Page 43 of Endgame

I look all around the room, telling him, wherever he is, “No.”

A second buzz. This one causes my jaw to lock. My nipples are pulled tight.

I can’t be hot for him. For this. Can’t let him fuck with my head.

My hand flies up to the leather collar. I need it off. I need these tiny shocks to my throat to stop making me wet.

That motherfucker.

“I want to be left alone.” Under the weight of Everett’s invisible threat, my voice drops. “For five fucking minutes. Is that too much to ask?”

A harsher shock pulls a shriek out of me.

“Miss Clarke?—”

“Stop!” I scream to the ceiling. To the man who literally holds my life in his hands. “Please, no more.”

This next zap is the harshest.

It knocks most of the thoughts out of my skull. My legs seize. My back arches. And shamefully, I welcome the burn.

Because my last thought before I pass out is,this is still better than the basement.

“There you go.”A warm, wet washcloth. That’s what I feel trailing from one shoulder to the other.

My exposed shoulders.

At that realization, I jolt awake. A scream tears out of me. My hands fly up to shield myself.

And that’s when I notice I’m not in his bed.

Warm water laps against me. Bubbles cling to my skin. Lavender lingers in the air.

While I was out of it, someone moved me. Placed me in a bath.

The surface of the vast stone tub is slick and hot. The stone warms my skin, grounding me in the nightmare I’ve woken up to.

I’m naked. Exposed. Vulnerable.

Panic causes my gaze to dart all over. This bathroom is even larger than the one I was in when I first arrived. The tiles are black. The vanity has gold and black ornaments engraved on it.

Two sets of hands close in on me. Grabbing. Pinning. Holding me down.

“Miss Clarke.” Rylee. I recognize her voice, though I wish I couldn’t.

“I’m Aurora,” I spit out. The repetition of my adoptive parents’ last name will be the last straw. It’ll tear apart what’s left of my mind. “Aurora.”

I turn my head from side to side, looking at both women. Their brown eyes are wide and kind. I see now that they’re sitting on the ledge of the tub.

They have a full view of my body where the bubbles don’t reach.

Disgust curls in my gut. I’ve been stripped bare of clothing,andmy power. “Go. Away.”

“Miss—Aurora. Please, don’t worry. We won’t harm you.” Rylee clutches a wet washcloth in her hand.

It drips into the tub.

Drip. Drip. Drip.