Page 28 of Arseni

“Don’tfuckingcall me that.”

I tilt my head at her, but I’m too tired to even get any joy out of her displeasure.Wiping sweat off my forehead, I head upstairs.I listen in vain for the sound of her crying as I walk.

When I finish with a shower and flop on the bed in Nikita’s guest room, I pull out my phone to watch the surveillance.

I turn up the volume all the way and listen, but I can see from Margot’s still face that she isn’t crying.She’s sitting on the bed with her arms wrapped around her knees, exactly how I found her.

I’m beat.Truly bone tired.

And still, my cock hardens.

10

MARGOT

It’s hard to know how long Arseni is gone, but when the door to this hell opens, it doesn’t feel like long enough.

I lie facing the wall with my eyes closed as if I have any shot at sleeping.As if every moment I’ve spent down here hasn’t made me tense with either dread or shame.I’m unsure which emotion has been worse.

My tormentor’s steps hitting the stairs cause my ears to thump, and when he touches ground and walks this way, I pull my knees up to curl into myself.Arseni’s cruelty feels like too much right now.My body feels spent and assaulted, my mind overwhelmed.

And yet, Arseni still isn’t my greatest worry.No matter how bad things get for me down here, it isn’t as bad as what will happen ifHeflies into a rage.He isn’t getting his money.Someone else has his girl.

He’s bound to retaliate.

When something crashes on the floor behind me, I flinch.

“I forgot to bring you this,” Arseni says in a voice so apathetic, I will him to disappear.It figures when the sound of his footsteps never comes.

I force my rigid body into a sitting position before turning to see the object Arseni threw on the ground.It’s just an empty five-gallon bucket, tipped carelessly on its side.

I narrow my eyes at it and don’t look at Arseni when I speak.I don’t want to see his face.“What’s it for?”

“What do you think it’s for?”His cold voice wraps around me in a vice that urges me to shrink away, but I resist.I study the bucket, searching for meaning, and when I find it, my stomach turns.

It’s a fucking toilet.

Arseni begins to walk away, off to terrorize another soul I presume.I move my eyes to his back and wish I could stab his spine.Paralyze him the way he paralyzes me.Torture him while he’s immobile.

But I couldn’t even if it was possible.I need him.

“Wait.”The word sticks in my throat like even my vocal cords object to his presence.

He pauses and looks back at me.His face is blank, but I bet he’s pleased with himself.I bet he wants me to grovel.It makes me hate him.

“Please…”

His head tilts while he studies me for several moments, then he walks my way.He stops just in front of the bed and continues to stare.

I look down at my knees.“I have to ask you for something… If you give it to me, I’ll do anything you say.No matter what.”

There’s a delay while he thinks.

“What is it?”

Closing my eyes, I count to three, then I open them to peer up at Arseni’s face, handsome but devoid of feeling.“I need you to take the money your friend stole back to the picnic table at the park.”

His lips curve upward while his brows bunch.“What?”