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Chapter Fourteen

Salt

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“Nothing to say?” Iasked, glancing at Berlin in the passenger seat. “You're awful quiet now that you're out of that place? What happened to the sexy little vixen, ready to grant my every wish?”

Keeping her head out the window, she didn't give me an answer. She hadn't said a thing to me since we left the Canary compound. I couldn't blame her, I saw her face when she realized that her owner and I knew each other.

Shock. Regret. A hint of fear.

She wore those colors like a fucking halo.

Turning back to the road, I watched the trees in the distance as their tops swayed back and forth in the breeze. I thought I'd see her exhale a sigh of relief the second her toes touched cement and she was able to smell the fresh air.

But Berlin only seemed to look more worried, her body folding as if the gravity outside was too heavy for her slender frame. She looked like a house cat that had finally escaped, but once there, didn't know what to do.

Every so often I felt her looking at me, but the second I tried to catch her, her eyes were gone. Her hands were tucked securely between her thighs, her shoulders rolled forward, and there was no life left inside.

You'll thank me for this, I know you will.

The lights from the street lamps kept flashing over her skin, lighting up bruises like a beacon at sea. My eyes were drawn to the red welts and streaks of broken skin. And yet she sat there as if they didn't bother her. She didn't show a sliver of discomfort, she didn't wilt like a dying flower every time she moved.

She's used to the pain.

It was a sad thought, to know that she could be beaten and brutalized, but never show an ounce of it. If she didn't hurt on the outside, it was hard to imagine what she was feeling on the inside.

“How does it feel to be out of there?” I asked, gripping the wheel tighter and relaxing into my seat.

No answer.

What the hell did you expect?

Removing her doesn't heal what damage has already been done.

Tapping my thumb against the wheel, I peered at her from the corner of my eye. “Virgo seems to have a thing for you. How long have you been with the prick?” Silence. “He didn't want to let you go very easily, you must really be something special.”

“Fuck you.”

There she is.

“Ah, so you're not a mute outside that shell you call home.”

“It's not home, it's hell.”

“Then why don't you seem happy to be out?”

“Am I supposed to thank you for this?” Whipping her head over her shoulder, her eyes glistened with lost tears. “Fuck you!” Digging her nails into the seat, Berlin's forehead folded with thick lines as her lids shot open. “Just fucking take me back! I don't want to go anywhere with you!”

“Did I say something wrong?”

Frowning, she sealed her lips tight as she glared at me. Whatever was going through her head right then, whatever it was that she wanted to yell and scream, she didn't. But I could see it in her eyes; the hate for me, the hate for Virgo, the pure rage she felt for being passed around like a fucking joint.

My flower, you need this, no matter how much you want to hate it.

Looking straight ahead, I kept my tone hard. “Be mad at me all you want, but I'm not the one who put those bruises on you, or the one who controls your every move.”

“What the fuck do you call this then?” Grunting, Berlin curled into herself, hugging her knees. “If I asked you to pull over right now and let me out, would you?”