Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
My jaw tightens.
Fuck. I never realized that was how humans were made. But it all makes sense when put together like that.
“Well, go on then. Show us how you used her,” my owner suddenly says, laughing. “If it wasn’t successful, let’s make sure it is now.”
He shoves her into my muscular chest so hard, her lungs empty into an oompf sound.
But when she looks up into my smoldering gaze and her eyes fill with tears, I want nothing more than to make everything around us disappear.
Everything … including him.
“Do it,” my owner eggs me on, and he walks to the table and throws some of the food aside to make room. “Right there.”
“What?” Aurora mutters.
“You heard me,” my owner muses. “If you’re gonna use him, then do it right. Give me something I can work with. Maybe your darling papa will finally come to pick you up if he realizes how high the stakes are.”
Aurora looks mortified as Raymond steps forward and grabs her arm, tearing her away from me. He hauls her to the table and shoves her against it. “Stay there,” he spits, and he releases her, only to wipe his own hands like he thinks touching her will make him dirty.
And it makes me want to tear his head off his body.
“Fuck him,” my owner says. “Fuck him like you mean it and show your papa how bad he screwed up.”
She swallows, visibly shaking. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m dead serious,” he replies.
“But that’s blackmail,” she says.
“If it gets me my money,” my owner says, shrugging. “You threw yourself at him so easily before. Now show me what you’re willing to do to get out of that goddamn cell.”
Raymond walks up to me and eyes me down before gazing at Aurora like she’s some piece of meat he still wants to eat. “Be a good boy and fuck that girl while we watch.”
I stay put, staring Aurora down, wishing she could see into my mind. Because if she could, she’d know the last thing I want to do is hurt her.
“Do it!” my owner barks.
With my head held high, I growl back, “No.”
A sudden electrical jolt to my neck has me grunting. My fingers immediately claw at my neck, the pain immeasurable. I roar out loud, trying my best to stay standing, even though all the muscles in my body are contracting.
“Stop!” Aurora begs. “Please!”
When it finally ends, my eyes find her first.
Her.
It’s always been about her.
Every inch of my struggles, all culminating in this one moment.
And when she nods, it’s all I need to breathe.
“I’ll do it,” she mutters, the last tear rolling down her cheek.
But all I see is the woman who stopped my pain from consuming me whole.
Pain I’m now forced to give to her.
“You heard her, Beast. Fuck her then,” my owner barks.
My heart bleeds as I haul myself forward, each of my steps heavier than the ones before. The closer I get, the more my heart comes back alive, the room feeling smaller and more intimate than I remember the second I’m right in front of her.
If I don’t do this, neither of us will make it out alive.
But her eyes … they lure me in and tell me it’s okay as I plant my hands beside her and lean in to whisper into her ear. “I don’t want to hurt you … I want you to be free.”
She sucks in a breath, and when I look at her, she seems genuinely surprised.
“I-I …” she murmurs.
But I place a finger on her lips. “They can hear,” I whisper.
She nods softly, her lips parting as my finger draws down, my eyes mesmerized by her beauty. All this time, I thought she was hiding from me because she was scared, because she feared my scars, my violence. But now, I see the naked truth beneath these layers of protection she placed around her heart.
She was hiding her own body from the world. From me.
Just because her father told her to. Because this man, my owner, lent all the money to her father just so he could try to change her into something she’s not.
I grab her arm and slide my hand down until I touch her skin right where her glove used to be. My fingers slowly slide down her scars and malformed bones, taking in what she looks like while keeping my gaze on her eyes. I don’t need to see to know. I can feel my way across.
And when I reach the tip of her fingers, I bring them to my lips, kissing each one.
Her face burns bright with hope.
And I lean in and press a gentle kiss onto her lips, not wanting to scare her away. She’s frozen in place, but her lips still move with mine, coaxing me, drawing out my tongue.