Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Have I gone insane down there?
Or does this man sound jealous?
“I don’t know,” I mutter.
“You don’t know? Or you choose to look the other way, hmm?” Lex spits. “You know, I gave you the chance to stay in a comfortable room.” His hand rises to meet my face, and he caresses my cheek with his gnarly claws, making me want to bite them off. “Yet you chose that cell instead. You chose to spread your legs to that goddamn beast,” he growls. “Why?”
“Because I’m trying to get out!” It’s out before I realize it. And I can’t take it back.
Lex eyes me for a moment before finally releasing me from his grip. He shakes his head, and that same dirty smile appears on his face again. The one that makes me want to vomit. “You’re using him.”
I don’t answer. I can’t, and I don’t want to.
But it hurts so badly to hear him say these words out loud.
He snorts. “You’re smarter than I thought.” He flicks his fingers again, and Raymond comes back into the hallway. “Bring her back down. I’ve heard enough.”
When Raymond pushes me, I blurt out, “What, that’s it?”
“I don’t need information you don’t have, little girl,” Lex says, chuckling. “Have fun down there.”
Raymond shoves me down the steps before I can say another word, but when I turn to look, Lex is still watching me with a raised eyebrow. And something about that doesn’t feel quite right.
What is going on?
I walk down the steps as slowly as I possibly can, but Raymond pushes me so hard I almost lose my balance.
“Get back in your cell,” he growls. “Now.”
But all I can focus on is Beast. He’s slouched in the corner, eyes turned away from mine, almost as if he’s in pain. And I don’t understand why.
Raymond pushes me inside and seals the cell door shut, then marches back upstairs. “Hope you enjoyed the show, Beast!” he yells before he slams the door shut so loudly my entire body jolts up and down.
But what truly makes my heart sink into my shoes is the way Beast turns to face me, his eyes hollow, completely void of any emotion.
Because as more tears well up in my eyes, I realize that all of that conversation up there … was a trap.
“Beast,” I mutter, “I—”
“Don’t,” he growls back, baring his teeth. “I heard everything.”
CHAPTER 24
Aurora
I can’t stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks.
This is why Lex brought me up there.
Not to grill me about my knowledge of my father’s affairs or his whereabouts. Not because he’s jealous. But because I needed to break what fragile bond we were starting to have.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter. “I—”
“Is it true?” he interjects. “Were you just using me to get out?”
I feel sick.
I didn’t mean to yell that out loud. I didn’t mean to say what’s been on my mind. And I didn’t mean for any of this to go this far, but it did. And now I’m here in the cage, in the belly of the beast.
“What do you want me to say?” I respond.
“The truth, dammit,” he says, and he slams his fists against the wall.
“I do want to get out,” I say.
“By seducing me,” he growls, glancing at me over his shoulder.
I shake my head. “It’s not like that.”
Suddenly, he storms at me and grabs my face. “Did you even like it when I kissed you? Touched your naked skin?” His fingers slide down my body, down to my navel, and I hold my breath. “Fucked your aching pussy?”
“Yes,” I say, blinking away the tears.
“But it was all a lie.” His voice is so dark I feel like he could cut through steel with a single roar.
Still, I shake my head. “You’re wrong.”
He lets go of me and marches back to his corner, the same corner I saw him sitting in when I woke up. There’s a shuffling noise, but I can’t tell what he’s doing from here, and I’m too scared to get close. Even though I know, deep down, he could never hurt me.
Maybe that’s why I fell.
“You used me.” His words cut like a knife, hurting me more than his hands ever could.
Because the worst part is that there is some truth to it all.
“Did you think I would break you out of here?” he asks.
“No, it’s not like that,” I answer, swallowing the pain. “I just … needed a friend.”
“A friend,” he says, throwing me another hateful glance. “I don’t have friends.”
He turns around to face the wall again, and I can feel all hope draining from my body. Tears run freely down my cheeks as I sink to the floor and bury my face between my arms, locking them tightly around my knees.
I am not alone in this cell, yet I’ve never felt lonelier.
Beast
I pull myself up and down from the rack hanging from the ceiling, but no amount of physical exercise can get rid of these demons floating through my head. I roar out loud and slap myself on the chest before I continue doing pull-ups. Anything to make these voices go away.