Page 19 of In The Darkness

She lifted her chin and opened her mouth slightly for him to do what he had to. The rag in his hand felt like a ten pound weight he couldn’t lift, but he had to do it.

He didn’t have a fucking choice.

Without saying another word, he pushed it into her mouth and fastened it behind her head before leaving the room. He wanted to look back. He wanted to stay there so she wouldn’t have to sit tied to that chair with a goddamned rag stuffed in her mouth.

But he didn’t have a choice.

***

Drist walked upbehind him and leaned over Nick’s shoulder as he made Persephone’s dinner of vegetable soup. Every inch of his body froze as the man’s breath skittered over the skin on the back of his neck. He knew that gun of his was somewhere near him, making him all the more terrifying as he stared down at the bowl of soup.

“What the fuck is that?”

Nick turned his head and saw up close the black tattoos that covered the side of Drist’s face. Christ, he was ugly!

“Soup.”

“Why is she getting that?”

His heart slamming into his chest, Nick tried to stay calm and minimize the change in her meals. Stirring the liquid, he shrugged.

“I thought maybe we should make sure she doesn’t starve to death. That wouldn’t be a good thing. I figured Clayton would be pissed if that happened, so I thought I’d try some soup. It’s nothing I’d eat. All those fucking lima beans make me sick. It should be called bean soup.”

Drist narrowed his eyes and looked into the bowl once more. “Still too good for the likes of her.”

And just to punctuate his point, he spit into the soup before walking away.

Nick quickly scooped it out of the bowl and rinsed off the spoon before heading into where she waited for him. As he closed the door, he felt something push against it and turned to see Drist coming in behind him.

“What the fuck, man? You almost made me spill this shit all over me,” Nick snapped as Drist slammed the door behind him.

Persephone turned her head to look at him in horror as she realized who had joined him to feed her. Although Drist probably loved to see her looking so frightened, he hoped she knew that he wouldn’t let him hurt her.

“I wanted to come in and see how you handle her. Bitches like her need to be taught a lesson.”

“Don’t worry. I know how handle women like her,” Nick said with as much anger as he could muster.

He quickly put the bowl of soup down on a nightstand next to the bed and turned around to make sure that crazy bastard hadn’t drawn his gun on Persephone already. He hadn’t, but the sneer on his face didn’t make Nick feel any better about the situation.

“She’s nothing. It’s time she learned that lesson,” Drist said, practically spitting each word out of his mouth.

Stepping forward to defuse what he knew could quickly become a very bad situation, Nick nodded like he agreed with what the crazy asshole said. “Don’t worry. She’ll know once I’m done with her.”

And then he raised his hand as if he planned to hit her across the face. Persephone recoiled in horror, turning her head to avoid the sting of a slap against her cheek.

“See? I’ve already got her trained pretty good. Give me another day or two and she’ll be eating out of my hand.”

Drist seemed pleased by the threat, like holding her hostage wasn’t enough to make her feel like nothing. “Good. Make her see who’s boss.”

He laughed like some evil hyena and turned around to head back out. Happy to see him gone, Nick picked up the bowl and approached Persephone again. She refused to look at him, though, instead staring off toward the other side of the room, even when he removed the gag from her mouth.

Crouching down in front of her, he took his usual place to feed her and whispered, “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t think he’d leave if I didn’t show him that I hated you too. I wouldn’t have hit you. You know that, right?”

She didn’t respond, but he saw her frown deepen as her face remained turned away from him. As much as he knew he had to put on that act for that asshole, he couldn’t help but feel guilty for frightening her. Hoping to show her she could trust him, he untied her ankles to give her some relief, at least for a few minutes.

But still she refused to look at him.

Touching her on her arm, he said, “I need you to eat some of this soup. Come on. It’s not that grey crap anymore.”

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