Page 26 of Borrowed

Not Toby.

The man.The one they called Leo.The guy who helped me get my food in the cafeteria before leading me here.He didn’t talk about Mila.He told me I had pretty eyes and that I’d be okay.

I didn’t know what ‘okay’ meant.I didn’t feel different.

Mila liked cats.

Leo was new to me.

Clean jaw, short beard, and dark skin that looked like velvet soaked in oil.

He was the kind of man who spoke with few words, but the ones he did speak were stuck.They bounced around my head like a ping pong ball.When he handed me my meds, he made me open my mouth and told me to swallow like a good girl.

He reminded me of Toby.

Or maybe that was just my mind.

Either way, I felt it.

Everywhere.

On my skin.

In between my thighs.

In the heat of the water.

“You want him, don’t you?”Toby’s voice slithered into my skull like it belonged there, but his body was hazy, like a view underwater.

The pills made Toby mad.He didn’t like the pills, but I wanted to be a good girl for Leo, too.I wanted to listen.

I bit my lip.“No.”

“Liar,” he purred, his voice close to mine, his hands raking over my fevered skin.

I felt his presence behind me.Not his body—his weight.It filled the space around me like a thick fog, curling around my throat, my waist, and my thighs.

“Do you think he’d touch you, Sister?”Toby’s breath brushed my ear.“Do you think he’d bend you over right here, under all this water, with everyone so close they could hear you beg?”

My knees buckled.

He laughed.

Quiet.

Sinister.

Beautiful.

And then, I saw him…Leo.

Through the blur of foggy heat and wet lashes, I saw him step into the doorway of the showers.His clothes were on, but his eyes weren’t safe.They raked over me like he was starving.

I froze.

But I didn’t cover myself.

His gaze was hunger, and I was fire.