Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CASPER
I’d been sitting here, my ass on the hard concrete floor, a flashlight in my hand, and my back against the cool metal for the last hour.
I hadn’t been watching her. But I had been listening.
Waiting for the newest resident of B-wood’s infamous basement boot camp to wake up.
To freak out. Kick and scream. She didn’t do any of that.
Not a bo peep from my little caged sheep. Just some shuffling around the room.
When I heard the mattress start to creak again, I jumped to my feet and swiped up the plastic tray I’d found in storage.
The same ones we used to use in the cafeteria.
Bet if I looked hard enough, I coulda even found some with my name on the bottom in black marker.
The permanent kind I’d used to clip off one of the nurses when they weren’t looking.
Though most of the time, it was easier when they were looking.
It didn’t take much when you were a cripple.
People didn’t see you. They saw the chair.
And everything they thought you couldn’t do because you were sitting in it.
Guess those nurses weren’t seeing much of anything these days, now were they?
I slid the porthole open and shoved the tray through the door. My ma never let me have pets as a kid. Claimed I wouldn’t know what to do with ?em. Food was a good start. The rest we could figure out as we went along.
Bellatrix glanced at the tray and then back up at me.
“Don’t trust it, huh?” I grinned. “I don’t blame ya. I wouldn’t trust me either.”
I bent down, digging around in her backpack before pulling out a protein bar. Besides the rifle she’d used to shoot me, she had this bag piled high with snacks, some medical gear, and a weird little notebook.
I shoved the protein bar through the hole, watching it land a few inches from the tray before I held two fingers up to the door for her to see them. “It’s sealed. Scout’s honor.”
She swiped the bar off the floor with an annoyed grumble and set it on her lap, feeling around for any defects before finally peeling back the wrapper. She tore off the top portion and tossed it into her mouth. The rest, she wrapped up and tucked into her pocket.
I didn’t mention how I could have injected something through the packaging. I didn’t but I really, really wanted to. I had a feeling she wouldn’t find it as amusing as I did right now.
She stood from the bed and took the few steps needed to close the distance. Pushing up on her tiptoes to meet my eyes. “So what’s the plan, exactly? How long you planning on keeping me here, Ghost Boy?”
I shrugged, grabbing her bag off the floor and slinging it over a shoulder. “Till I get bored.”
She smirked. “Of me?”
“Of you or of fucking you.”
“So never then. Got it.” She nodded, crooking a finger and ushering me closer.
I took two more steps forward. My boots kissing one side of the door while hers pressed into the other. She waited until I leaned forward to get a peek at her before snaking her arm through the opening and grabbing me by the throat.
“Do you know how much pressure it takes to crush someone’s windpipe?” she hissed.
“You trying to kill me again, myshka?”
She continued to squeeze. Her fingers pressing deeper into my skin. Mine spread out and propped up on the door for balance.
“What if I am?”
“Now that’s a good question…” I rasped. “What if? What if? What if?” I attempted to hum. It sounded more like a gurgle. “Well, you might actually be able to do it this time… And if you do it, well, I guess I’d drop right here in front of this door.”
“It’s a nice thought, isn’t it?” she grunted.
“Is it?” I countered.
I was starting to see stars in front of my eyes, my heart thumping in my chest and my head feeling both lighter and heavier at the same time. Didn’t stop my dick from getting hard, though.
“Guess the way I see it, if I die here. On this spot. With no one but you as a witness. With no one but you to hear you scream. With no one but you to wonder where I’m hiding that pesky key that would let you outta there in the flick of a clit.
What you gonna do then, myshka? How you gonna get out of there?
Ain’t nobody around to smell you rot. Nobody. But. Me.”
I dipped my throat closer to the porthole.
She dropped her elbow and clenched her fingers tighter.
I could tell her muscles were getting tired.
I could feel it. The way the pressure was easing up ever so slightly without her meaning to.
How her brows were creasing in the middle as she focused on not letting go.
Sweat dripping off her nose and a little tremor in her hand.
Strangling someone wasn’t as easy as you thought. As easy as she was suggesting. And I wasn’t even fighting her.
It was much more fun when they fought you.
“Now we both know that’s a lie.” Instead of loosening her grip, she grinned wider. Looking like that cat out of the Wonderland movies. All teeth and eyes. Until she lowered her mouth to the hole and became all lips too. “Your friend knows exactly where to find me,” she whispered.
“Donnie?” I laughed. Or tried to again and nearly lost my footing. She was doing a decent enough job of cutting off my airway. My lungs were starting to burn. “He’s not gonna help you, sweetheart. He’s gonna fuck you.”
She narrowed her eyes. I widened mine as she pinched my windpipe between two fingers and squeezed. “He’s gonna have to open the door to do that. Isn’t he?”