Elizabeth
“MOM’S COMING HOME EARLY FROM her trip,” Elise seethes, hot tears spilling down her red cheeks.
I won’t be here.
I’ll be with him.
When I spoke to him on the phone earlier, he promised I wouldn’t have to wait long.
“Good for her,” I snap.
This makes my sister cry even more. “Y-You’ve fallen off the deep end, Beth. First it was the website, then all the dressing as a doll in public, and now? Now, you’ve got some sadistic boyfriend who abuses you. You need help.”
“Are you pregnant or something?” I hiss out in fury. “All you ever do is fucking cry these days.”
Her hazel eyes widen in horror. Call it twin intuition, but I have a feeling I may have hit the nail on the head. Just like she somehow figured out my boyfriend is a sadist. Absently, I finger the bandage at my throat that won’t stop seeping blood through the gauze. When Mom gets home, I may have to have her stitch it up for me.
“You’ve turned cruel,” she sobs.
I gape at her. “Me? You’ve always been cruel. Maybe I finally grew a backbone and wanted to stop living in your stupid shadow.”
She winces, as if I’ve struck her. If she keeps this shit up, I will strike her. I can’t watch her cry any longer. Storming up to my room, I start throwing stuff into my pink rolling suitcase. Now that I know the other dolls didn’t come from Master, I don’t want them. I pack the beautiful one with the silky brown hair into the luggage, but abandon the rest. Also, I toss in my notebook, my many handmade dresses, and my makeup. What I don’t pack are my birth control pills. I don’t want them anymore. Elise’s sobs penetrate the air around me, and I stop to listen. It sounds like she’s talking to someone on the phone. Probably tattling to Dillon about me. My phone buzzes, and I groan. I expect Dillon, but find a message from Jade.
Jade: I thought maybe just you and I could go to lunch one day before the baby comes. Girl talk. Dillon kind of gets into dad mode and I know that can get annoying. I’d love to see you and treat you to someplace special.
I love Jade. I truly do. But I see straight through this. They’re coming at me from all ends. An intervention of sorts. I’m not interested.
Me: Sure. Sounds fun.
I’d rather lie than tell her I’m not coming back. Ever. Soon, Master will be here for me, and we’re going to be together in his bunker away from the judgmental world. We’ll make love and I’ll be all his. Forever. Eventually, I hear the front door slam and Elise’s engine fires up in the driveway. As soon as she’s gone, I let out a sigh of relief.
I drag my suitcase downstairs and set it near the door, wanting to be ready to leave the moment he pulls into the drive.
I’m startled when the doorbell rings, but half a second later, a grin tugs at my lips as I smooth out my dress and prepare to see him. When I open the door, I’m saddened he’s not here yet.
“Elizabeth Stanton?” a pretty blonde woman asks.
“That’s me.” I frown at her in confusion. “Do I know you?”
Her blue eyes brighten and she beams. “I’m a friend of Monster’s. He’s a little tied up with some friends and asked me to fetch you for him. Are you ready?” She motions at my suitcase in the doorway.
Apprehension floods through me. “Um…yeah. He didn’t tell me anyone would come for me.” I pull my phone out to text him, but she stops me with a laugh.
“You know men. They can’t plan for shit. Don’t worry,” she whispers, her blue eyes flickering with amusement. “I know all about your secrets, Pretty New Doll. And your secrets are safe with me.”
“Oh,” I murmur.
When she reaches for me, I flinch, and she simply chuckles. “Let me take a look at this, precious. Looks nasty.” I still as she peels away the bandage on my neck. Her eyes darken, and she licks her voluptuous lips in a hungry manner. “This cut needs tending to.” She digs her finger into the hole, and I cry out. “It’s deep.”
My hands shake as I take a step away from her. Hot blood runs down the side of my neck, dripping into my cleavage. As soon as my phone starts buzzing, I read the message, hoping it’s Master telling me he’s on his way. What I see confuses me. I gape in shock.
Dillon: Your new boyfriend is Benny. He’s your fucking brother and dangerous. Get out of the house now. I’m sending a unit to meet you.
Benny?
Benny died. He burned in the…
My mind races faster than the stampede my heart is doing in my chest.
The scars beneath the monster tattoo?
They’re not from a car accident.
They’re burns. The monster hides burn scars.
Oh my God.
My brother.
Master is Benny?
I blink several times in shock, waiting for the disgust to come. The anger. The hurt. But I don’t feel any of that.
I’ve slept with my brother? It should make me feel wrong…right?
Tears sting my eyes, yet the longing in my heart doesn’t subside. Everything has become too messy and confusing in the blink of an eye. If Master—er…Benny, were here, he’d tell me to calm down. He’d promise to take care of it all. Make everything make sense. His mouth would press against mine, and he’d consume me like before. It would be natural and beautiful.
Soulmates.
I suppose, deep down, if I’m truly honest with myself, this doesn’t surprise me. It should, but as soon as I learned he existed, I felt a change inside me. An emergence. My soul comprehending the brother I never knew was so much more than just that. I recognized the eyes. I understood his obsession with me had been something deeper than I could comprehend. All the signs pointed that way. But they told me he died. Maybe I needed to tell myself that, or maybe he did die, in a sense. And like me, he was reawakened.
He’s alive.
And he’s my Master. He’s mine and I’m his.
We’re meant to be together.
My heart soars.
“Let’s go, precious,” the woman says, her voice hard. “Time’s running out.”
My phone buzzes again.
Master: We will be leaving tonight. Be ready.
The way her eyes dart to my cell and jaw flexes has dread pooling in the pit of my belly. My eyes lift to the pretty blonde before me who now fiddles with a knife that looks too sharp. Why would she need that? When Master—er…Benny, had the knife, I wasn’t afraid. I trusted him. But this chick? I have the urge to run. Now.
“Don’t think about it,” she snaps, the sweet bubbly façade gone. “Get in the car or I’ll cut a hole the size of Texas in the middle of your chest and drag your beating heart into my greedy little hand.”
I swallow down my fear as tears roll out. He didn’t send her. “W-Who are you?”
She flashes me a pretty smile—too pretty to be some psycho threatening to cut my heart out. “You can call me Dollkeeper.” My pulse skitters at her words. She’s the stalker. The commenter. The flash of blonde in the trees when I looked out my window. The person who brought all the other dolls and was inside my bedroom. Oh my God…the woman from the bookstore who knocked coffee all over me. “My friends call me Lucy.”
Before I can process what’s happening, my phone gets swatted out of my hand, clattering to the porch floor, and Lucy drags me by my hair to her waiting vehicle.
Oh God.
Oh God.
Benny, come save your dolly before it’s too late…
To be continued in…
Pretty Broken Dolls
Coming soon!