Chapter 29 Scarlett
Scarlett
He hadn’t come to church these last two Sundays, and I think I might have been more disappointed if I had had the time to feel anything at all.
He was gone, and Thomas’ solution to that was to convince his father to allow the sons in the Back Hall. Leading up to my wedding day, he said it would be kind of him to share me a little more, as the months leading up to that day are holy.
While most Favorite’s were off-limits in the six months leading up to the wedding, I was the blessing that they needed to cast upon themselves.
Had he told them that he planned on sharing me? It didn’t feel like it. I felt as if they wouldn’t have been acting so greedy had they known that they would still get me after I gave Thomas his children.
Or maybe I was wrong. Maybe they didn’t care.
The Leaders still got me first, followed by their sons.
The sons weren’t allowed a one-on-one session, unless Thomas brought them to my house, but Mr. Bastrom and Mr. Alascer still requested theirs every chance they got, speaking the same things Pastor Masters had about how excited they were to feel me wrapped around their cock.
But today, I felt those warm eyes on me again, watching, waiting.
I wondered if he ever watched Pastor Masters preach.
It didn’t seem like it. It only ever felt as if he were watching me.
It made me feel special. Even now, after the last two weeks.
The first thing he did when he returned was watch me.
And why wouldn’t he? I was his Queen of Hearts, and he was my Hatter.
“Thorin is back, does that mean we’ve lost our time with her?” I heard L.J. ask under his breath from where he sat on the other side of Thomas.
L.J. was the son of Louis Nelson. He was still considered a ‘son of a Leader’, giving him all the rights the other sons had, only he held such a dark, incessant rage to him that I felt a boulder form in my stomach every time I heard his voice or smelled that cologne lingering on his skin.
“You’re below him, L.J.”
Everyone was below him, they just didn’t know it yet.
“Talk to your father about it, I want a round before that bitch gets her.”
The muscles around my eyes and mouth twitched, a soft ember burning under my skin. What a crude word, and towards my Hatter? I didn’t like that. I didn’t like that at all.
“Fine,” Thomas grumbled. He leaned over towards me a second later, wrapping his hand painfully around my wrist. “I should start charging them for time with you, shouldn’t I?” he hissed at me, my eyes burning, the pain shooting up towards my shoulder. “The whore of Daylight.”
He was getting angrier as the days went on.
I think it was a compilation of everything.
The sons, the Leaders, Azrael choosing me as his Favorite, his father grabbing me in the hallway.
Even he had been rougher these last two weeks.
Three days ago, when he had come over, he had been drinking something out of a dark bottle, watching me while L.J.
and a few of his friends from the other church shoved their cocks into my mouth.
When they were done, he set his fourth bottle down, and did the same, but he had smelled different.
Bitter. He had stumbled and grabbed onto my hair so tightly that when he was finally done and released me, some of my hair was still wrapped around his fingers.
He said it didn’t matter because I had to always wear a ponytail anyway, but it hurt so badly. Even today, I fought to scratch my head, to loosen the ponytail, but I had tried to do that this morning. I had tried to do a looser tie around my hair, and as soon as Thomas walked in, he tightened it.
Now every single hair was pulling everywhere. If I had just tightened it to where it needed to be on my own, maybe it wouldn’t hurt this much.
Pastor Masters said his prayer and his little goodbye speech to the congregation before Thomas pulled me up by the wrist, leading me to his father.
“What is it?”
“L.J. wants a go at her after the Leaders. He doesn’t want to miss out on his potential blessing just because Thorin is back.”
Pastor Masters sighed. “All right, I’ll explain to Azrael that he’ll have to wait.”
That boulder in my stomach grew.
“Great, thanks.”
“Mr. Thorin,” Pastor Masters said into the microphone.
I felt my skin grow hot as something electric zinged through my body.
It was the first time we’ll have been this close since we started playing our game.
I knew my place in this world, my true purpose, all I had to do was follow their rules until I could get to his world. His hysteria filled Wonderland.
Thirty Mississippi’s passed before his shoes appeared in the small circle.
“Pastor Masters,” He greeted, that lilt in full bloom.
He was back. Whatever had burdened his voice the Sunday before last was gone. Whatever had happened, it must have been resolved.
“Good to see you again, I saw you missed service these last two weeks.”
