Page 32 of Like An Animal

THE SHADOW

T he good thing about wearing dark clothes is that I don’t have to worry about blood splatter showing. The last thing I want to do is scar the kid for life. Sure, she only saw me for a moment when I carried her mother through the plane, but that could be enough to cause panic.

As soon as I lock the room up behind me, I dart into the bathroom to get cleaned up. Luckily, I put a change of clothes in here when we first landed just in case I needed to wash off the blood and didn’t want to leave any evidence behind.

It happens more often than one would think.

I strip down and grab a wash cloth before running it under the tap. I put some soap on the cloth before looking in the mirror. There’s only a few splotches of blood on my chest, but the places truly tainted are my arms.

No big deal. It’s an easy clean up.

The blood isn’t even thick enough to block out the ink underneath it.

I never cared for tattoos. I thought their purpose was to make someone look tougher than they were, but that was until I needed to find an outlet for all the suppressed rage and desire constantly pumping through my veins.

I didn’t have my little ghost anymore as a way to let it all out.

I needed an alternative and every tattoo took the edge off.

The buzz of the machine against my flesh was soothing along with the sting it brought.

I didn’t care what the design was. It just made it easier to cope.

Once I have cleaned off all the blood, I wash all the paint off my face. Maybe it was a tad dramatic, but it had the intended reaction. Bronwyn was absolutely terrified, just the way I like her.

I take a moment to put on my clean clothes. At least now my appearance shouldn’t terrify the child. She doesn’t need to be scared of me. Her mother is another story.

I don’t plan to have much of an interaction with the child. It’s really late and she was asleep when Xavi pulled her out of her bed.

However, when I open the bathroom door, the tiny child wrapped in pink and purple footed pajamas looks up at me. I stare at her and she stares right back, barely blinking, but she doesn’t look scared, more curious than anything else.

Then suddenly she speaks. “Where are we going?” She tilts her head to the side ever so slightly, hugging a yellow stuffed bunny rabbit as if it’s the only thing that matters to her in the world.

“New Jersey,” I mutter as I walk around her before heading to the small fridge stocked with alcohol in the corner. I need a stiff drink, especially if I’ll be expected to deal with the dog from hell. If it tries to sit next to me, I might lose my shit.

The child pops up next to me suddenly. “What’s in New Jersey?”

I give her a sideways glance, but Xavi is laughing across the room. It’s a widely known fact that kids and animals generally don’t like me because I’m a scary, dangerous man.

First the mutt and now the brat.

Am I letting off a different vibe today or something?

I grab a beer out of the fridge before closing it, choosing not to answer her question. I walk over to the couch and have a seat, but only a moment later, just as I’m lifting the mouth of the beer bottle to my lips, the kid plops down next to me.

Jesus fucking Christ.

“What is your name?” she asks, her voice way too fucking cheery for two in the morning.

“Jeremy.” I grind my teeth, trying my best not to snap at the kid to leave me alone.

“We had cat named Jeremy. I called him Mister Whiskers. He went to a farm.”

Bronwyn named a cat after me?

Weird.

“My name is Lottie.” She grins without a care in the world.

I run a hand down my tired face before muttering, “Why don’t you go play with your dog, Lottie?”

She nods. “Okay!” She jumps up to her feet before turning to look at me, that same smile across her face.

“What?”

She shrugs. “Your eyes are like mine.” Then she skips off to the dog that’s sleeping at Xavi’s feet.

What the hell did she mean by that? We both have brown eyes, sure, but a lot of people have brown eyes. It’s the most common eye color in the world.

Maybe it was just something she was making note of.

Who knows? Kids are weird.

Throughout the flight, the kid kept trying to ask me questions and get me to talk, but every time I sent her back to play with the dog. I figured at some point it would stop working, but it didn’t.

She has the mind of a goldfish or a four year old kid.

Once the plane landed, Xavi left with the kid and the mutt in his car, which left me to deal with my little ghost.

I walk back to the room I left her in and notice how quiet it is. She was screaming and kicking when I locked her in the box.

Most people would feel bad about punishing someone by confronting them with their worst fear, but I find it poetic.

I either heightened the fear that was already present or made her realize there’s nothing to be afraid of.

I never said it was healthy. It was a punishment for a reason. She needed to know that it was in her best interest to do what I say when I say it. I don’t put up with insolence from anyone, not even her.

Grabbing the key off the dresser next to the box, I bend a knee and unlock the box.

Without warning, my little ghost’s fist connects with my nose.

She put a lot of power behind that move and I stagger back before shaking away the disorientation.

Blood fills my nostrils, but thanks to my training, there’s no pain.

Bronwyn climbs out of the box, anger across her face.

This is something I didn’t account for.

“If you ever do that to me again, I will cut off your pierced dick and shove it up your ass with no lube.”

She probably thought that would scare me, but all her actions managed to do is make me hard as a rock in my pants. Her bloodlust is intoxicating. However, we don’t have the kind of time I would need to fuck her right now. We’ll get to that later.

Snatching her throat in my hand, I yank her body against mine with an umph from her.

Her nails dig into my wrist as she tries to peel my grip away, but it’s useless.

I’m way stronger than I used to be. She might’ve had a chance to fight me back then, but that boy she once knew doesn’t exist anymore.

I had a short list of things I wasn’t willing to do to reach my goal, but that list has narrowed down to one singular thing.

Killing my little ghost.

She won’t die, but it’s possible that there could come a point where she wants to. I won’t let her though. She’s my property, my prisoner, and she won’t ever escape my clutches.

“Don’t make me put you back in the box you hate so much,” I growl in her face and she scowls at me with anger.

“I will punish you whenever you piss me off and each time, it will get worse. You think the box was bad? That was just the beginning. If you want to test me and see how bad it will get, be my guest, but you won’t like the results.

If you’re done with the charade, get dressed.

” I push her back until she stumbles and falls to the floor.

The old me would feel bad about her tripping and falling on her ass, but not anymore. She’s earned every scrape and bruise.

“You tore off my dress, asshole. Are you expecting me to walk around naked?”

Clearly, I don’t. I’d kill anyone who sees her naked without my cock being buried deep inside her.

I grab the dress on a wire hanger on the back of the door before tossing it to her. It’s just a basic long-sleeved white dress that will cover every place on her body that I always hated her showing off to everyone except me.

She liked wearing those skirts that were so short that when she bent over they showed off her underwear and shirts that dipped so far into her cleavage that the front clasp of her bra would show if she wore one.

However, I went a step further when picking out this dress. It goes down to the floor and will probably cut off any view of her cleavage.

Bronwyn stares at the dress like the piece of fabric is offensive before scowling at me.

“You’re not serious, are you?”

I know. She probably hasn’t worn this much fabric in her life.

“I very much am serious, little ghost. Put. It. On.”

She huffs, but does as she’s told. She grabs the dress off the hanger and slips it over her head.

“I swear, I’m going to kill you,” she threatens as she stands up and pushes the dress down her body until it hits the floor around her feet.

It’s a perfect fit.

“You can try to kill me all you want, but until you succeed, you’re mine.” I grab her by her elbow and drag her out of the room. The plane has emptied except the two of us and I notice how alert she is as she takes everything in.

“Where’s my daughter?” she asks, her voice full of worry.

“In a car with Xavi and the mutt. They’re headed to the compound, so calm your tits.”

She seems to relax a little as I guide her out of the plane.

Everything is going to go as planned and she won’t escape me again, even if I have to shackle her to my bed.