Page 46 of Relentless

Heat blooms on my cheeks and spreads down onto my chest as I remember him moving inside me.

I should have told him no, fought him off. But it was pointless to even try. We both knew I needed it, and that I’d take whatever he had to offer.

He called me a dirty little whore, and that’s exactly what I am.

It’s the reason why my husband has never touched me.

He’s ashamed of me. Disgusted. And I can’t even blame him for feeling that way. Hell knows I feel the same about myself.

With one last look at the bars now adorning my nipples, I turn away from the haunted version of myself and step into the shower.

The water is scalding and it burns every inch of my skin as it washes over me.

Closing my eyes, I tip my face up to the torrent and pray that it’ll wash everything away. That when I step out of this massive stall that everything will be over and I’ll be back home with Mav, living the life we’ve carved out for ourselves in this shithole town.

But it doesn’t matter how long I stand there, or how red my skin becomes from the scalding water, when I finally reach out and shut the shower off, everything is still the same.

With one of Reid’s towels wrapped around my body, I walk out of the bathroom, but one look at the image on the TV screen, and I pause, my world once again being ripped from beneath me.

12

REID

The clunk of the locks disengaging fills the air before I push the heavy door open. But I don’t get the rush of sweetness I’ve become used to when I visit this cell. Instead, it’s just like all the others again. Occupied by a male who smells anything but appealing.

Mav is laid out on the cot with his legs crossed at his ankles and his arms over his chest, his eyes locked on the ceiling.

He doesn’t bother looking over, but he’s more than aware of my presence. The tick in his jaw and the thinning of his lips give him away.

So far, JD has been the one to come down here and make sure he’s still alive. I like to tell myself that I’ve done it for JD. His mental health is always better when he’s busy and has a job. The last thing any of us need right now is for him to cave to the darkness that’s threatening to drag him under.

I want to hate her for it. She did it to him. But honestly, I can’t find it in myself because for a while there, I got to spend time with the boy who became my best friend all those years ago. The sparkle in his eyes was back, one that I didn’t even know was still missing until he started to get closer to Alana.

But while I might not have noticed, I knew he was still suffering from the loss that rocked his entire world as a teenager. He’s never going to forget, and I’d never expect him to. I just didn’t realize how much of him was still lost to the events of that day.

I wish I could do something to make it better permanently. But as much as I might want to tell him that he can keep Alana, that we’ll keep her locked up here for the foreseeable future, I know I can’t.

What they have—had—will never be the same now that she’s no longer the resident of this cell.

Maybe I made a mistake letting her up for dinner on Tuesday night. I was hoping to make her nervous. She was too at home down here and she was doing her best to wrap us both around her little finger. But up there, we were in my territory and fully on my terms.

I just never expected the night to end up with her almost dying of anaphylactic shock and her husband with a bullet wound in his shoulder.

Should have stuck to my first instinct and blown his head off.

Maybe JD would have been able to keep his spark then.

I grit my teeth, refusing to regret anything when there’s no way of changing the events of that night or anything that’s followed.

All I can do now is make the best of the situation we’ve been left with. That, and hide all the knives and blades in the hope I don’t find JD bleeding out because of his fragile heart.

My grip on the bottle of water in my hand tightens before I launch it across the room, watching as it lands on Mav’s stomach.

He grunts in shock, his body jolting with the impact.

The cereal bar I stole from the kitchen follows, but he sees this one coming and manages to catch it.

“If you’re expecting a thank you, you’re going to be waiting a long time,” he mutters, his voice deep and rough from its lack of use.

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