The Arrangement Anthology 1(179)

I never wanted to hurt him, but right now I’m so scared that he’s going to kick me and smash my ribs. I roll onto my side as he screams, then gracelessly crab-crawl away from him, and finally take a second to jump to my feet. Reaching for my wrist, I feel for the bracelet. Taking my eyes off of Henry would be beyond stupid right now, but my palm only grabs flesh. Frantically, I feel for the black bead, but it’s not there. I chance it and look down.

Horror washes over me when I stare at my wrist. The bracelet is gone. It’s not there. My pulse pounds in my ears, drowning out everything the crazy man is saying. Henry’s ticking things off on his fingers and stepping toward me, like I personally fucked up his life. As I scan the floor of the room for the bracelet, his words finally sink in.

“Are you even listening to me, you fucking whore!” Just as I look up, his palm collides with the side of my face. Pain explodes in my cheek as my face whips sideways. Henry grabs me by the shoulders and pins my arms to my sides.

His voice gets freaky calm. The death grip he has on my shoulders loosens and he pets my arms like I’m a cat. “This is your fault, you know. I normally don’t get this bent out of shape over the little things.” As if fucking Sean was a little thing. How many times has this guy been cheated on? Is that why he’s freaking out? “Today could have been perfect. God knows how hard I tried, love. I tried to put it behind me, to forgive you, but once you walked in here with that slutty dress and that beautiful smile, I kept looking at your mouth. I thought about shoving my cock in between those hot lips and enjoying you like I should. I deserve a good time after what I’ve been through, I do. And you were supposed to be it, but then I kept thinking about it and looking at those lips, and those tits in that dress—and it just kills me that he had you first.” Henry takes a breath and tries to steady himself.

“I’m a forgiving man, I am. Just ask any of my exes and they’ll tell you that I don’t hold a grudge under normal circumstances, but bloody hell—this is so far beyond normal that I can’t handle it. I can’t…” By the time he’s done talking, his voice is so high and airy that I’m seriously considering jumping out the window. I can’t get past him to run out the door. What floor are we on? I’m pretty sure a three to four story jump will break my legs and I’m up higher than that.

I’m talking. I don’t know what I’m saying, but my voice is soothing, soft. My palms are up towards him like he’s going to hurt me and I’m begging him to stop. “You can. You can handle anything, Henry. You can handle this.”

Slowly, his eyes raise and he looks at me. A bolt of frigid fear shoots through my stomach and lodges in my gut. “Tell me something.”

I nod. “Anything.” My gaze flicks around the room for the bracelet, but it’s gone. It’s so gone. The clasp must have been broken. It’s probably outside the building in a gutter. Gabe is going to find my chopped up body at Captree tomorrow if I don’t figure out how to get out of here. I make my decision and wait for his question.

“How do you live with yourself? You see what you’ve done to me and I’m sure you’ve done it to other men. You’re an addiction, and an anomaly. You have a wickedly sinful body, like you’ve used it to get what you wanted your whole life, but there’s this wholesome, chaste thing about you—like you have no idea how to use that body—like you’re shocked when some guy looks at you like he wants you. You can’t be both. It’s not possible to be a virgin slut, but somehow you are.”

I have no idea how to answer that. My eyes dart between Henry and the door. He notices and the corner of his mouth tugs up. “Do you want to leave? I haven’t even gotten what I paid for yet.”

Yeah, there’s no way in hell I’m having sex with him now. I don’t do crazy. “I really think we should reschedule.”

“Yeah?” He steps towards me and I step back. He grins like it’s funny, like he knows that he’s scaring me. “Why? Do you have another client after this? Or is it Ferro again?” Henry steps forward and I step back. He advances on me until my back hits the wall.

“I want what I paid for, skank.” Henry places his hands on my shoulders and leans, forcing all his weight onto me. My knees buckle and I kneel between him and the wall. I don’t wait for him to whip it out, I act. With all the force I can muster, I draw back my fist and slam it into his junk, while his hands are occupied by his zipper. Henry gasps and doubles over.

I jump out of the way before he can catch me, but I’m too close the wall. His hand grabs the back of my neck as I race past him. His other hand is there in a flash, strangling me. Rapidly, I step backward, trying to pry his fingers off my neck. I’m screaming at him, but my voice is being choked into silence.