Chapter 30 Roderick #3
“He spiked my drink. I’m not sure what he put in it, but one second we were eating, and the next, the room was spinning.
I could hardly form a sentence, let alone keep him off me.
No matter how much training he had let me have, I was useless.
That night, he took me to his bed, and I realized he had been paying attention when I comforted you.
He told me I was his and that I would never put my hands on another man again. ”
She doesn’t give details, and I’m grateful for that. It’s not hard to figure out what happened. One look around the room lets me know the guys caught it too. Jake looks like he might puke, but not at all shocked, and I have a feeling he’s well aware of the monster that is his father.
“He dropped me off the next day and didn't come back for a few months, but when he did, he wasn’t trying to hide who he was anymore. He was aggressive and mean and wouldn’t stop asking me who was responsible for the killings.
I kept telling him I didn’t know what he was talking about, but he didn’t believe me.
I could see it in his eyes. When he tried to get me to drink or eat anything, I refused, and he let me.
I thought I could keep him away if I kept myself from being drugged.
At least that way, I could fight back. He started taking me with him to the auctions.
I think he was trying to show off the power he had, but all I saw was that he was a puppet.
He ran the auction for someone, and whoever it is wants me dead. ”
I watch as her fear, embarrassment, and uncertainty melt away. In the blink of an eye, Jade is once again harsh and determined. No longer the young naive girl Randall took advantage of. Seeing her flip her emotions so quickly should be startling, but it’s not, at least not for me.
I live behind a mask.
“Months went by, and he continued to take me with him to the auctions and have his way with me, always trying to figure out who it was. One night he told me in great detail what would happen if he had to take one of the other girls and how it would be all my fault. I thought he was bluffing. Randall might’ve been a nightmare, but he wasn’t a killer.
He wasn’t the type to get his hands dirty.
I’d met enough men who were, to know the difference, to see it in their eyes. ”
A single tear streaks down her cheek, but she quickly bats it away with a huff of frustration, seemingly upset to show emotions.
“The following week, Brittany, a timid girl a few years younger than me, went out on a contract with someone new. He dragged her from my arms, where she cried for me to save her, to make it so she didn’t have to go.
'Randall wanted me to tell you he misses you,' he told me, and I knew. I knew he'd sent him to teach me a lesson.” The raw emotion in her voice has my stomach turning, the rage inside of me begging for an outlet, but there isn’t one. Not here. No, the monster who caused her this pain isn’t here, but I silently vow that when I get my hands on him, I’ll make it worth it.
“I didn’t get to her in time. Brittany died because of me.
She died a horrible death that’s completely my fault.
” Jade hangs her head, and this time Kratos seems unable to take it anymore.
His hand wraps around her waist, pulling her back into his chest in a show of support.
He doesn’t say a word; she can’t even see his face, but I watch some of the tension bleed from her.
“After that, I stopped fighting back. I did whatever Randall said whenever he wanted, except for giving him his answer. For a while, that was enough, and we formed a tentative peace. The girls were safe, and being with him was like being with any other client. Because I was willing, he didn't drug me anymore, but every time ate away at my mind. I couldn’t get past how it had been. I’d never had a connection to anyone I’d been with, and I struggled with the idea of killing him. ”
I can’t imagine what that must feel like. To have a connection to someone, to have built a relationship only for them to break it in the worst way possible.
No, Randall might not be a killer, but there are many different kinds of monsters. I’m a monster, the same as Kratos and Zander. The difference is we own who we are, and we don’t use our bullshit to hurt and manipulate innocent children.
“I finally worked up the courage about a year later. He still took me out, let me train, and bought me things, but one night he lost his temper with me when I didn’t have a name for him.
He beat the shit out of me, the whole time telling me it was my fault.
That I was making him do this by hiding who was responsible.
He told me how much he loved me and hated hurting me.
He just kept saying it was the only way, and I snapped.
I tried to kill him that night. I would’ve had he not suspected me from the beginning.
” Her bitter tone lets me know she’s still upset about it. Not that I can say I wouldn’t be.
“We’d had dinner that night in the penthouse before he started in on me.
The first hit was a backhand, and it sent me to the ground.
I hadn’t been ready, hadn’t expected him to just lose it suddenly.
Once I was on the ground, he just kept going.
I didn’t fight back, but I did try to run to my room.
