Page 98
Story: When the Dark Wins
I set a foot uncertainly on the bottom step, but almost immediately pull back. This could be another trick—a test—and I won’t play for anything he isn’t willing to compensate me for.
“Don’t you want to know what we said?” Stone asks curiously. “Or at least what he said?”
I shake my head even though I know he can’t see my response, but I refuse to speak to him right now. He promised he wouldn’t hurt me, and while I’ve been through much worse physically, I’m sick with the feeling that I thought he cared.
Stupid girl; always looking for comfort in the arms of strangers.
It’s clear to me now that I hadn’t thought this through. I was swayed by the promise of my own personal little dreams of having a place to live and dismissed the obvious danger that was lurking behind Lowell’s eyes when he first approached me.
“Cessi? Can you hear me? I feel like I’m talking to a wall right now,” Stone complains in exasperation.
Because you are.
I turn toward him and stick my middle finger in the air. Even though he can’t see me, it’s nice to be able to tell him to fuck off.
“Oh, I see. You’re mad at me. Why? Cause you didn’t get to cum?” he asks. I can feel the smirk on his face, and it makes me angry, but I still say nothing to him. He’s desperate for conversation and he assumes that if he can sting me with his words, I’ll speak.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that. I’m just fucking losing my mind down here, you know? I hate that there’s someone in this room with me and not speaking. It’s like Lowell the first time he chained me down here and it’s starting to freak me out if you want me to be honest.”
He lets out a long, tired breath and I can hear the chains scrape along the ground as he gets to his feet. He grunts against his new restrictions and sighs.
“Will you at least come here and let me hold you? I know it won’t mean shit to you, but it’ll make me feel a little bit better about being in the dark—verbally and visually,” he finishes with a mumble.
His suggestion is cruel in the fact that he knows that I want to be needed. He felt it when he first laid down on top of me, with the first kiss placed so softly against my neck, he knew that I wanted nothing more than to feel wanted.
“Cessi? Please?”
I close my eyes and sigh. I’ve never had a man beg me to let them put their arms around me before and it strikes a nerve in me, but not in the way it should. If I let my guard down with Stone again, is it what Lowell wants? Will we have to dance for him again or will he even care?
I don’t want to do anything to anger him because he holds our lives in his hands and the slightest misstep can lead to our downfall.
Fuck.
I walk in a straight line, unable to see where I’m going. Stone rattles his chains again in an attempt to put his arms around me and I realize that I’ve walked much too far to the right. I turn to the left and hold my hands out, finally grazing his arm with my fingertips and move closer to his body.
“Thank you,” he whispers gently into my ear as he does his best to wrap his arms around me. Because of his newly acquired chains, he’s only able to hold me by the hips, but he pulls me closely against him and breathes deeply.
“Don’t be mad at me, okay? I say stupid shit when I’m nervous. Just… talk to me Cessi; all we’ve got is each other now,” he says, softly brushing his lips against my hair.
My heart races slightly as his words, but I quickly manage a way to calm myself. I have to be smart from here on out, and I have to realize that he’s only saying these things because of the situation we’re in. If Stone still looked like what I think he did before Lowell got a hold of him, he wouldn’t have given me a second glance on any other day in an ordinary life scenario.
He’s scared; even though he hasn’t said it, he has to be because I am too.
“What did he promise you?” I finally ask, breaking my vow of silence against Stone’s steadily heaving chest. “Money?”
“No,” he replies as he nuzzles his mouth against the top of my head. It’s almost as if he’s in a world of his own right now.
“Then what did you promise him?” I ask, taking a step away. Stone chuckles and attempts to pull me back into him, but I pull farther away and move just out of his reach.
He lets out a sigh and drops his hands to his sides. “What does anyone want? What do you want?”
“To be free,” I reply quietly.
“No. That’s not what I’m talking about. Don’t be in this moment, Cessi. Be outside of these walls walking the streets, looking into cars for a potential new client, and tell me what it is that you want.”
“I… I want to be loved,” I finally say, wiping away a stray tear.
“Bingo.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98 (Reading here)
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207