Not this time. I had to show her I wasn't an animal. How hard could it be?
I took the heavy mixer and lowered it carefully into the chocolatey goo. Then I flicked the switch all the way, pulling at its wheel.
All hell broke loose.
The mixer kicked on to a faster, more violent setting anything I expected. Fudge slime went flying, and so did my fingers. It dragged my hand into the muck as it crashed against the bowl and turned over. The whirring metal kicked up more sugary mud as I struggled to hold onto it with both hands.
Izzy dove over my back and flailed for the outlet. Her arm grazed one of my cuts and I yelped, going into even more of a frenzy. I jerked, elbowed her.
Somehow, she ripped it out of the plug. The chaos stopped.
I didn't truly realize how bad it was until I stood up and looked around.
Oh, no. Oh, crap!
Chocolate muck dribbled down my face, smeared my neck, staining my new dress. Izzy's arms were smattered with it too, but it was nothing compared to the kitchen. The disaster somehow traveled in all directions, even to the ceiling, like a chocolate bomb had gone up in a big fudge mushroom cloud and splattered fallout over everything.
“You...you stupid little bitch!” Izzy wheezed.
I wasn't prepared. Not even close. My jaw trembled and she took a long step forward, slamming her hand across my face before I could think about protecting myself.
The blow was like current jolting through my body. A delayed scream tore itself from my mouth and I threw my arms out, desperate to stop the blows as Izzy grabbed a wooden spoon and started to hit me.
It wasn't so bad on my skin, but I had to keep facing her. If she struck my back, I might pass out.
“Holy fucking shit! Are you stupid, or just plain loco, bitch?” A man roared, and the wood stopped thrashing at my arms and face.
I opened my eyes just in time to see Izzy go down on the hard floor, Evan on top of her, pinning her shoulders to the floor. He maneuvered so she picked herself up for a second, before slamming her down again.
“What the fuck do you think you're doing? You realize if you tear her shit open again, we'll have to start all over? Where the fuck's your head? Where!”
I wasn't watching a man anymore. I was watching a lion in all his magnificent rage. He tackled her in a brute grip and held her with his rage as well as his strength. After a few twists in his hands, she went limp.
“Open your fucking mouth!” he growled. “You won't do the talking, but your goddamned tongue will.”
And I thought things were weird before he stuck his fingers between her teeth. But there he was, reaching into her mouth, prying it open. What the hell was going on?
He leaned down, holding her tighter, and inhaling her breath. Slowly, Evan looked up and shook his head, before climbing off her. Izzy scuttled backward across the floor like a scared puppy.
“Jesus. Okay!” She threw up her hands. “I went a little overboard, I get it. But I don't deserve to be treated like a...like a...”
Izzy looked at me, eyes hurt and dark and confused.
“Slave.” Evan said a word I'd only heard in scripture, always when the Prophet's Final Book talked about ancient times.
He can't mean me? My spine went cold, like an icicle between the fiery lakes of my cuts.
“What the hell's gotten into you?” Fear melted. Venom returned to Izzy's voice.
Evan moved in, cornering her near the entryway leading to the dining room. “None of your fucking business. I know exactly what's gotten into your drunken ass, though. Where's the damned bottle? I'll tear this fucking kitchen apart if you don't cough it up. I'm not even gonna count, Izzy. Find it. Right. Fucking. Now.”
Izzy swallowed loudly. She sniffed once, stood, and walked to the cabinet beneath the sink, its wooden door stained with chocolate mush.
I stood, rubbing the numb fire on my cheek where she'd struck me. Izzy ripped the bottle out of the dark compartment and pressed it into his hands.
“Pour it down the fucking sink,” he growled, popping the cap and shoving it back at her.
For a second, I thought she'd protest. But then she grabbed the bottle with both hands and obeyed. It tapped the sink loudly, and soon the silence was broken by the chug of alcohol sluicing through the pipes.
“Is that all, sir?” She was testing him, wearing a little smirk on her face and dripping sarcasm. “Are you practicing on me?”
Practicing for what? I didn't understand, but all this coded crap flying between them made me want to scream. Or run.
Evan pushed up to her before I got a chance, crushing her against the counter with his weight.
“Get the fuck out of my sight. And if you ever touch her like that again, I'll make sure the hangover you get from drying your ass out is the least of your problems. Understand?”