Page 120 of Merciless

I want to cry out, scream, demand they stop. But it’s pointless. It’ll only spur them on.

“You’ve been a bad girl, haven’t you, princess?”

My entire body jolts when a large hot hand lands on my ass cheek, squeezing until tears burn my eyes.

“You know what bad girls get?”

Silence.

“I asked you a question,” he roars, his grip on me tightening.

“N-no,” I whimper. Although it’s a lie. I know exactly what they get, and I know how much it’s going to hurt.

The sound of a buckle being undone hits my ears before a leather belt is pulled free.

My mouth runs dry and my body starts trembling violently.

“Aw, she’s scared,” the one before me taunts.

“Good. She should be.” The other grunts before his belt cracks across my ass, the searing pain making me cry out.

I wake sitting up with my screams ringing in my ears and my body trembling.

A sob breaks free as I wrap my arms around myself and close my eyes in the hopes of stemming the tears.

Even after all these years, my nightmares are still so vivid.

Their touch, their voices. All of it is so real.

The image from my dream comes back the second I close my eyes, and bile rushes up my throat.

I scramble from the bed, my tears making my vision blur, not that it’s light enough to see anything really.

In seconds, I’m hunched over the toilet bowl throwing up what was left of the cookies I demolished earlier.

I ate them much like I did the first day Mav took me back to his house. Like a ravenous beast who hasn’t eaten for a month. To be fair, back then, I almost hadn’t. This time, it’s been a week, and I’ve been treated to McDonald’s.

A laugh explodes out of me as I repeat my words.

Treated.

What a fucking joke.

I fall back on my ass and rest against the wall, tilting my head to the ceiling.

Sucking in deep calming breaths, I will the image still lingering in my head to vanish.

Whenever I had a nightmare, no matter how many a night, Mav was always there.

In the early days, he even slept in the chair in the corner of my room, hoping that just his presence would help.

It never did.

Nothing ever does.

Night after night, those monsters come for me. Reminding me that I am nothing more than a toy for them to abuse in any way they see fit.

No matter how many times Mav has told me—proven to me—that I’m worth more than those men ever said, one nightmare drags me right back there.

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