And I won’t.
“Listen, you fucking cunt. You’re pretty and I’ve wondered what is so special for my brother to decide to settle down with a whore like you.” His hand moves to my throat, and he lifts me into the air, the two back legs of the chair lifting off the ground. “But if you ever try to do something like that again, I might just take what my brother so easily got, do you understand?”
His eyes roam down my body and I try to hide the shiver that slides down my spine at the same time. “And if I find out anything happened to my brother, you’ll disappear too. Kimmy will always wonder where Mommy went, but Mommy will spend the rest of her life serving me, on her knees, with her mouth open,” he says the last few words with a sneer, his spit landing on my face.
He hates me as much as I hated his brother.
“So be a good bitch while I’m away. Don’t get too comfortable.” He bends down and presses a kiss against my lips. A brutal one. One that is not reciprocated. The taste of his breath is rancid. I want to throw up. “I’ll be back for you.” It isn’t a whispered sexy promise. His words do not have good intentions.
They are laced with warning. A threat. And if he comes back empty-handed, which he will, he will make good on his threat. He dips his hand under my blouse and rubs his thumb over my nipple, licking his lips. I can’t move my chest away from him because of the rope.
Even his hands are slimy and disgusting.
Once he is satisfied, he pushes me back with one hard shove and the chair tips. The chair digs into my back and spine when I hit the floor. My head smacks against the tile. My ears ring and my vision sways as he steps over me, leaving me alone.
The door slams shut, and the floor vibrates from the force, tickling the wound on the back of my head. I groan and blink to try and come back to my senses. It’s too much though.
I can’t.
I close my eyes, just for a second, and let the pain take me under.
I’ll be fine.
Just a few minutes, that’s all I need.
The bed dips and the slight movement wakes me up. Kimmy nestles into my side and places her head on my chest as she watches cartoons on the TV. My breath catches when I try to move, but the pain in my back won’t allow me to situate myself into a more comfortable position.
“You okay, Daddy?” Kimmy asks me, the heart rate monitor picking up the surge of excitement that races through from hearing that one word.
It’s just a word, but it means so much to me.
“Yeah, Squirt. I’m okay. Just sore.” And my ass is fucking numb, but I can’t say that out loud. I don’t even groan when my globes are all tingly. “Let me sit up,” I tell her, and she scoots over to give me some room. I press my hands against the mattress and try to push myself up, but my back rubs against the feathers of the pillow and I cry out, nearly throwing up from how much it hurts.
“Damn it!” I roar, knocking over some stupid metal pole and it ends up ripping my IV out. Blood begins to drip on the floor, and I hold my hand over the torn skin. I sigh, easing myself on my back as I stare up at the ceiling.
Kimmy lets out a long exhale too, showing how annoyed she is with me. “I’ll go get Pulse.” She rolls her eyes at me. “You need to learn to have more patience with yourself.”
“You sound like your Mama.”
“She’s a smart woman,” she says matter-of-factly, making me grin.
“That she is.” Speaking of my Hot Mama, where is she?
“Pulse!”
I cringe from Kimmy’s loud lungs as she yells his name. Good god, the girl could wake the dead.
Loud stomps come down the hall as Kimmy waits in the doorway with her arms crossed. Pulse’s giant body is in front of her, and he mocks her position. “You rang?” he drawls, and she points to me.
“Daddy ripped out his needle.”
Pulse’s head jerks up and he sees the slight destruction I’ve caused. “Really, One-Eye?”
“My skin feels like it’s on fire. I moved and the pillow was enough to send me over the edge. I lost my cool.”
“Why were you trying to move?” He takes four quick strides over to me, bends down to pick up the pole holding the IV fluids, and heads to the cabinet to grab bandages to stop the bleeding.
“My freaking butt is numb, okay? It feels like white noise, and I don’t like it,” I pout. “Don’t laugh at me.”
He rolls his lips together as he cleans the blood up. “I wouldn’t think of it.”
“Ass,” I mumble.
“No, no. It’s your ass that’s the issue.”
“Daddy?” Kimmy skips into the room holding a pink piece of paper.
Pulse continues to bandage me up without saying another word and places a needle in my other arm.
“Yeah, Squirt?”
“What is…” she unfolds the paper. “Speed dating?”
Pulse coughs uncontrollably and I’m left speechless. I don’t really know what to say. I’d planned on going to that, but now that Alicia might be back in my life I might not.
“Uh, it’s a date race, the fruit. Ever heard of a date?”
“Like a raisin?” She crinkles her nose in disgust.
“Kind of. People pay to see other people roll dates down… the… road.” I close my eye in embarrassment from the piss-poor explanation.
Pulse deadpans me with a look as he rips something open.
“Why would you want to go to that? That’s weird, Daddy.”
“Yeah… I know. I was… just looking to try new things.”
“Oh, but it says here, maybe you’ll meet the love of your life.”
“It does say that. It does. And it’s just a joke, because a date is a fruit, and they are saying ‘meet the love of your life’ because it’s a date, but not a real person date. It’s a play on words, Squirt.”
“Oh. That’s so weird. You need to hang out with other people. People who roll dates need their heads examined.” She folds the paper up and places it on the counter before turning around, the frill on her pajamas fanning out. “I’m going to go steal one of Arrow’s apple juices.” She sprints down the hall, leaving me in a very awkward silence with Pulse.
“Don’t.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” he protests, rolling the IV stand around the bed to the other side.
“It was the only thing I could think of. It’s not like I could tell her the truth.”
“Why not? That was the worst fucking explanation of all time, One-Eye. There’s no way she believes that. She’s too damn smart.”
“Well, she won’t want me to say I was thinking of dating other women when she and her mom are here. She’s probably confused. Hell, I’m confused.” I relax when I feel the pain medication Pulse must have slipped me working.
“I understand,” he says with a slow nod, then dragging the stool that’s against the wall to the side of the bed. “Have you guys talked about where to go from here?”
“Yeah, we kind of talked last night. She wants to go slow, but I don’t know if we are capable of slow. We fell into our routine too easily, you know? So I think we should either be together or not be together. Anything in between will just be too hard.”