Page 37 of The Devil After Dark

thirty-six

LIANA

I had taken my sweet time scrubbing my skin nearly raw.

Then I had taken an equally long time putting on face creams and lotions.

Cassio had banged on the door, yelling for me to open it until eventually he stopped.

I was actually surprised he hadn’t kicked it in or found some other way to get into my bathroom.

I finally opened the door and found Cassio sitting on the bed glaring at the door—at me.

He looked completely furious and I could not give a flying fuck.

I ignored him as I held my towel around myself and stepped into the closet to find some clothes.

I slipped into some sweats and an oversized t-shirt, but when I turned to my closet door, Cassio was blocking my way out.

I shifted my eyes to look past him and walked like he wasn’t even there.

I simply tried to push my way through the small opening his body left.

Instead, he pressed me against the door frame.

His breaths were heavy as he tugged the waist of my sweats down, then my shirt up.

The fabric of my shirt was balled in his fist as he drew a line with his finger across his name tattooed on my hip .

“ This means you don’t get to walk away. This means you are mine . For fucking ever, Angel.”

I shoved his hands away and to my surprise he actually let go of me. Then I pushed past him and left my bedroom. I snatched a bottle of open white wine from my fridge and a glass. Then I climbed into my armchair and pulled a blanket over myself.

“You shouldn’t drink,” Cassio said from the hallway.

“You shouldn’t be in my condo,” I responded and downed an entire glass before pouring myself another.

I hadn’t even set the bottle back on the end table when Cassio took it from my hand and sat down in front of me. “No drinking. No other men. No clubs. No provocative clothes when I am not around.” Then he plucked the wine glass from my hands.

I just laughed. I had allowed a complete psychopath into my life.

Then I pushed off the blanket and crawled over the back of my chair.

In the kitchen I stood on my tip toes and pulled a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet above my fridge.

I turned around to see Cassio in the doorway and I yanked the cork out of the bottle.

He took a step towards me and I just raised my middle finger to him as I put the bottle to my lips and took a huge swig.

I grimaced at the burn. Then I did it again.

Cassio stopped and watched me as I continued to drink from the bottle, grimacing after each swallow.

I shoved the cork back into the bottle and returned it to the cabinet.

“I drink. You have no right to say ‘no other men’ after allowing someone else to fuck me. I will stop going to clubs when you sell every club you own. And I will wear what ever the fuck I want whenever I want.” Cassio’s hands balled into fists and I saw his muscles flex.

“Oh and I will cut this fucking tattoo off with a knife if I have to.”

“You will not,” he said tightly.

I turned quickly and pulled a knife from the knife block.

I had every intention to fillet this tattoo right off my skin.

Cassio hit the knife out of my hand before I even had a chance to pull my shirt up.

Then he dragged me from the kitchen. I thrashed and cried in his grasp.

How could he have done all of this to me?

He wrapped me in his arms and held me tightly as I sobbed.

My legs gave out and Cassio slid down the wall, cradling me against his body.

I could not stop crying. I buried my face in his chest and let myself cry harder.

Eventually my sobs turned to sniffles. Then the sniffles turned to my throat and eyes burning and no sound coming from my body except my breathing. Cassio’s hand just gently stroked my back and my hair as he held me. “How many other men?” I whispered.

His hand stopped moving. “Just one other,” he responded. I wanted to believe him, but I had absolutely no reason to.

“How many times was it him and not you?” I asked.

Cassio let out a sigh. “I won’t tell you that.”

“You can take those stupid demands you rattled off tonight and shove them up your ass,” I said quietly.

“Okay.”

“We are done,” I said firmly.

Cassio’s hand stroked down my hair. “No, Angel. We aren’t.”

“I never want to see you again,” I whispered as tears silently fell down my cheeks.