BEEP.
Drip.
I wonder what he’s dreaming about.
Damon’s chest rose and fell in a relaxed rhythm, the calm on his face reminding me of the young boy I once knew. He was in worse shape than me, so most of his monitors were still hooked up. His chart said he had a couple of broken ribs and damage to his, um—I coughed out a laugh—scrotum, so he was probably on pain meds, and plenty of them. Most likely the cause of why he didn’t feel my presence at the end of his bed, staring all deranged at the IV machine connected to his veins. Wondering what would happen if I flicked the switch in the opposite direction, or tied the tube. My finger twitched on the footrest before my grip tightened.
He’s not worth it.
I had won. There was nothing he could do to me anymore. Small flakes of worry still floated around in the air like filthy little dust motes, but I was about to get rid of them, too.
“Ahem!” I tried to get his attention. When he still didn’t budge, I shook the rail and jostled the bed. I had a message to deliver, and I wasn’t leaving without getting my point across.
Damon jumped with a start, his glossy eyes zinging around, almost frightened until they focused on me where they transformed into something sinister. They had a different look this time, as though he was done with me. The lust was missing. What stared back at me in its place was evil, seething hatred.
My blood ran cold, my breathing clumped in my chest as the reason why I had come flitted from my mind. Those worry motes eating at my insecurities for a fleeting moment.
Immobilized, he tried to sit up straighter but failed. “The fuck do you want?” he spat.
Stilled in my pursuit, I merely stared.
What did I want?
When I didn’t answer right away, he added, “Can’t stay away, can you?”
I took a deep breath and shook myself free from his hypnotizing scrutiny. I refused to allow him that power anymore. “I came to set some things straight.”
Damon’s split and cracked lip pulled back over his teeth, and he let out a chuckle before wincing slightly and drawing his arm in to cover his chest. I could tell he was downplaying the pain, most likely not wanting to seem weak to whatever damage was done. “The only record being set straight is in my statement to the cops before they cart off your beloved. You stupid bitch,” he muttered.
That one statement was all I needed as fuel to my already building fire. I took one determined step.
Damon’s eyes narrowed, the cut through his eyebrow slanting. “I wouldn’t come any closer, or I’ll put your ass right next to your boyfriend’s in jail.”
My knuckles turned white with restraint, my blood heating as it swooshed to my head. There was no shot in hell I would ever let him damage Blake’s reputation or drag his name through the mud. I leaned forward over the slab of plastic at the edge of the bed, lowering my voice and leveling my eyes. “You listen to me, you sick motherfucker. It’s over. The only one going to jail is you. Statements have already been given. Blake acted in self-defense after you attacked him.”
Putting on a show, I covered my chest with my hand. “You nearly killed me and then came at him with the neck of a broken beer bottle. Thankfully, he was able to get the upper hand and take you down.” I smiled, triumphant, my chest puffing in satisfaction, and cupped the side of my mouth mockingly with a whisper, “There’s a house full of witnesses that saw the whole thing.”
Red climbed up his neck, speeding in patchy vines before splattering onto his cheeks. “You little . . .”
Aw, I struck a nerve.
“You didn’t think I’d leave it to chance that we’d be caught, did you?” I threw his words back at him. A smirk peppered my face as I watched the recognition wash over his.
Seeing the person who’d violated me for so much of my life, essentially cutting off my mobility, now immobilized and strapped to the bed, I realized that I finally had the control and there was nothing he could do about it. This awareness sent a giddy rush through me.
But before I could get too excited, the red began to recede from his cheeks. “Where’s Abby?”
The irony of him asking the one question I had always asked him wasn’t lost on me. I felt the blood drain from my face and visibly stiffened, while he relaxed into his hospital grade pillow.
“You forgot that one important piece there, beautiful. Abby’s never going to go along with that.” A disgusting smile slithered across his face. Abby’s name on his lips sending a roll through my stomach.
“Those little blue pills I slip her every now and then work like a charm. Always have.”
A chill broke a sweat down the back of my neck. “Stay the hell away from Abby. She’s through with you.”
