Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
“An eye for an eye,” I growl.
He tries to swipe at me, but rips out his own patient’s breathing tube instead, causing a spasm in the man, whose machines go off. The beeping is annoying, but Carlo’s full body-slams are even more annoying as he tries to get away. I shove him forward until he falls on one of the medicine-filled tables, and I wrap the patient’s wires all around his body to seal him in.
Who needs rope when you’ve got surgical tools?
“How does it feel to be tied to a fucking table, huh?”
I grab the biggest needle I can find and shove it into his arm over and over again until he yelps.
“How does it feel to be stabbed while you’re helpless?”
“Rasputin” by Boney M. starts playing on the radio through the speakers, and I just love the vibes.
I pick up a scalpel and pierce Carlo’s chest with it.
“How does it feel to lose your fucking life?”
“Please, help me!” he screams, probably at those nurses who are locked in the supplies closet.
“They’re not going to help you,” I hiss as I inch closer to his one functioning eye. “Everyone hates greedy, old White men.”
I stab him in the other eye too so he can’t see me in all my glory anymore.
I don’t want him to witness me.
He doesn’t deserve it after what he put me through.
Someone bursts through the door, and I turn around with a knife in my hand, ready to throw it at my assailant, but his voice makes me stop mid-throw.
“Thank God I found you.”
Flabbergasted that he’s here, I mutter, “Xavier?”
Atreus
Sighing out loud, I lean back against the walls of my jail, or whatever the fuck these guys wanna call this.
The ropes cut into my skin as I try to reach for a smoke.
God, that woman…
What a fucking mess. How did I fall so deep into her rabbit hole?
“Need some assistance?” The one they left behind, Orion, approaches and goes to his knees, filtering through my pockets until he’s found the packet of cigarettes and plucks one out.
My eyes narrow. “You mind?”
He sticks it into my mouth, smiling. “Not at all.”
“Light’s in my other pocket,” I tell him.
He goes to town searching me, groping my package, and it makes me roll my eyes.
“Oops. Happy accident,” Orion says as he finally fishes out my lighter.
He lights the cig, and I take a quick drag. “Thanks.”
“Happy to help the enemy,” he replies.
“I’m not your enemy. I’m trying to help.”
“Help… by threatening us with violence?” he hums, rubbing his chin. “Or do you mean the part where you’re trying to get us arrested?”
“I guess you’re right. In your mind, I am the bad guy.” I chuckle and glance at him. “I’ve only ever tried to do the right thing.”
He taps my forehead. “In your mind.”
Fuck. Throw my own words right back at me, why don’t you?
“I can get her a good deal and keep you out of it.”
He laughs in my face. “And that’s supposed to sweeten it for me? Pass.”
He saunters off and picks up his wineglass again to take another lavish sip. “I’m so bored. Wish we could all just fuck again.”
I snort. “Pass.”
“Oh, don’t pretend you didn’t like it.” He rolls his eyes at me. “Even though I look like I am, I’m not dumb, you know. The pretty didn’t come at a price.”
“Your sanity,” I retort.
He grimaces. “Ha-ha. You must be very fun at parties.”
“At least I’m not the one going around fucking everybody in sight,” I retort, taking another drag.
He narrows his eyes and plucks the cig right out of my mouth. “And you participated. Whore.”
Goddammit. No need to remind me of my own filth.
My nostrils flare. “Unwillingly.”
He chuckles. “You moaned. Out loud. We all heard.”
The fuck—why would he bring this up?
“Doesn’t mean shit. Give me back my cig.”
“Not until you stop pretending you didn’t like it.”
God, I hate him already, and I barely know this fucker.
“I had no choice,” I grit.
He dangles the cigarette in front of my face, just out of reach, and it pisses me off. “Doesn’t mean you didn’t love every second.”
My eye begins to twitch. “Fine. I loved it. Now put it back in my mouth.”
He bites his lip. “If only you had said those words in her room, I would’ve put it in your mouth any time.”
He winks. Actually fucking winks at me.
“I’m not fucking—”
He shoves the cig into my mouth, probably to shut me up, but we both know I’m only interested in fucking her. I don’t swing that way. I barely swing anyway, except toward the law … until she came along and made her entire existence my sole obsession.
Fuck.
“Finally,” I mouth, taking another drag of the cig.
“I’m glad you finally admitted it,” he says.
“Under pressure.”
“The pressure of losing a cigarette?” he scoffs.
“You don’t know how much I fucking need it right now with you here all up in my face,” I say, rolling my eyes.