3. Chapter Three Stirring Secrets
Chapter Three: Stirring Secrets
Tess
When I got home, I kicked my shoes off and padded over the plush carpeting through the darkened room. Seeing my roommate Addie sleeping on the couch, I nudged her on the shoulder with the back of my hand. She blinked up at me, eyes unfocused, and brushed her thick, wavy blonde hair out of her face. I waited for her to wake up enough to get herself to bed, and when she remembered why she’d fallen asleep there in the first place, she sat up with a gasp.
“You didn’t have to stay up.”
Her narrowed eyes and flattened lips said it all, and though I knew her well, her strong jaw always made her look intimidating. “I didn’t. Are you okay? What happened?”
I shook my head, unable to talk about it. If a memory suppression spell wasn’t so damn expensive, I’d be doing that, but it required too much pain. Maybe someday I’d find a blood mage to pay to do it for me, but I couldn’t wax my own legs, never mind paying the price of a memory suppression spell. “Nothing. I’m fine. Go to bed.”
She pulled the throw blanket off and sat forward. “You didn’t answer any texts, and the maps app said you were at Sapphire?”
I took a step away toward the hallway to my room. “Yeah, Ivan dragged me. It’s fine, I’m going to bed.”
She gave me a soft look and reached out. “Are you sure, Tess? I’m here, you know.”
I stopped and grinned at her, just so that she’d stop worrying about me. “I know. Thank you, but I just want to get some sleep now.” I hated that I made her feel so anxious all the time, but she refused the charm I tried to give her that would have eased that.
She gave a tight nod and stood up. “Okay, maybe we’ll talk tomorrow.”
I didn’t want to talk about it ever, but I gave a noncommittal shrug and muttered good night, shuffling off toward my bedroom. The soft carpet cradled my footsteps, and Addie’s light tread right behind me. When I reached my room, she captured me and pulled me into a hug. I balled my hands up behind her, preventing contact with her body. I’d seen her uneventful death already, but those visions always came with a dissociated feeling I didn’t need to add right now. As her arms encircled me, the warmth of her embrace contrasted sharply with the cold knot of emotions in my chest.
A few years after I got mixed up with Ivan, I was being kicked out of my apartment and looking through Want Ads for rooms for rent. She was the third person I went to meet, and we hit it off right away.
She was a dog trainer working with a well-known company, and I was impressed with how together she already was at twenty years old. She was excited to find out I was a tattoo artist. She’d always wanted a tattoo but was afraid of what her parents would say. Apparently, they were the involved type. I was jealous of her for that, too, but she insisted nosy, judgmental parents were nothing to be envious of. When I told her I wished I had parents who cared about me, she cried and said she was sorry.
One day, she accidentally tripped and fell into me. I put my hands out to break her fall and had a vision of her. My eyes always went white when it happened, but if you didn’t know about magic, your brain wouldn’t let you notice. Addie did, though, and that’s how I found out she knew about the supernatural world. She’d always known about it but didn’t know why, because she didn’t have magic, and no one else in her family did either.
It was one of those mysteries.
The tightness in my throat threatened to choke me out, but I held it together long enough to hug her back. I could feel her heartbeat, steady and reassuring, against my own erratic pulse. Summoning every ounce of strength, I managed to whisper, “Thanks,” before gently pulling away and stepping into my room. The door closed behind me with a soft click, and then I let the dam break.
Tears fell in heavy sobs, my body shaking with the force of my grief. Each breath felt like it was being ripped from the depths of my soul, echoing in the quiet room. I fumbled with my clothes, changing into my pajamas with trembling hands. I didn’t want to remember the night. I just wanted to go to bed and forget it forever.
The three of them sat beside each other on the couch in the private room, facing the large window that overlooked the stripper’s stage. After the lap dancer Ivan had paid to dance and play with me had left, he instructed me to ride them one at a time. He liked to go last.
Hands still behind my back, I crawled across Ivan’s lap from the friend beside him who had just taken two minutes to shoot his load in my already cum-filled pussy. He placed his glass down and grabbed my ass cheeks hard.
“That’s it, Tess. Come to Daddy.” I quickly slid onto his dick and closed my eyes, wanting to get it over with as fast as possible. “Look at me, you little slut.”
Swallowing, I looked at him like he’d ordered, which I hated to do. There was nothing but malice in his eyes, and his yellow-toothed smile made it worse.
He groaned and slapped my ass hard. “Ah yeah! Harder, bitch,” he growled.
I rode him as hard as I could, ignoring the burning in my legs and abs after my long day at work, followed by my long night servicing these assholes. I couldn’t stop the tears from welling up. I usually tried not to cry because he’d grown to like it too much, but this time, they fell anyway. Unsurprisingly, he laughed and licked them up with his broad, disgusting tongue, then wrapped both his hands around my neck and squeezed hard as he came loudly, jerking his hips and throwing his head back.
At least I didn’t pass out that time. There was always someone there so excited about getting to fuck a hole in an unconscious slut, and I’d wake up to another cock in my mouth or ass. Or both. Every night Ivan brought me to one of these, I wondered if it would be the night he’d finally kill me, cumming with his hands around my neck. Fucking the life out of me.
I crawled into my bed and under the covers, the sheets cool against my tear-streaked face. The familiar feel of my pillow offered a small comfort, but it couldn’t stem the flood of emotions. The room was dim, lit only by the sliver of moonlight filtering through the curtains. I curled into a ball, clutching the blanket tightly as the tears continued to flow, each one a release of the pent-up fear, relief, and sorrow I had been holding back.