Page 103 of Retribution

I don’t look at the Stinger, but I know I’ll have to soon. I need it off.

I make the shower as hot as I can stand and I scrub every inch of my body. The gray stinger sits on my thigh, waterproof and impossible to remove. The straps dig into my skin less now. Whether that’s because I’ve lost weight since they put it on me, or the straps are wearing a little, I don’t know.

I pull at the ones around my waist, wondering if I canmake the belt give enough for me to slide it over my hips, but it’s way too tight. I realize the straps are actually one long piece that goes around my waist, through the device, and then around my leg. It’s made of some kind of woven metal, so I won’t be cutting them off either. I wonder if it’s conductive, if that’s one of the reasons it hurts so much more than the ones at The Heath. If it’s sending electric pulses through the strap as well, that would make sense.

When I’m as clean as I feel I possibly can be, I dry off and put my old clothes back on. I don’t want to, but trying to explain the Stinger to the guys isn’t on my top five list for right now.

Maybe I can get some tools and take it apart in the lab.

By the time I come out of the bathroom, pizza is already waiting.

‘One of Sauvage’s guys ordered it and brought it up,’ Mav says as he opens the box.

No one’s taken a slice yet, and I grin at them as I pick the best one. I practically shove it in my mouth, realizing how hungry I am despite the snack Sauvage provided earlier.

I end up eating two more before I’m sated and, afterward, the guys show me around the penthouse, which is sort of like an apartment at the top of the building, minus a kitchen. There’s no kettle, sadly, but there is a small fridge with drinks in it, and a minibar with alcohol and snacks.

I grab a Snickers for dessert and moan when I bite into it.

‘God,’ I garble with my mouth full. ‘I feel like it’s been months since I ate anything that wasn’t awful.’

The guys are all sitting on the couch watching me. They exchange looks and I wonder what’s going on.

‘Come here, gorgeous,’ Blake murmurs, holding out his hand.

The air is suddenly charged and I belatedly realize that they want to dothings.

Fear envelopes me and I hesitate, multiple thoughts cascading through my brain. It’s not just that the Stinger is on me. I’ve lost weight and they’ll see. There are burn marks on me from the cattle prod.Shesaid I was ugly and that my body was horrible. I hear her nasty words in my head. What if they won’t want me anymore?

I’m frozen to the spot in the middle of the room.

‘I…uh…I’m tired,’ I stammer. ‘Can we maybe do something…not now?’

Multiple expressions flit across their faces so quickly that I can’t make them out fast enough.

‘Of course. We don’t have to do anything but sit,’ Blake says, watching me very closely.

The other two are as well, and, all at once, I want tonotbe in the room with them.

‘Actually, I think I’ll take a nap,’ I say. ‘I haven’t been sleeping well, so I’m really tired.’

I chuckle a little to sell it, but I don’t think they buy it.

I turn to go into the bedroom, but swing back, a completely different fear taking hold.

‘You won’t…go anywhere while I’m asleep?’ I ask in a small voice. ‘You won’t leave?’

‘No, Tulip,’ Mav says quietly. ‘We won’t go anywhere.’

I nod a little and go back into the large bedroom, catching my reflection in the full-length mirror on the wall opposite.

I’m thin and my skin is pale. I look exhausted. At least I wasn’t really lying to the guys. I do need more sleep.

Letting out a sigh, I go to the bed and lie down fully clothed under the covers. It’s uncomfortable and I long to take everything off. But I don’t.

I close my eyes.

My dreams are filled with Nasty Nurse’s words and fish on platters. Joe and some other faceless thing chaseme through corridors of the Novelle and Banderville estates culminating in the Stinger shocking me.