The Butcher of the Bay Part II - J. Bree Page 0,20
those lessons le Loup had done with me gave me more than just skills. They’ve prepared me to think and act with a calmness that can only come from being prepared and I am prepared.
I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to get out of here without another man touching me.
I leave the tray by the door and climb onto the bed, pulling the knife out and testing the weight of it in my hand. It’s light enough that I can get a good swing with it and the blade is clean and sharp.
I doubt it’s ever been used, all of the men here feel… different to the men who have held me captive before. It’s clear they live a very different life than the cartel. They’re cleaner and none of them stare at me like they want to have me but... I still don't feel safe. They're not doing it to be respectful.
They're doing it because someone else owns me.
So instead of falling asleep I lay there and wait with my knife in my hand and I think about mon Monstre. For the first time since I was taken, I let myself think about the night we had before I was taken. His hands on my body, the care he took of me, and the way he looked at me like I was his next meal.
I'm not going to die before I get the chance to be his meal.
The sun has long set when I finally hear the footsteps and a key sliding into the lock. It's too late for one of the men to be coming to collect the tray of food, too late for anything other than checking I'm still here.
I hold my breath and keep my entire body deathly still, straining to listen to his movements because I don’t want to move my head to look at him and lose the tiny advantage I have with him thinking I’m asleep.
I should have thought it through a little better, prepared myself by curling up where I could see the door, but there’s no time to beat myself up over the mistake.
He steps in, only the rustling of his pants making a sound as his feet are silent on the plush carpet.
My breathing sounds so loud in my own ears when I finally take a breath but he doesn’t seem to notice, his approach to the bed never faltering. My hand tightens around the handle of the knife, the sheath already cast away ready for this moment.
Nervousness bubbles in my stomach and I push it down. I am not the scared girl I once was. I’m strong enough to do this and I now know that I have what it takes to get out of this bedroom alive… unharmed.
The mattress squeaks as it dips down with his weight and I close my eyes. I need to catch him unaware and to have the advantage of him being unprepared so I can’t risk him seeing my eyes open, even if the room is mostly dark. I hold back my flinch as he leans over me, propped up on one hand as he brushes the hair away from my face.
“Such a pretty little thing you are… too pretty for the thugs down in the Bay.”
A shiver of repulsion goes through me at the sound of his voice, one I’m unable to hide and my eyes snap open.
He flinches back in the dark, a chuckle bursting out of him. “I should have known you wouldn’t eat the food. Too bad, you couldn’t sleep through this.”
He drugged my food.
I’d guessed at it, I’d known not to eat it, but I feel vindicated and a little sick at hearing the proof.
Popping noises sound in the distance but I ignore them, my focus entirely on what is happening here because every second counts. Le Loup had taught me that even a split second of hesitation can be the difference between life and death and I will make it out of here alive tonight.
My stomach revolts but I swallow it down, swinging my arm up to bury the knife in his throat. He sees me at the last moment and knocks my arm off course, just enough that the knife barely nicks him.
“What do you think you’re doing? I’m here to help you.”
No, he’s here to own me. To paralyze me and play with my unwilling and unconscious body like the perverted man with a hero-complex he really is.