Merciless Love: A Dark Romance(10)

If only this fucking psycho didn't pay so well, I would've forced myself to see the signs earlier. But it wasn't my business to ask, to wonder, to judge. It was my business to kill for him, and I did it at a distance, always thinking I was untouchable.

Six hellish months proved I wasn't. They proved I was the dumbest bastard in the whole wide world for staying in and letting him turn his monstrous rage on my family. Dumber still, I always thought it would be me if I fucked up, not anybody else.

I was wrong. Absolutely wrong. So wrong I couldn't ever afford to be wrong with this asshole again.

He wanted a new companion? Fine.

I was going to give him one to get my son back. Maybe I'd spend the rest of my life trying to wipe away the guilt, trying to forget the poor angel face sleeping in my guest room turned prison cell.

Didn't fucking matter. As long as Ty was safe, nothing else mattered.

Not even her.





III: Never What It Seems (Cassie)


Darkness. Pain. Darkness.

It kept coming, cyclic and fiery, the same as my tears. I woke up crying at least three times, brief conscious flashes of hell before I blacked out again.

Whatever numbed me earlier was gone. Now I'd been thrown to the hungry darkness, the savage pain my father had left me as a parting gift. It cut so deep I barely felt a thing when the stranger's strong hands were on me.

“You're gonna be okay, babe. Just take these.”

Groaning into his hand, I swallowed the pills he pushed onto my tongue, and then little sips of water he held to my mouth. No clue what they were. All I knew was that they made me feel better, returned me to the dreamless sleep were I didn't have to hurt.

Half a dozen times I woke, the last few burning up. The man was at my side each time, pressing a cold, damp washcloth to my face. It was cool and soothing.

God, it was wonderful to have some relief from the waking fire.

“Your fever's gone down. It'll break soon. Just a minor infection. You'll be right in no time flat. It's my fucking job to get you well and I'm not gonna screw it up.”

I sucked in a deep breath as he laid me down. He fed me something. I could only remember vague flashes of mushy, tasteless porridge and chalky vitamins following the painkillers down my throat.

“Your job?” My head was spinning, but I could still think through the fog. “Why? Who are you? Are you a doctor?”

So many unanswered questions. Hardly the time or place to ask them. I was losing consciousness again as I looked up at him.

“I'm your whole world now. That's all you need to know,” he said softly. “Long as you're with me, you're gonna be all right. Promise. And believe me, I don't make promises lightly.”

Merciful blackness came, blinding the confusion and nagging questions he igniting in my brain. I slept and slept, safe from the pain and my father's angry ghost and this strange man.

Strange, beautiful man. I thought Ryan was amazing when I sinned during sermon, but the skinny boy had nothing on this stranger.

A few times, I swore I saw him shirtless, watching me from the shadows. His body was stamped with dark sharp blades and violence, evil stamped on his beautiful skin and rolling muscles.

You're sick. You're hallucinating, I told myself. Rest and get your head straight, just like he says.

I had to. I couldn't believe I'd exchanged one devil for another.

“Can you stand? Let me help.” He wasn't asking.

The man pulled me off the bed and propped my side against the wall, careful to avoid touching the tender scars on my shoulders. I winced, but I was feeling stronger and better.

“I think so. It's...difficult. Hurts. But I'll manage.” I said the last sentence a little more happily, amazed that my knees didn't cave and knock me to the wooden floor.

“Good. Now how 'bout some dinner? It's been a few days since you had any real food. The nutrient shit I've been giving you doesn't count.”

I nodded, smoothing my hands down my dress. It was smooth, dry, not the matted, filthy mess I expected.

Wait a minute...

My eyes bulged so hard the throbbing headache came back when I realized I was wearing something different. No, this dress wasn't white and plain, not like the ones we had at home – the only dresses women were permitted in Beacon Grove. He'd changed me into something black and barely modest, cut too low at both ends.

It hit me. I remembered the way Daddy shredded it, and how the blood stained my skin, pooling around my underwear. The dress was torn to shreds. Long gone.

“Hey, Mister!”

He turned. “The name's Evan. I'm not your fucking gray haired neighbor.”

“Evan...where're my clothes? Did you do this?” I flushed, weirdly anxious to imagine this man with dark eyes and rough hands roaming my naked body while I was out.

“I got the dress, yeah. It was my sister-in-law who changed you. I had her clean you up and get you into it. Had to keep your cuts sterile and dressed.”