TORTURE ME_ The Bandits MC(59)

For now, she nodded at Mrs. Greenwood and forced a smile, despite the fear that clawed up against the sides of her stomach like a caged beast. “I’ll do what I can.”



She walked into Tori’s hospital room, feeling like she was entering an arena, readying herself for battle. Time to face your fears, she said, swallowing the bile that rose up in her throat as she walked in to see the bruised girl staring at her from the hospital bed. Time to face the darkness again.





Chapter Sixteen




Gage followed Fiona into the hospital room, but he stayed far from the bed, wanting to avoid overwhelming Tori with his presence. Fiona, however, sat right next to the bed, scooting the chair up so she was as close to Tori as possible. Gage felt like he was waiting on pins and needles, half-expecting the traumatized teenage girl to scream at them to go away. He wouldn’t blame her if she did.



“Do you remember me, Tori?” Fiona asked. “From a few hours ago, at your house?”



Tori slowly nodded, but her jaw was shut tight, as if it was screwed shut by a metal contraption. Her lips were sealed into a thin, flat, expressionless line, but her eyes were wide and clear, unlike before when she was stumbling up to her parents’ house.



“Do you want to tell me where you were, Tori? What happened to you?” Fiona asked, her voice soft and sweet, as kind as Gage had ever heard her. Usually, Fiona was more blunt and direct, a very no-bullshit kind of person, but he guessed she was different when she was dealing with victims. Or “survivors,” he supposed was the preferred term. Was that what they were supposed to be called, technically? Something about that sat wrong with Gage, but he couldn’t put his finger on why.



Tori stared at Fiona for a long moment, her gaze unblinking and intense, but after a minute or two passed, she looked down at her lap and shook her head.



Gage expected Fiona to push, but instead she just said, “Okay. That’s okay. That’s fine, darling.”



They were all silent for a minute, and Tori looked up to stare at Gage, her gaze piercing him like a knife, but he didn’t move. He wanted to be there for Fiona, in case she needed it. He’d only leave if Tori told him to get out. After a minute, she looked away from him, refocusing on Fiona.



“Can I hold your hand, Tori?” Fiona asked, reaching across the bed and turning her palm upwards, offering it for Tori to take. Tori didn’t answer her either way, not shaking or nodding her head; she just left Fiona’s hand in the middle of the bed, untouched.



Gage expected Fiona to retract her hand, but she left it there, awkwardly lying on the bed. Another minute passed before Fiona spoke again. “Can I tell you a story?” she asked.



Tori’s mouth moved a little at that, one side of it twisting upward for a second before falling back down again. Gage wasn’t sure how to interpret that, but Fiona seemed unbothered by it, just waiting for Tori to answer the question. Eventually, Tori nodded slowly, her eyes slipping down to stare at Fiona’s hand on the bed next to her legs.



“Once upon a time, there was a little princess in a dirty, filthy kingdom. She wasn’t really a princess, but she liked to pretend that she was, just for fun. One day, she was so caught up in her own head that she didn’t realize she was talking to a monster. The monster was very charming and very nice. He gave her an apple to eat, and well, you might be able to guess what happened next. The princess fell asleep and when she woke up, she was in chains in an awful dungeon, somewhere far from home.”



Tori shifted a little on the bed, clearly uncomfortable, her brow furrowing as she listened to Fiona speak.



“The monster visited the princess at night, sometimes during the day, and he’d do bad things to her. He hurt her. And he said he was going to cut her heart out because monsters like to destroy good, pure things. Because they’re scared of goodness. Because they’re terrified of beautiful girls.”



A single tear fell from Tori’s left eye, streaming down her face before falling down on the bedsheets below. But Fiona kept going.



“But the princess wasn’t just beautiful, she was strong. She was really, really strong. She managed to get out of her restraints and find a way out of the dungeon, running away across the forest and the fields until she got back to her palace. That’s the kind of princess she is,” Fiona said softly, and Gage could tell by the thick, strained way that she spoke that she was holding back tears herself, pausing to collect herself before speaking again.



“And the monster is scared of the princess because she has the power to destroy him. She can make him into a tiny, insignificant little man again. That’s his true form. He’s just a little boy, playing with magic he doesn’t understand.”