Page 37 of Innocence
“Good morning, Pet.”
Her small hand shielded her eyes from the light as she lifted her chin to look at me. “Is it morning?”
No, it wasn’t. In fact, it was early evening. But she didn’t need to know that.
“Are you hungry today?”
“Today?” she murmured.
I watched her pink lips tighten in a frown as I took a seat. Confusion was written all over her pretty face. Knitting her brows and twinkling in her big eyes. Little thing didn’t know what day it was.
After a few minutes of silence, I said, “Well, if you’re not hungry…”
Her sweet voice rang out, stopping me as I started to rise.
“Wait…” A smirk curled at the corner of my mouth when her eyes landed on the cart. “I’ll eat.”
The first crack in her wall. Excellent.
I settled in, pressing my back into the soft padding of my red chair. The only one of my brothers that understood my attachment to it was Jackson. Out of all the furniture in my room, this red velvet wingback chair, was my favorite piece.
It was the place my father took his last breath. His blood seeped into the fabric as he stared up at me and choked out the last words he’d ever say.
“I already won.”
But he didn’t win, I did. And I made sure he knew it.
I watched the light fade out of his dark eyes and whispered in his ear. “Who do you think gave me the gun.”
It was a shame Jackson wouldn’t let me tell Carmine what I did with the pistol I’d taken from him.
My fingers dug into the fabric on the arms as I barked out, “Come on, Pet. I don’t have all day.”
“I said, I’d eat,” she whispered, shrinking back from my harsh tone.
“Come here,” I instructed, while taking a deep breath to stem the tide of anger coursing through me.
She wasn’t the one I was mad at.
“Why?”
If she didn’t start listening, that could quickly change.
“I’m not here to explain things, Pet. It’s quite simple. I told you to do something, and I expect you to do it.” I sighed. “Stop wasting my time, or I’ll walk out that door and take your dinner with me.”
Her eyes warily studied the silver covered tray, and then shifted back to me. What was my pet going to choose to do in this instance? Would she go hungry once again?
I could hear her stomach rumbling from here. She wanted this food.
Satisfaction filled my chest as she shifted to the edge of the bed, and tentatively stepped down on the rug below. I got hard watching her tiny feet sink into the plush carpeting.
The small ivory tendrils of fabric wrapping around her blue painted toenails, was oddly erotic. She was so small, even the flooring swallowed her up. A fragile little doll, waiting to be broken.
“No,” I held my hand up, stopping her when she took a step, “crawl.”
Her brows furrowed. “What?”
I was getting tired of repeating myself.
