Nearly Broken (32 page)

I screamed for her,
then quickly blurted, “Don’t! I tricked her. She didn’t
know any better.”

Still angry, his head
rolled dramatically my way. “How so?” he asked slowly,
his words dripping with venom.

“I told her that
you
said to get the knife and cut me free, and that you’d
be pissed if she didn’t follow your orders.”

He let out a long,
annoyed sigh, his lower jaw jerking back and forth. Licking his lips
and shaking his head, I yelped in pain when he snatched a
bone-crunching grip just above my elbow and dragged me out of the
kitchen. “Clever girl.”

He didn’t take
me back to Veronica’s room. Instead, I got pulled into the
master bedroom, the one I heard running water coming from just
minutes ago. On the opposite side of the large room was another set
of chains on a pulley. He threw me down on the furry rug atop the
carpet and fastened the leather straps to my wrists again, pulling so
tight I could feel the beat of my heart in the blood vessels.

Bending down, he
brought his eyes an inch from mine, then darkly said, “Last
pair. Break out of these and you won’t like how I tie you up
next.” I didn’t even get a chance to think on that
threat, because the next thing I knew, my world went black.

I moaned coming to,
stretching my arms out, seeking the body that always kept me warm.
“Nick?” I murmured, my eyes still closed. When I didn’t
find what I was looking for, my body shot to attention.

In a flash it all came
back. My body a little slower to announce its pain, I crouched over,
finally slumping back on the floor. The left side of my face ached
and my burns felt like tiny pins and needles were poking them. My
body felt groggy, too sluggish to be natural. That freaking jerk
drugged me again and I must have been coming down from the high. I
had no idea what time it was, but the room was pitch black. Had I
slept all day and night? I groaned right there on the fur rug, every
muscle in my body so lethargic it hurt.

When his lamp turned
on and his feet hit the ground, I could barely react. I was just too
tired to bother. His knees landed next to my head and his hand
reached out to brush the hair off my face. Trailing his finger across
my cheek, his touch stung my skin, making me jerk out of his grasp.

“For the
record,” he said calmly, “I prefer your body to be
perfect. And contrary to what you probably believe, I don’t
like to hit. So
don’t
make me do it again.”

My hand went up to
caress the side of my face, to instinctively protect it from him. I
just wanted to curl up and pass out again.

“I can give you
a shot for the pain, but only if you’ll receive it willingly.”

My eyes rolled his
way, inducing more strain behind them, increasing the ache to my
face. “How do I know that’s what you’ll give me?”

His expression seemed
almost annoyed with me, despite the calmness of his voice. “Because
if I wanted you dead, you’d be dead already. Now do you want it
or not? Last chance.”

I nodded. I knew it
was stupid, that nothing he said or did was trustworthy, but I
believed him when he said he didn’t want me dead. He’d
had so many opportunities by now, and for some reason he was going to
the trouble of fixing my skin. Who the hell would do that just to
turn around and kill you?

I flinched when the
needle pierced my arm, but felt its effects soon enough. Honestly, I
didn’t care what it was I just allowed him to shoot me up with.
Whether it brought me relief, knocked me unconscious or freaking
killed me, it couldn’t be any worse than my current reality.

My face stung from
something cold. I reached to remove the source, a cool compress, and
tossed it away. The curtains were pushed aside and direct streams of
light filtered through and shot down onto the floor. I sat up, my
fingertips softly exploring what I expected to be swollen, but my
skin was too numb from the cold to feel any pain.

He
didn’t
come around for the morning hours, but Veronica did, once again
forcing food down my throat that I had no desire to eat. She seemed
to be functioning better with the bruise across her face, and it made
me worry that she was used to being beaten by him.

As the hours passed,
the drug wore off and my body began to ache, but it was nothing like
the night before. Now it just felt like I was sore from a workout,
and my face didn’t sting nearly as much either. Veronica kept
refilling my cold pack, and with nothing better to do, I sat there
keeping my face numbed all day.

At least something
could still be numbed. I was half tempted to start putting it on my
head to see if I could get that to shut down for awhile too. About an
hour after Veronica fed me a sandwich for lunch,
he
cursed me
with his presence again, a wicked smile spreading across his face.

“And how’s
my lively little sex tart doing today?”

I glared up at him.
“Don’t you have a job to go to or something?”

He smirked, ignoring
my question about his personal life. “Bath time,” he
announced, unlocking my wrists with a key he had in his pocket. The
disgust on my face must have been priceless, because it earned me a
bout of laughter. “Relax, Natalie. Veronica will take you in.”
Lifting his eyes, he added, “Unless, of course, you’d
like me to be the one to watch you.”

I stood to my feet and
looked him square in the eye – the one that wasn’t
winking at me. “No, thank you.”

