Chapter 13
“What happened to your hand?”Elijah asks, strolling into the kitchen the next morning where I finalize the grocery list. His fingers are tucked in his pockets, his thumbs hooked on the edge, a weak little man without a care in the fucking world. The smarmy grin on his face makes me want to slice his lips clean off and feed them to him. Like he hadn’t revealed his true self last night by raping Regan.
The fucker looks as though he has no clue we know. He probably thinks by strangling her, he scared her into keeping her mouth shut.
Wrong, fucker. You are so fucking wrong.
I guarded her for almost an hour while she practically boiled herself with scalding hot water, crying from the searing heat, but helpless to stop scrubbing at her skin until her flesh became raw and swollen. Uncontrollably trying to scour away what he did to her, not realizing, there is no cleansing away this nightmare.
I glance down at the gauze wrapped from the center of my palm up to the edge of my wrist and let out a sigh.
Time to reel the rapist in.
“I caught my palm on a chef’s knife drying dishes. Sliced the fleshy part at the base of my thumb clean open. I need to get butterfly closures for it when I go into town.” I turn my hand over so he can see the section and the “blood” I had just barely soaking through there.
Amazing what you can accomplish with a little corn syrup, chocolate syrup, and red food coloring.
“Are you sure you don’t need stitches?” His fingers ghost over the bandage and move to the inside of my wrist. He licks his lips, heated eyes on mine as he works his way along the inside of my forearm.
Keep touching me, bitch. Give me every reason to make your death slow and painful.
“I’m going to need help loading the van.” I shiver… from pure disgust, but he sees it, so I peer up at him through my lashes with a hint of a smile, making it look like attraction.
Interest flares in his muddy brown eyes and he cocks his head. “Then I guess we should go together. Just the two of us,” he murmurs as he draws lazy circles on the inside of my elbow.
Goosebumps rise on my skin and he bites his lip.
“Meet me at the van in about twenty minutes?” I ask quietly.
His hand travels up my arm, over my shoulder, before brushing my collarbone.
I allow my eyes to sink shut, letting him think he has me right where he wants me.
When his fingers curl around the back of my neck, threading through the hair at my nape, the image of the red marks around Regan’s throat flash through my mind. My fingers itch to reach for my knife, but I resist.
All in due time, fucker.
“I’ll be there,” he whispers over the shell of my ear, his palm flexing possessively before dropping his hand and turning to leave.
Twenty minutes later, I find him leaning against the van, feet shoulder-length apart, and his leering smile firmly in place. His gaze drops to the skirt of my sundress where it flutters around my thighs.
Stepping into the space between his feet, not too far in, just enough to let him think I’ve taken his bait, I hold out the keys. “Would you mind driving? My hand is throbbing.”
“Throbbing, huh?” he asks, staring straight at my tits. “For you, Nikoletta… anything.”
God, he is easy. A total whore for just a fraction of fake-ass attention. If all goes according to plan, he’ll be focused on getting in my underwear instead of violating one of the eight other single women living in the main house.
The army will be here before he ever has the chance to rape anyone else here.
I cross my legs, right leg over my left, angled just a smidge in his direction to show interest. I sneak shy glances, darting my gaze away as though embarrassed at being caught the minute he meets my eyes. When he reaches for the volume on the radio, I do the same, making our hands brush.
Demure and uncertain is the name of the game if I want to embolden him to make a move.
Longest. Ride. Of. My. Life.
Ordinarily, every Friday, I drive the commune’s minivan to town and pick up our canned goods and pantry staples. One order at Cosco, another at Wegman’s, and back up to the commune I’d go. Elijah has me place the orders online using his card so all I have to do is collect the orders. His penchant for control conveniently keeps me from skimming money off the grocery funds to tuck away for our escape.
With no options if we have to flee, I know at some point, I’ll be forced to use my credit card. When my brother made me an approved user, I knew he did it hoping to keep tabs on me. That’s why I’ve never used it. I always keep it on me, though, no matter what.
Even that fateful night Konstantin and I explored the church.
Explored… well, that is definitely a word for it. More like desecrated the holy clean out of it when he took my virginity on the altar where I was baptized.
When shit turned on a dime last night, despite what it will mean for me—for my future—I was I developed the habit of keeping it on me no matter what.
Elijah reaches into his pocket, pulls out his wallet, and places a twenty-dollar bill in my hand. “While I pick up the order, why don’t you run in and get those butterfly Band-Aids.” His fingertips linger on my palm. “Let’s take care of those pretty hands of yours.”
“I checked online to see if they had them before meeting you at the van. They didn’t. But I can grab them over at the CVS.” I close my fingers around his, almost holding his hand, coyly playing him. “I can walk and you can pick me up when you’re done?”
He winks. “Sure, beautiful. I can do that.”
I stalk down the sidewalk like the hounds of hell nip at my heels and struggle not to puke in my mouth. Popping through the automatic doors, I go right for the register. “Do you have a restroom here?”
“Sure do,” the cashier says with a smile. “Straight back on the left by the pharmacy.”
“Thanks.” First order of business, scour Elijah’s funk off my hands.
After scrubbing my hands with the hottest water I can get from the sink, I dry them and grab three pumps of hand sanitizer on my way out.
I find the butterfly bandages first and head up to the pharmacy window, praying Elijah will keep his nosy ass in the van if he gets here before I’m done.
The pharmacist makes her way over and I take one more glance behind me.
“How can I help you?”
“I need Plan B,” I say quietly.
“Of course, give me just a minute.” She moves two shelves down and around the corner before coming back with a box. “Will that be all?”
“Yes, thank you.”
She reaches out and wiggles her fingers. “Here, I can add those bandages too.”
“Actually, these are a separate order. I’m paying cash for these and using a credit card for the pill.”
Her smile slips and her eyes narrow, not with suspicion, but concern. She glances over my shoulder which has me turning around to make sure he hasn’t come in.
“Why don’t we get the pill out of the way first, then,” she says, her voice little more than a whisper.
“Thank you… if I take it out of the box now, can you throw the box away for me, please?”
“Absolutely.” The minute she scans the box, she opens it and snags the foil pack inside. Leaning over, she hands it to me discreetly. “Here you go, honey. You just get that tucked away now, okay?”
The tension in my shoulders eases and I give her a grateful nod. With one last look behind me, I pull up my skirt and tuck it in the strap holding my knife to my thigh.
Her eyes widen and she leans over the counter, getting close enough to whisper, “I can call for help. The police can keep you safe.”
“I assure you, there’s only one person who needs protecting in this scenario, and it’s not me.” I give her a wink.
A grin tips her lips in return and she pats my hand. “Whoever he is, you just give him hell.”
“That’s the plan.”
When she gives me the total, I reach for the machine, but pause. This is it. I won’t be able to undo this. They will find me and my fate will be sealed. But in return for going with them, I can get Nikolaj to make arrangements to keep the people at the commune safe, no matter what it takes.
I shove the chip in the machine and enter the pin before I can change my mind, the sound of the beep telling me to remove my card, like a bell tolling for the dead.
Seems only fitting since life as I know it will die here today.
As will my freedom.