I didn’t dare get up, knowing he would just take me back down.
Instead, I attempted to crawl toward my room, hoping if I could get the door between us he would give up.
I took a swift kick to the ribs; something cracked, and I was left on the ground with the wind knocked out of me.
That didn’t stop him, though, and eventually, I managed to get under the table.
I’d hoped to crawl through and get the jump on him, but he wasn’t letting me escape.
He hauled me out by my ankle, yanking me over fallen remnants from our dinner.
At some point, one of the wineglasses had fallen to the ground.
The glass itself had shattered, but the stem was still mostly intact, and it was also nice and pointy.
The glass that littered the floor dug into my palms as I tried to find something to hold on to.
Somehow my fingers closed around the wineglass stem, and I didn’t even have to think about it before I lunged for him.
I stabbed him right under his right rib.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t had time to think about it because if I did, I would have angled it up in hopes of hitting a lung or something vital.
” Jade shakes her head, disappointment clear on her face.
It takes effort to peel my gaze from her, but somehow I manage, needing to see how the others are digesting this new information. If they are in awe of this tiny force of nature, the same way I am.
Their expressions vary from amazement and wonder to shock and concern, depending on who, while Jake looks like he might be sick.
I’m sure that’s probably more from his father's involvement than anything else, though. If it wouldn’t draw so much attention, I would go smack him upside the head.
If Jade were to see the shade of green he is right now.
I’m almost positive she would think it resulted from what she did and take it personally, no matter what he said.
As it is, he’s on the other side of the room, and I can almost guarantee she would notice me walk over to him.
Instead, I just hope he gets his shit together before she notices.
“I thought I had him. But before I knew what was going on, he was on top of me, literally. He pulled something out of his pocket, and I felt the prick of a needle in my neck a second later, but it was too late. When I came to, I was strapped to the bed. The cut I’d managed to get on his chest was bandaged, and while it wasn’t deep enough to kill him, I know it left a scar.
I would have hacked him to a million pieces if I had a few more minutes. ”
Her eyes light up as her lips twist in a smile that makes her look as crazy as I know she is dep down.
It should be attractive, but it is, and I’m not the only one who things so, judging by the not-so-subtle way Zander is attempting to adjust himself right now.
“Randall told me he’d figured out it was me a while ago, said he always knew how amazing I was and that he would make me his, no matter what.
I have no idea what that meant, but I assume whoever sent him wanted me dead for killing their clients, but he didn’t want that.
After that, he never picked me up alone.
He always had people with him just in case.
He took to lacing my drinks with enough of whatever drug he used to keep me from fighting back but not to knock me out completely, and he carried sedatives with him. ”
“That’s why you asked me to get you sedatives?” Kratos asks as understanding dawns on him.
She nods. “Yeah, I slowly built a tolerance so that he couldn’t have that advantage. It didn't matter, though, not really. He soon learned to use the girls, and I was helpless.”
That explains why Spencer wasn’t able to knock her out, though I don’t dare say that out loud. Glancing his way, I get the feeling he’s come to the same conclusion. His brow is pinched in annoyance, his lips pursed or maybe not; he tends to look like that often around Jade.
“I took down that ring and ended up in another one not long after, and I made sure to work faster. I’d been going slow so I wouldn’t draw attention, but if I stayed too long, he would find me and I’d be putting them in danger again.
I haven’t seen him in three years, but the moment I saw him in the club, it was like I’d stepped back in time, and I was that girl again.
So long as he’s around, I can’t do shit against him. He won’t hesitate to hurt the girls.”
“That’s what last night was about. He wanted to show you he’s still in control.” I say, and she nods.
“We won’t let him hurt you,” Zander tells her, and nobody argues, not even Spencer, who has been unusually quiet.
I look over at him, and if I didn’t know him so well, I’d say he was fine, relaxed even.
But the set of his jaw and the fact that his hands are curled into tight fists that he’s attempting to hide by crossing his arms tells a different story.
He must feel my eyes on him because he looks over at me, and I see the anger that swims in his eyes, the same way I’m sure he can see mine. He turns his attention back to Jade, and I do the same.
This whole thing just got a whole lot messier, but it’s too late to back out now. For better or worse, we're in this, and it doesn’t matter who Jade is. Froggie or not, nobody’s going to do this shit again.