Page 6 of Tinley's Daddy
She grabbed the blanket and slid back even farther if it was possible.
“Hey.” I waved the bottle in front of her. “It’s okay. No harm.” I set the bottle closer to her on the floor. She eyed it and then me. A small shaking hand snuck out from beneath the blanket and picked up the bottle.
Her eyes appeared to say thank you.
“You’re welcome, sweetie.” I used my own bottle to cover the grin on my face.
CHAPTER 2
TINLEY
Itraced his movements, keeping him in my line of sight. Not going to let him or anyone else sneak up on me ever again. I wrapped the blanket around me more and tucked it under my legs. I couldn’t keep from shivering.
I did it. I was free from those guys. The man sitting near me gave me an escape, but was it into another prison?
At this point, I didn’t care. At least he wasn’t hurting me.
I reached up and felt the knot on my forehead. It had stopped bleeding. My tongue snaked out and tasted the dried blood on the corner of my lip. When he said the word cheeseburger, my mouth watered. I rubbed at my bottom lip to make sure I hadn’t drooled. It had been so long since I had a cheeseburger or any type of meat, really. My meals, when I was forced to eat, consisted of rice and a piece of bread on special occasions. It reminded me of the show where they sent a group of people to see how long they would last on a desolate island. They ran them through challenges to win immunity or a reward. I guess my challenges were the men I was forced to spend time with. Somewere nice and gave me rewards, but most were challenges I had to endure and survive.
I sipped my water slowly, not wanting to spill any more.
I studied the man next to me. His legs were long and crossed at the ankles. He wore a dark gray suit and an expensive-looking tie. His shoes were dressy athletic. I wondered how much they cost. He had removed his suit jacket and was now rolling up his sleeves. The smattering of hair on his forearms caught the light and shined golden brown. The muscles in his arms flexed.
He looked back at me and then faced forward again.
“My name is Josh.” He sipped his water. “Josh Burroughs.”
I opened my mouth but closed it when he turned back to look at me. I hadn’t spoken in a few days, or was it weeks? I never spoke around them. When I spoke, bad things happened. I learned to keep my mouth shut. Plus, when I spoke, it gave them some power. Whether I spoke or not was the last semblance of control I had to hang onto.
Especially with the men. They always wanted me to tell them how much I wanted them. How much I liked it. How much it hurt. I screamed, cried, even laughed at them on the inside, but they never heard a peep out of me.
I let out an occasional squeak or grunt, but words and emotions, nope, those were for me. I used to whisper to myself when I was alone. Until I discovered they always had a camera and a microphone on me. My last stop has been with a man who had kept me for three weeks. He treated me well as his baby girl. He dressed me in frilly dresses and tights. He had someone come in and braid my hair. He held me and fed me a bottle for all my meals. He dressed me in a diaper and made me use it but then would get upset with me for using it. He would yell, which wasn’t so bad. At least he didn’t hit me like some of the others.
He said I was going to stay with him forever. I had resigned myself to the fact. He wanted a nonverbal baby who he liked tofuck hard every night. I could deal with that for the rest of my life. I wasn’t going to live long anyway.
But then they showed up a couple of days ago, killed him, and dragged me back to the hell I’d been living in for months. Heck, it might be years. I wasn’t sure about the timeline. Only knew by the changes in season. I wasn’t sure where I was until last night when I caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower when they brought us into the hotel. We rode up to the twelfth floor, me and six other girls. We were ordered to shower, get dressed, and get some rest. We would need it.
Ronda, our caretaker for lack of a better title, threw a slinky dress to each of us and told us to get dressed. We’d be entertaining a group of men here on vacation in a few hours. These parties were the worst. At the last one, I was humiliated and degraded and it left me catatonic for days. They sent me on dates and to auctions, but I wouldn’t engage. Didn’t sell myself, Rhonda had said.
Ronda left us alone. That was when I took the opportunity to escape. I was going to get out of here or die trying. After all this time, death sounded really appealing to me.
A knock at the door caused me to jump. Josh stood and crossed the room. I craned my neck but couldn’t see.
“Hi, Mr. Burroughs. Can I set this up for you?”
I scrunched down.
“No, that’s okay, I’ll take it from here,” Josh said.
“Very good, sir. Have a great evening.”
Josh wheeled a cart into the room, past me and toward the table on the other side of the bed. It gave me a better chance to look him over. He had dark brown hair with hints of gold near the temples. His face had a short line of stubble across his chiseled chin and his hair cut close to the scalp and styled. He had a soft expression, but with dark eyes. Eyes staring at me.
I chirped and turned away, but the smell of the burger hit me, and my mouth watered again.
“You want to sit at the table?”
I said no in my head, but I couldn’t move.
