Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45366 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45366 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
I think about Papi’s timeline. I wonder when we will leave. I’d rather leave sooner than that. I’d rather not risk my father or Brad realizing I’m gone and coming after me. What if they come to Club Zoom? Could they demand I be returned to them? Would Papi turn me over to them?
Which fate is worse? After all, Papi has just had his finger in my private place without permission. How is that different? Am I trading one horrifying fate for another?
“Hey…” Papi rolls me gently onto my back so he can see my face. “I can feel your increased stress. That part’s over for now, Little one. Take a breath.”
Panic is seeping into me. I grab for the edges of the towel and squirm. “They’ll come for me. They’ll take me back.”
Papi finds my hands, threads his fingers with mine, and presses my hands into the mattress alongside my head. The towel falls away, leaving me naked and exposed once again.
I’m breathing heavily, scared out of my mind. I’m bombarded with so many things at once. My head hurts. I’m still queasy. I’m suddenly worried my father might come for me. Or Brad. Or both. And then there’s the unknown. What’s going to happen next? If this Papi of mine manages to take me off this planet, then what?
“Look at me, Baby girl. Talk to me. Who do you think will come for you?”
I lick my lips. “My father. My…fiancé.”
His brows lift. “Fiancé?” He stiffens, his grip on my fingers tighter. “You’re engaged to an Earthling?”
I groan. “Not by choice.”
He winces, eyes wider. “Pardon?”
“My father promised me to Brad when I was a baby. I can’t stand him. I don’t want to be in the same room with him, let alone the same bed. He’s an asshole. But he’ll come for me. They both will. When I’m not home in a few hours, they will bang down the doors of the club and find me.” I’m breathing heavily. Panic and nausea mix together. I squint because my head hurts, and the lights are bothering me.
Papi leans closer. “No one is going to get you, Little one. Ever. You’re mine now.”
I groan. “You don’t know my father. He’s wealthy and powerful. He’ll find a way.”
“I hate that you’ve been living with that kind of stress, but he can’t get to you now. Neither of them can. As soon as I brought you up to my apartment, your life was forever altered.”
I shake my head. “Can’t we leave now?”
He hesitates a moment, seeming to think. “We can’t board the transport vessel until the doctor on the starship clears you. But if it will make you feel better, we could take a pod to the mothership sooner.”
I’m aware of the mothership. Everyone is. We can see it with binoculars from Earth. It’s hovering above, circling the Earth. It’s always there.
I stare at this man who has claimed me. Intellectually, I know it’s a done deal. I don’t have any say in his claiming. He already did it. I’m also aware when he pricked my finger, it changed something in me. I’m drawn to him. I want him hovering over me like he is. The concerned look on his face is for my wellbeing. He cares about what happens to me.
All of that is absurd, but I somehow know it’s true. Even though he just met me, we have a bond. It’s growing by the minute. He’s seen every inch of me. His fingers have been inside my forbidden hole, which still tingles from the intrusion. A secret part of me I would never admit exists wishes he was still touching me there. It should have been humiliating, and it was, but it was intimate. I felt claimed. Cherished.
My mind shifts to Brad. I can picture him staring at me the way he does in his condescending way. His brows are always furrowed in frustration because he wants to groom me and control me to suit his needs.
How is that different from Papi? His brows are also furrowed, but he’s not angry with me. His look is one of concern. He too intends to groom and control me, but for some reason I believe I will reap enormous benefits in his care.
Brad cares about no one but himself. I’m a business deal. A pawn in a nasty game. A way to increase his wealth. He will expect me to be seen and not heard. To produce heirs.
I shudder at the thought of ever letting my disgusting fiancé into my body. I’ve felt increasingly nauseous at the thought as I’ve gotten closer and closer to the day I’m meant to marry him.
Brad won’t be kind and gentle when he takes my carefully protected virginity. He’ll rape me and leave the room. He’ll do so every day for the rest of my life if it suits him. He wants to alter my body. He wants to have my breasts enlarged so they don’t embarrass him in front of his peers. He insists on ensuring I always look like I stepped out of a magazine, my hair and makeup perfect at all times.