Page 78 of Dark, Forbidden, & Taboo

I sit on the edge of the bed I used to be so fond of, put my face in my hands, and begin to sob angry tears.

Holden Baylor is not the man he presented himself to be and I was a stupid, young girl in love with a man that sees no value in someone once he’s had his fill of them.

I take a deep breath as I drop my hands to my knees and dig my fingernails into the flesh. The tears are subsiding and the anger is now becoming all-consuming.

Through the haze of tears, I know what I have to do. And it starts with Eastin.

Chapter

Nine

Nine days, one hour, fifty-seven minutes, the seconds quickly turning the seven to an eight and I find myself standing in Eastin’s room.

He’s asleep, his back to the door and unaware that I’m here.

It’s always easier this way.

If they don’t see it coming, then there’s no guilt to be had.

My fingers tighten around the handle of the knife as I take another step toward him.

It’s not his fault.

He only showed me what he did in an effort to help me but the best way to castrate a monster is to end his line first to ensure that it doesn’t continue to mutate into something that only causes pain to others.

I raise the knife as I take another step toward the bed, gently placing a knee on the edge as to not wake up the sleeping young man, then take a deep breath to steady myself.

The moment I’m ready to strike, a strong pair of arms quickly wrap themselves around my arms and I drop the knife, kicking my legs in the air and struggling violently to get free.

“I had a feeling that might make you a little crazy,” Eastin says, his breath hot against my ear.

What? How?

He drags me back toward the light switch in his room and flips it on. It’s only now that I can see the outline on his bed was nothing more than carefully placed pillows hidden under a blanket.

“Let go of me,” I growl at him angrily as I continue to struggle.

“Are you going to calm down? I’m not the one fucking other women behind your back, you know,” he snaps at me as his tightens his grip.

A sob escapes me.

It seems that my anger was nothing more than inconsolable sadness and it led me to want to take the life of the young man that’s been trying to help me instead of the one that’s been slowly killing me.

“On the count of three,” Eastin tells me in an even tone, “but if you try to stab me, I’ll break your fucking neck.”

Another sob, a cascade of tears, a count to three, and I’m shoved away from him. He quickly scoops the knife off his bedroom floor and runs a hand back through his hair as I on his floor, my eyes on him. I try to focus as best as I can on who’s in front of me instead of the malcontent in my heart and look away for a moment.

Eastin lets out a sigh as he sits on the floor next to me and puts an arm around my shoulders. He leans his cheek against the top of my head and waits seven minutes and twenty-two seconds for me to compose myself.

“You know Mom wasn’t drunk right? At least not because she wanted to be. Dad came by that night and I heard them arguing so I cracked my bedroom door open. I’m not entirely sure what he did to her but I guarantee that it was against her will. That’s the kind of bastard he is, Greer. When he’s finally done with something, regardless of what it is, he finds a way to get rid of it after he finds something new to pass his time with.”

Things that never made sense before start to fall into place. “Business” that has never been discussed for being “not my concern as long as it keeps a roof over our heads” and nights spent “working late at the office” that I was always so sure never existed.

The pains that started to appear around the same time that he was beginning to lose interest in me and the stricter rules that continued to fall into place.

It was all just a distraction to do what came naturally to him while disposing of me slowly and keeping me from getting medical treatment to find out exactly what was wrong.

“Anyway, I knew he was doing it to you when I first got here because you looked just like Mom did after a while, only this time I was able to do something about it. That’s why I’ve been a bastard to you in front of him. I needed him to think that I didn’tcare so he wouldn’t be able to stop me from helping you get out of this.”

---