Damon scrubbed two fingers along his jaw, cradling his chin. “Did she tell you that? Because as of right now, it seems you don’t even know where she is, and . . . you see, as far as I can remember, that pretty, naïve little sister of yours believes every word I say.” He smirked again, self-assured and cocky. “Am I wrong—beautiful?” He accentuated his pet name for me, rolling the L off his tongue. “She’s never going to believe you. When are you going to realize that? Or maybe you don’t care anymore that your sister knows I fucked your brains out your whole life. That you learned on me. I’d hardly call that rape. I did you a favor.”
His smile this time was deliberate, and the gleam in his eye unmistakable as he took what he believed to be a victory. “You’re fucked. Once again. Seems I’m always fucking you now, doesn’t it? Only this time, I don’t even have to touch you to do it.”
“You fucking bastard.” The familiar voice drained the blood from my face as I spun to find Abby in the doorway. She looked wrecked, her eyes watery and wild, her skin blotchy. “How could you?” she asked quietly, as though she was still unsure. Then her regard of the situation seemed to solidify as she added more forcefully, “How could you! I gave you everything—waited for you!”
Waited for you?
My gaze swung to Damon, whose eyes were now popped out of his head as he made every feeble attempt to sit up straighter. “Baby . . .”
“Don’t you fucking baby me,” she threw back. “How many years did I hold myself back waiting for you—waiting until we were married? You agreed! You wanted that, too!” she screamed.
I stumbled back, her words slapping me into the hard plastic footboard.
No . . .
“What?” The word fell from my lips in a whisper—a faint attempt at speaking through an incoherent fog as another piece of this warped reality floated into place.
“You . . . you’re a . . .” I couldn’t bear to say the word.
She crossed her arms over her chest as though she was sheltering it. “A virgin? Yes.” Her eyes barely flicked to mine. In that brief second, though, the struggle behind them spoke. The betrayal she felt toward me warring with wanting to comfort her sister—the rape victim.
“She came on to me!” Damon yelled, a hoax of desperation swimming in his deceitful eyes as he drew another card from his stack.
“How could you do it?” She advanced toward him. “All those years you made me wait—led me to believe we would share something special together, something sacred. And all the while you were . . .” Abby swallowed down tears, then she lifted a shaky pointer finger at him. “Never come near me again.” She lifted her chin and side-stepped to me, sliding her palm into mine. “Us again.”
I looked down to our interlocked fingers and then up to the firm set of her jaw. Tears threatened to pour over her lower lids. Even though she was trying so desperately to hold them at bay, I could practically feel them searing her throat as she made her declaration.
Damon locked his eyes on her. “This ain’t over. We aren’t over,” he promised, the determination in his eyes reaching out across the room to cage her to her place. Let her know he wouldn’t be dismissed so easily.
Abby opened her mouth to respond when a sharp tapping bounced off the frame of the door. “Mr. Bradshaw . . .” A clattering followed Damon’s name, and Abby and I turned to find two police officers crossing the threshold. My heart raced at the sight of them, likely here to take his statement. I wondered what he would say.
At their approach, Abby and I stumbled aside in unison.
“Ms. Ricci?” The first officer to enter the room addressed me.
How does he know my name?
“Y—Yes?” I stuttered out.
“If you plan on pursuing a restraining order, you should probably leave,” he stated plainly.
My eyebrows drew in. I couldn’t answer as my sights drifted from them to Damon and back again, the officer’s words not making any sense.
Abby tugged at my arm as Damon straightened. “Restraining order? I’m the one who needs the fucking restraining order!”
More backward steps as Abby led us from the room. When my heel stumbled over the threshold, the second officer freed the clasp holding the door open. My line of sight into the room diminished on the soft swish of the door as the first officer drew his handcuffs.
“Mr. Bradshaw, you’re under arrest for the assault and sexual abuse of Evangelina Ricci and the assault of Blake Turner. You have the right to remain silent . . .”
The window of sight diminished.
The door clicked into place.