He laughed again,
grabbing my arm to lead me to Veronica’s room. She was already
in the bathroom, which had an oversized shower area. He rifled
through her dresser and came back with two slips. He handed a satin
slip in kelley green to her, and a black satin to me, which had
see-through lace on top that left very little to the imagination. Not
fearing a use of attitude, my hands went to my hips and I glared at
him, refusing to take it.

Amused, he instructed,
“Either you come out wearing this, or be prepared to go
without.”

Veronica tugged on my
hand, trying to pull me into the bathroom. I begrudgingly snatched
the slip. Before I could turn away, he grabbed my arm in warning.
“Behave, or
I’ll
be the one watching you shower
next time.”

He released me and I
stumbled back, letting Veronica pull me the rest of the way in. I
closed the door behind us and moved to lock it, but it didn’t
offer that function.
Of course...

Veronica immediately
stripped and stepped into the large walk-in shower, extending her
hand back, inviting me to join her. There was something very innocent
about the way she looked at me. Like a child, almost.

I was about to pull my
slip over my head when I stopped abruptly.
Each room has at least
one hidden camera.

Oh, hell no!

I scanned all the
nooks and crannies, my eyes not finding anything obvious.
Hidden
camera
. I knew that for a man where money was no issue, anything
could be turned into a high tech camera.
Screw it.
I grabbed
everything that wasn’t attached and tossed it under the
cabinet, even her toothbrush and soap dish.
No peep show tonight
.
I paused when I noticed my reflection in the mirror. The swelling was
gone from my face but the skin was discolored a bit, the swirls of
pinks and purples not much unlike Veronica’s. And my hair was
just nasty, my scalp matted down with God knows how many days worth
of oil.

I pulled the slip over
my head and stepped into the shower. I half expected him to come
bursting in on us now, but he didn’t. My eyes did a double take
as she leaned into the water to rinse her hair. Her chest and abdomen
were covered in scars, just like the ones he gave me. Looking down at
my chest for the first time in bright light, I realized they weren’t
really there anymore. The pale, thin scar lines had done a better job
of disappearing with just the one laser treatment. As I looked back
at Veronica, I wondered why he was going through the trouble of
improving my body when he left hers looking like a litter of cats
attacked it.

I didn’t dare
linger in the shower, in fear he’d just walk in on us. Once
dressed, I viewed myself in the mirror again and groaned, feeling so
exposed through the barely-there lace on top. Fucking bastard. I
hadn’t even worn this sort of thing in front of Nick yet.

Yet
.

God, how could it
not
be at the forefront of my mind that he was shot by the man who had me
dressing provocatively and kept me chained in his bedroom? It’s
all I should
ever
be thinking about anymore. I slid to the
floor, tears breaking through once I allowed myself to worry about
him all over again. And I knew that if he was alive, he was just as
worried about me.

Veronica didn’t
know what to do, other than stand there watching me. I gave myself a
few minutes to really cry it out before standing up and trying to
clean up my reddened face – I didn’t want
him
to
see how easily he made me cry.

I found a hair dryer
in the cabinet and blew my hair dry. Veronica watched in awe, like
she’d never seen one before.
What did they do to screw her
up this badly?
I pulled her in front of me and began drying hers
too. Her eyes remained widened the whole time, staring at herself
relentlessly through the mirror.

I wondered if she even
recognized herself.

Before I could finish,
he opened the door. I had prolonged this time for as long as he would
allow, so I turned the dryer off and passed it to Veronica, who
numbly placed it on the counter like she’d already forgotten
what it did.

“Times up,”
he said, leaning past me, noticing how clear the bathroom was of
clutter now. With a wry smile, he pulled me away, stating, “Guess
I shouldn’t have told you about the cameras.”

The last thing I
wanted to discuss with him were the words
nudity
,
shower
and
watching
, so I kept my trap shut. After planting me on the
rug in chains again, he said, “By the way, you didn’t
find it.” He winked and left me there dumbfounded, but not
before assessing my assets and whistling his approval.

I must’ve finally
gotten a little sleep, because when I awoke, it was dark, nothing but
a lamp lighting the room. Also, for some reason, Veronica was asleep
with her head on my lap as I leaned against the wall. I never even
knew she was there.

I felt so bad for her.
She seemed so carefree lying there, completely oblivious to the
horrors that happened to her every day. Was this what I was meant to
be? Broken? I sat there stroking her hair while she slept, trying not
to think about anything and everything and failing miserably at it.

He
came in a
little later, probably seeking Veronica out, and ended up sitting
beside me on the rug.

“She seems taken
with you,” he noted lightheartedly.

Annoyed, I looked him
in the eye and snapped, “You speak of her like she’s a
fucking dog or something. She’s a girl, probably not even
eighteen. She could’ve been something great in life. Now she’s
just a dumb piece of ass.” I knew I needed to rein in my
attitude around him, but so much of what he did and said just pissed
the shit out of me.