Page 3 of The Queen of Nightmares

Her words hurt, even if they were all true. “What does it matter if they see me?”

Her mouth dropped open for a long minute, then snapped shut. “Let me put it bluntly. Bones is a hot as fuck guy. He’s powerful and important to the club and the town. There’s not a single club girl that wouldn’t give her right arm to have that man.”

She winced as she seemed to realize what words just came out of her mouth. I looked down at my left arm. There was a long, bright pink line that was healed, but barely. The scar looked a million times better than the ones running next to it, but since it was so new, it looked awful. Dr. Stein had managed to cut pretty deep before he’d been stopped when Jack broke into the hotel room. He hadn’t gotten a chance to begin sawing through my bone, but the damage he’d done to the muscle was making it hard for me to gain strength back.

“I’m really sorry, sweetie. That was insensitive of me. I wasn’t thinking.”

I waved away her concern, knowing she hadn’t meant it. It was honestly a little funny when I thought about the stupid phrase. People didn’t think about things when they said them. I knew I had said the same thing in the past when it came to ridiculous things that ultimately didn’t even matter.

“Forget it. No big deal.” I tilted my head and studied her. “There’s not a single girl who doesn’t want him, huh?”

“Girl, no! Anyone would want to be in your shoes. And since everyone now knows that he’s actually into women, they all want him to choose them next.”

“Even you?” I asked quietly.

She froze while reaching into her small bag of chips and looked at me with big blue eyes. Kara was gorgeous with her big breasts and perfect hourglass figure. She had big, plump lips and honey-blonde hair that she liked to play with, always running her fingers through it and adjusting the strands to curve around her breasts, accentuating them. She was also kind. She was the first nice person I had worked with at the bar, not treating me like I had a disease just because I was covered in scars. Jack could do worse. Any man would want Kara.

She choked out her words. “Me? What? No, I would never do that to you. I swear!” But I could see in her eyes the lie there. Jack was too much of a man to turn down. He was everything she had described and more. If he crooked his finger at her, she would go willingly, friendship be damned.

I gave her a small smile even as my gut twisted. “Okay, Kara. Tell me about this party.”

She seemed to relax at the change of subject. “It’s just the usual club party. There will be lots of music, lots of booze. Some girls will dance on the stage to the heavy rock music that always plays. It gets pretty wild. It usually doesn’t take long for clothes to come off. People will start fucking on the pool tables while everyone watches or finds their own partner to fuck.”

I cleared my throat and shifted uncomfortably in my seat. It wasn’t something I was interested in seeing. That first night, when the whole club had shown up at the bar, and I had met Jack for the first time, was wild and crazy. I couldn’t imagine sitting there watching something even more wild than that night had been.

“What does Jack usually do during these parties?” There was no way he participated. He hadn’t touched a woman before me.

Kara scoffed. “That man just sits in the corner with a beer and watches. Nothing gets to him. He doesn’t even allow the girls to try to get close.” It was a relief to hear, even if I’d already known. Kara’s tone was hesitant when she added, “But, girl, that’s going to change now. You know that, right?”

I jerked my eyes back to her from where I was glancing at the TV, absently wondering what I had missed in the show. “What do you mean?”

“Once a man has had a pussy on his dick, do youreallythink that he’s going to keep sitting back watching everyone else get off? Fuck no! He’s going to want pussy, and there are plenty of girls just waiting for the first indication that he’s ready.”

I leaned back in my seat and stared at the TV, no longer seeing the show. Instead, all I could picture was a horny Jack seeing all the sex going on around him, deciding that he was bored and wanted a piece of the action.Over my dead and dismembered body.

ChapterThree

THE QUEEN OF NIGHTMARES

Kara helped me get ready after laughing at what I had walked into the living room wearing, telling me that I wasn’t heading to church. Instead of dressing in the cute sundress with a cardigan to ward off the cold weather, I was sporting a pair of the short shorts Jack had bought me months ago. It paired nicely with a lacy tank top that showed a bit of the enhanced cleavage I’d gained thanks to my pregnancy. I had to struggle just a bit with the button on the shorts. My belly wasn’t showing yet. I didn’t even have the slightest bump, but my lower abdomen was firmer to the touch than it used to be. The baby was clearly growing, and I had no doubts that the bump I had been looking for in the last few days would be making its appearance soon.

I sat on the bathroom counter as Kara put the finishing touches on my makeup. I was afraid to look in the mirror. I didn’t even own half of what she had applied to my face. She’d gone out to her car and returned with a makeup bag that was bulging on the sides with products. When she’d held up black eyeshadow and told me I’d look great with smokey eyes, I’d just sighed in defeat and let her do whatever she wanted.

Eventually, Kara stepped back, screwing closed the lid on the stain she’d just finished applying to my lips. “There! All done! The guys are going to be creaming in their pants when they get a look at you!” I cringed at the visual but hopped down carefully from my perch on the counter.

I turned slowly to face the mirror, not expecting to look like a clown but still worried about what I’d see. My face felt almost heavy with all the products that I was wearing. When I was trying to hide my scars, I used a pretty thick concealer and foundation, but since I started wearing makeup in high school, I have generally only worn some mascara and lipgloss.

My mouth dropped open in shock when I looked at my reflection. The scars on my face were barely discernible, but that wasn’t what had surprised me. The dark eye makeup paired with the bright red lip stain made my blue eyes pop. The contouring she had done made my cheekbones look camera-ready. I almost looked like a model. I didn’t know if I loved it or hated it. But there was no doubt I looked good, even if I barely resembled myself.

“Wow,” I breathed as I turned my face from one side to the other, looking for the tell-tell signs of the scars that ran from the corners of my lip to nearly my ears, giving me the hideous smile I hated but had grown used to seeing whenever I looked in a mirror. She had done a fantastic job. “I might need some pointers for the future.”

“I got you, girl. Any time, really.” Kara quickly added some eyeshadow to her own lids as I watched and gave her eyes an exotic look with some liquid eyeliner that extended out past the corners of her eyes. I turned to look at the corners of my own eyes to see she had done the same to mine, though not quite as dramatically as she had with hers.

I heard her zip up her makeup bag and looked back to see she had already put on some lip stain. Her look was flawless, and I could imagine her easily making a killing as an influencer on social media.

She looked me up and down. “Ready to go wow the club?”

Nope. “Uh, yeah. I guess.”

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