Page 17 of Tempt Me

The monster owned me.

Standing at the door, I knew the loud ass siren noise would wake up my sister, so I chucked it in a flower pot and went inside. Even with the door closed and locked, I felt…vulnerable.

I walked to my room, trying to watch for the minefield of creaks on the floor, hoping to get past my sister’s door.

I turned away from the vacant, empty room that used to be Noah’s. The pain was still too fresh to even look past the dark. It was too painful seeing it empty. It was too painful with his posters gone. All that remained was the outline of where his half-naked cheerleader prints resided for twenty years.

God damnit Noah. I hate you for leaving me.

My brother was the only one to protect me. He was the only one to keep me safe from the monsters that weren’t made up of closet fluffballs but real people from my life. Tears slipped down my cheeks, and I brushed angrily at them with the white shirt I was still wearing. It still smelled like him…Pharaoh.

What kind of name was that? It was one thing to look like a god, but to have a god-like name, too? I huffed, and my irritation at the whole situation of tonight burned my face scarlet with shame and anger.

“You are a slut,” I said to myself, walking past the bookshelves and making my way to my door.

Sighing and shaking my head, I pushed open the door and looked for the light switch.

“Hello, Pet. Wherever have you wandered off to tonight?”

I froze. My entire body flashed numb with fear.

What the fuck was Ferdinand doing inside my house? Inside my room?

“Ferdinand?” I paused, placing my mask of calm and indifference on my face, the mask of the perfect docile fiancé.

He was sitting in my computer chair, his legs crossed with an eerie anger written all over his face.

“You didn’t answer me, Fallon,” he said, taking in my appearance and the oversized shirt. He stood, and I instinctively backed up to the door. “Excuse me, dear. What isthat?”

He fingered one of the buttons on the shirt. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to feign nonchalance.

“Oh, this? I spilled some beer on my dress at the party, so I borrowed some clothes from a friend.”

He tilted his head, cornering me against the door’s wall and sliding his long, bony fingers along the lapel of the shirt.

Inhaling deeply, he glowered at me.

“Fallon,” he said, getting in my face. “This friend is a man? You aren’t to take anything from a man. I give you everything you could ever need. Iam the only man in your life. Are you unhappy with the gifts I adorn your halls with, Pet?”

His voice rose in volume.

“Should I have your sister removed from her position? How about school? I can call the superintendent to remove you from your studies. What will you do when you’re nothing but a non-educated, impoverished dropout, dear? What man would want you then?”

I stiffened, chewing the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted blood. The pain felt good, numbing me from the sickening words spewed at me. I knew he was right. I needed him to keep this stupid family afloat. He could do what he wanted to me, but messing up my sister’s life because of my disobedience was not okay.

“No…” I said, the words feeling sour on my tongue.

“Tell me you are nothing without me,” he demanded, grabbing me in the same damn spot he always did. The bruises there were starting to heal, but now they ached and pinched because of his pointy nails.

“I am nothing without you,” I said, and I was pretty sure I sounded like a robot.

“Your family is nothing without me,” he said, and I parroted.

“Good girl. Now take that atrocity off so I can see to its disposal.”

I hesitated. I felt weirdly safe with this stupid shirt on. It smelled like him. I didn’t deserve to keep it, but I didn’t want the monster to destroy it.

“Who gifted you this tent?” his voice dipped, and there was that dangerous air to it.