Page 36 of Merciless

I chuckle.

“Sure, if you want.”

“What is it all the men fall for? Your pouty lips? The eyes? Or is it the long blonde hair they can wrap around their fist while fucking you like a dirty whore.”

“Careful. I’ll start thinking you’re imagining doing just that if you’re going to be that specific.”

“I think we’ll start there. It’ll be the least painful.”

I’m about to question him when he marches toward his cupboard full of torture devices.

The second he reveals a pair of scissors, my mouth runs dry.

The steel glints in the harsh lights above me as he turns to face me with a sinister grin on his face.

Of all the painful, traumatic things he could do to me, how has he stumbled across the one thing that’s going to hurt more than almost anything else?

“I love your pretty hair, Lana. Promise me you’ll never cut it.”

Kristie’s voice rings out so loudly in my ears as he closes the space between us that I’d think she was standing right next to me if I didn’t know better.

She’s gone, Alana. You don’t need to keep those stupid childhood promises.

I swallow thickly, desperately trying to get it together.

It’s hair.

It’s only hair.

Only hair.

I hold his eyes, praying that I’m able to keep a lid on my raging emotions.

“Didn’t realize you moonlighted as a stylist. But now you mention it, my dead ends do need a little t-trim.” My voice cracks right at the end and I mentally kick myself to losing control.

He sees it too. The corners of his eyes crinkle in amusement.

“I think my skills are the least of your worries right now. You’ll be lucky to walk away from this with a bad haircut. You’re more likely to have a slit throat.”

“You’re all talk and no action, Big Man.”

Before I’ve even finished that sentence, he’s on me, his fingers wrapped around the sopping length of my hair, wrenching my head back painfully.

“You really don’t need to worry about me following through on my threats, Pet. I deliver every single fucking time.”

The sound of metal on metal hits my ears as he opens the scissors. His grip on my hair tightens until my eyes water and I’m pretty sure he’s going to pull it clean out instead of cutting it off.

But then, just when the pain shooting down my neck begins to get too much… Relief.

He cuts clean through the entire thickness of my hair in one go.

I want to stay strong. I fight it until I’m alone in my cell once again, but the pain is too much.

It’s like losing my sister all over again.

My scream of despair fills the silence before the scissors clatter to the side and Reid’s giant form steps before me.

“No, please,” I cry when he threads his fingers into my hair and drags my head back again. But this time, he looms over me. The heat of his body warms mine, but it’s little relief after what he just did.

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