“I wasn’t feeling quite myself, but rest assured, I feel much better now.”
“That’s good,” Pastor Masters smiled. “Unfortunately, there’s been a slight change in the scheduling.”
“Oh?”
“It seems the sons of the Leaders wish to have their moment of blessing. They are aware that it will be at least four and a half years after the marriage before they get another chance with her, so they wish to have their moment as often as possible before the marriage.”
“Well, of course, we can’t have them missing out on their sacred blessing. How else will their futures be assured than having their cocks sucked by the Blessed One?”
“Is he serious?” Thomas hissed.
“Thomas,” Pastor Masters warned. “It isn’t a secret the sin that she’s committed, but we can’t have you lecturing another owner in front of their Favorite, let alone in front of the congregation.”
He huffed, his grip on my wrist tightening. “Whatever. So long as I get my legacy, I don’t care if he kills her. I’m sick of dealing with this political bureaucracy.”
He turned and pulled me towards the Back Hall only for a cane to appear in his way, forcing him to stop.
Azrael was suddenly standing less than a foot from me, his body facing my shoulder, his cane across my path, the end touching the floor in front of Thomas. “I won’t appreciate any bruises on her,” he spoke chillingly, his voice sending shivers down my spine. “You understand, dear Pastor.”
The silence was deafening, and the electricity in my bones grew.
I had thought about it every single day since he first came to this church.
The tsunami the man with the warm eyes would bring to this place.
I had felt electricity, shifts in the air, telling me that it was looming closer and closer and closer.
Today that feeling buzzed through my veins, causing my fingers to involuntarily twitch.
I had heard once that just before a person dies, they have this moment where they seem like they’re getting better.
In the books in my house, that feeling was told to be the Holy Spirit entering into their bodies, preparing them for the travel to Heaven.
That if you don’t feel that before you die, you’re not going to Heaven.
I never considered that feeling happening in any other circumstance. Either I was about to die, or the Hatter was warning me that the tsunami was in the distance, growing and growing, bringing with it a storm they couldn’t stop.
He was preparing me, and I was ready.
“Thomas, you heard him. She belongs to both of you until the marriage. Let her go.”
He snarled under his breath and released my wrist with a finality, but Azrael’s cane remained for another heartbeat before he lifted it.
Thomas immediately clicked his tongue, and I followed after him, my heart beating a little harder than before.
I folded my hands back in front of my hips, trying my best to hide the fact that I was flexing the fingers on my left hand. They were tingling painfully, but I was sure it wouldn’t last long.
“Thank you, Hatter.”
And I could have sworn I heard a whisper back. “You’re welcome, little sinner.”
~ ~ ~
I couldn’t keep it from happening.
My cleaning bucket was right there.
My stomach was rejecting everything they had put me through.
I heaved violently, ejecting everything within me into my cleaning bucket, unable to stop myself.
Thomas snarled viciously in return.
I tried to hold it back, tried to swallow it down, but it only caused me more pain, so I just let it happen, holding my hair back while I threw up in the water I was supposed to use to clean myself.
When I was done, I sat back, my body shaking, and wiped my trembling hand over my mouth. The acid tasted better than the semen.
“Dammit, stay there,” he muttered. “What am I going to do with you if you can’t even keep the cum down?” he muttered to himself as he crossed the room.
I wiped the tears away, pushing my hair back, the bucket sitting just a foot away, the smell making my stomach churn again. I wished he would take it away. The smell alone was going to make me vomit again.
“She threw up in her cleaning bucket.” A pause. “No, I don’t want to deal with it.”
I forced my hands back to my lap, severely uncomfortable in the chair while wearing these horrible clothes. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Every heave of air caused my chest to spill over the leather corset, my ribs restricted. I couldn’t breathe.
“Fine, whatever, it’s going to be miserable anyway. Maybe it’ll make him change his mind.”
A second passed and I heard the door slam shut, causing me to flinch.
I closed my eyes, trying my best to hold my breath, but it was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. My entire body shook with effort, my body leaning back a little just to get away from the stench. I knew I wasn’t supposed to move, but it was so h—
The door opened and I immediately returned to my approved position, taking shallow breaths, trying to remain as still as possible as the hot tears rolled slowly down my cheeks. It was humiliating.