at the sight. I was always taught to be polite but I don’t think those rules matter anymore.
He wiggles his penis at me. “Like what you see?”
I avert my gaze.
“Look at me,” he growls. “Or I’ll send those dogs in there and have them hurt you.”
I glance at the dogs in the kennel next to mine. They’re asleep for the night.
And that’s when I hear the sound of water hitting the bars of the kennel. Glancing up, I see that the man is… peeing. Straight up urinating on the kennel. Some of the spray manages to hit my dress.
With a scream, I dance away from the spray but he only turns his body, trying to shoot me with his urine.
“Just stop,” I beg. “Please. Just stop.” I keep moving as fast as I can around the kennel but he only follows with his urine. I keep catching glances at his penis and I keep having to stop myself from vomiting.
The man chuckles when his urine dries up. “That’s what you get, girl, for not being nicer to me.”
“What the fuck is going on?” It’s Liam. He storms over to the man and shoves him back. “Sean, what are you doing?”
“I’m showing the girl a good time.”
Liam looks between Sean’s penis and the urine splatter on the kennel. “By showing her your penis? Yeah. I’m sure that’s a lovely time for her.”
