Page 31 of Like An Animal

THE GHOST

“ L et me go, you fucking asshole!” I scream before Jeremy shoves me into the backseat of the car parked in my driveway. My face slams into the leather before he closes the door.

I swear, I’m going to murder him in his sleep.

All I can hope is that he’s planning to take me to wherever he sent Lottie.

The only saving grace in all of this is that she wasn’t in that house to hear all the screaming from Kyle.

He deserved everything Jeremy did to him for trying to kill me, but I wasn’t prepared for the kind of unhinged nature that Jeremy put out into the ether.

The man pulled Kyle’s bones out his hands and laid them out on the table to spell out the word “mine”.

He is definitely a psycho and I must be, too. I got so wet from seeing the word spelled out in my deceased husband’s bones. My body is definitely broken.

Jeremy climbs into the driver’s seat, tosses down the pickle jar with Kyle’s eyes in it on the front passenger seat, before he turns over the engine.

Who the fuck plucks out someone else’s eyes post mortem? That was creepy as fuck and seemed pointless.

He speeds off so fast that my body is hurled across the seat and my face impacts the door.

I grunt but shake it off.

“Couldn’t you have untied me before shoving me in here?” I complain as I struggle to turn myself over.

“Nope,” he mutters before he turns up the radio so loud my ears vibrate from the sound. I can’t even hear myself hurling all of my insults his way. He’s getting on my last nerve.

I don’t remember Jeremy being this insufferable. Sure, he was a pain in the ass, but he also had his sweet moments. He made me fall for him, but those feelings are long gone. He can play my body like a harpsichord, but my heart is completely out of reach to anyone, including him.

I locked it away so I could do what I had to all those years ago. It would’ve killed me if I hadn’t.

I barely manage to sit up as he pulls up to an airstrip. I would ask him where the hell he is planning to take me, but that would be pointless.

The only thing that helps me relax is knowing that the Fathers of Jephthah won’t be able to find me or Lottie if Jeremy locks us away in a tower.

That is the only thing that scares me anymore–my daughter being forced to be one of the Daughters of Jephthah. She’s now at the age where they would initiate her and I can’t let that happen. I’d die before I’d ever allow them to hurt my baby girl.

Jeremy parks next to the plane before turning off the car. The music cuts out and I can finally speak.

“Where are you taking me?” I demand, but he doesn’t answer me. Instead, he climbs out of the car and slams the door behind him.

After a minute, he opens the back door and yanks me out by my bound wrists. My knees ache as they hit the pavement, scraping some of the skin raw.

“Fuck you!” I growl as he pulls me to my feet.

“Come on, brat.”

He releases my wrist to grab my arm and drags me toward the plane.

“Where’s my daughter?” I press again, hoping he’ll give me some answers.

No such luck.

“Just shut up and get on the plane or I’ll punish you,” he warns, but I just glare at him before ripping my arm out of his hold.

“No! Tell me where she is. I’m not going anywhere without my fucking child, Jeremy!”

Without any warning, he jams his shoulder into my waist and throws me over his shoulder. “Punishment it is.”

“Jeremy Borza, put me down right now!”

Instead of listening to me, he smacks my ass so hard, my pelvis has probably left a bruise on his shoulder.

“Jeremy,” I groan his name as he walks up the steps into the plane and I look over my shoulder to see a long sofa along the wall of the plane with Val, my golden retriever, sleeping at the end. Xavi sits at the other end with Lottie who is playing with her favorite doll.

That’s why he just wanted me to get on the plane. Because she’s here.

“Lottie!” I cry her name and her head pops up with a smile.

“Mommy!” She tries to run to me, but Xavi grabs her as Jeremy carries me toward the back of the plane.

“Everything’s going to be okay, baby!”

I kick and flail in Jeremy’s hold, trying like hell to get to my little girl, but every move just earns me another hard slap on my ass.

“Let me down.”

“No.”

Jeremy throws open a door and steps inside before dropping me down on my feet. Then, he reaches behind me and removes his belt from around my wrists.

I thought he said he was going to punish me. Is this supposed to be a part of the punishment?

“This is the only reprieve you get, little ghost,” he growls in my ear before stepping away. Maybe he thinks I’ll accept that and be okay with everything, but he should remember who it is he’s dealing with. I’m a fighter if nothing else.

I push him away and run for the door, but before I can pull it open, he pushes my body against it, plastering me between him and the door.

“Bad fucking move,” he growls before tearing the dress down my back and unhooking my bra.

What’s the worst he could do? Kill me? That would be a blessing except that Lottie would be left with him. I don’t know what he would do to her if I wasn’t here. It wouldn’t be anything near what the Fathers would.

“What are you going to do about it, emo boy? I’ve been through worse than anything you could do. You want to break me? Beat me, punch me? Someone else beat you to it.”

His hand stills on my spine for just a moment before he takes my hair in his hand, yanking it back hard.

“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want to you.

That’s how this works. You’re my property and what I say goes.

If I say you won’t ever see your little girl again, that’s how it will be.

If I say you’ll sleep under the stairs, that’s exactly what will happen.

Your experience depends on how you behave.

Misbehaved brats don’t get privileges. Here’s a taste of that, Bronwyn. ”

He pulls me away from the door, pushing off my clothes until all I have on are my heels and he kicks open a big wooden box with nothing inside.

“What are you doing?” I ask, eying the box warily.

“Showing you what happens to brats who don’t listen.”

Jeremy pushes me into the box and my eyes widen when I realize what he’s doing.

He can’t do this. Jeremy knows I’m claustrophobic. I could never handle walking into small closets or even the pantry.

He slams the lid closed as I turn over onto my back.

“Jeremy!” I scream his name as I kick on the lid over and over, but it doesn’t budge. “Don’t do this to me, Jeremy! Please, please, please. Let me out. JEREMY!” I scream as the walls close in around me.

Okay. So maybe there is one thing left that I’m scared of and he hit the nail on the literal coffin.

“Don’t worry. I’m not a complete monster. You’re getting oxygen in there. I made sure of it. The only way you escape this, us, is through death, my little ghost. Get used to it and stop pushing my buttons.”

The air feels thin as I struggle to bring in air or at least that’s how it feels.

“Please, Jer! Let me out. I swear, I’ll behave. Please!” I sob, but then my world crashes down around me when I hear the door open and close before the distinct sound of a lock clicking resonates.

My heart skips a beat.

Jeremy not only locked me in this box, but also left the room while I was begging him to let me out.

“No, no, no! Jeremyyy! Let me out!” I pound my fists on the lid as I kick the side again and again. “Jeremy, don’t do this to me! Help! SOMEONE HELP ME!”