What He Reveals(3)

He reached down and picked up his knife, then began turning a metal crank that was sticking out of the wall. At first, I wasn’t sure what he was doing. And then, very slowly, the shackles on my arms started pulling me up toward the ceiling. And then I understood.

He was going to string me up by my arms. At first, it would just be tiring. But if he kept going, eventually my shoulders would become dislocated. The pain would be unbearable.

“Please,” I said. “Please, you don’t have to do this. Please, let’s talk about this.”

He stopped cranking. His eyes narrowed at me and then he moved over, still holding the knife in his hand.

He stepped closer to me, his gaze falling on my ruined dress. He reached out and ripped the rest of it open, so that my breasts were fully exposed. Then he pressed the flat side of the knife against my nipple, drawing the cool metal slowly over my skin.

“You look like her,” he said. “It will be like killing her all over again.”

“I look like who?” I asked. My arms were aching, and I stood up on my tiptoes to try and relieve some of the pressure.

“Like Rhonda.”

Rhonda Callahan. The woman he’d been seeing, the one he was accused of killing. Noah had argued it was self-defense, the prosecution said it was a sex game wrong.

“Was this what you were doing when you killed her?” I asked. “Did you have her strung up like this?”

“I know this is what you want,” he said, ignoring my questions. “Don’t you, you little slut? That’s why you came here.”

He turned the knife over so that the blade was pushed against my skin. And just as the sharp bite of the knife nipped into my flesh, it all clicked into place. Audi James thought I’d come here to reenact his killing. He thought I’d come here so he could do this to me – he thought I wanted it.

He pushed the knife harder into my side, and I looked down to see a thin line of blood appear on my skin. I could tell it was a superficial wound, not the kind of thing that was life threatening, but seeing the blood made me dizzy.

Audi reached out and grabbed my breast, kneaded it roughly.

“Moan,” he said. “She moaned until I finally choked her out.”

His hand reached out and grabbed my throat, his grip just tight enough to hurt.

“Tell me you love it,” he said. “Tell me you love it, or I’ll kill you like I killed her.”

I moaned. “I love it,” I said. “Please, I love it so much.”

“Die, bitch,” he said, his hand tightening around my throat. I took in a deep breath, trying to keep my lungs filled with oxygen for as long as I could, but it had the opposite effect of what I’d wanted. The huge breath of air made my lungs burn, and my instinct was to hold onto it as long as I could, not knowing when I would get another chance to breath. By the time I finally let it go, my eyes were watering, and I gasped again immediately, but this time, I couldn’t get any oxygen.

“Go to sleep, Sweets,” Audi James said. “Go to sleep, Sweet Sweets.”

I wasn’t sure if I was hearing him correctly. I wasn’t sure if any of this was real, if what I was seeing was actually happening. The room started to darken, and I didn’t know if that was real either, if he’d turned off the light or if I was just starting to lose consciousness.

He pushed his mouth up against my neck and bit me softly, pinching my skin with his teeth. The knife was still against my side, and I imagined a gaping wound opening, blood pouring out of me and filling the room until it had flooded the floor.

And then he was there.

Noah.

So quick, so sure, I was positive I’d imagined him.

He came into the room, his eyes widening as he took in what was happening. And then I saw something flash across his face, something I’d never seen from him before.

Fear.

Noah was afraid.

But then it was gone, replaced by anger and action as he grabbed Audi James by the shoulder and pulled him off me.

As soon as Audi released his hand from my neck, I took in a big gasping breath of air. Everything moved back into focus, so sharp and clear and fast that it made me wonder if I’d even been losing consciousness at all, or if maybe I’d gone into some kind of weird altered fear state.

“Get your hands off her,” Noah growled.

Audi turned around, ready to fight. He raised his arm, but Noah grabbed Audi’s wrist.

“Don’t,” Noah said, and even though Audi James was insane, in that moment, Noah was scarier. Noah punched Audi square in the face, his eyes blazing with the look of a man possessed. It was the look of a man who would kill. And in that moment, I thought, he’s capable of it. He’s capable of killing someone.