Twisted - Esme Devlin Page 0,21
throat feels like I’ve been gulping crushed glass. I shouldn’t be able to talk. I couldn’t talk earlier, but somehow I can now.
Is that because he’s allowing it?
That’s ridiculous.
But at the same time, it feels correct.
“I did,” he says, his tone bright and almost jovial. “But I fear my actions were not quite as noble as you may like to believe.”
What does he mean?
He looms at the end of the bed and lifts his arm, and that’s when I notice the jet black wooden bat in his hand. Long and thick, he slaps the fat end down into the palm of his hand, and my whole body freezes.
“I had to save you. Couldn’t stand the thought of another man getting to kill you before I did. You could say I’m the jealous sort, but I’m not sure that word really does it justice?”
I try to tell him he’s mad. Insane. But I choke on the words. All I can do is scramble up the bed, sitting up and tucking my legs in—as if it’s going to save me.
“That’s not going to save you,” he says. Now his tone is serious. Deadly serious. He’s gone from amused to indifferent in a heartbeat.
Can he read my thoughts?
That’s impossible.
Impossible but again, it seems correct.
He moves around the bed so fast I can barely keep my eyes on him. I shift onto my side, my arms are stuck, but everything else turns into a ball.
I hear him laughing again through the mask as he lies down in the space I just created, my arm falling under his neck.
Settling the bat between us, he extends his now free hand and I flinch away, positive he’s going to strike me. But instead he moves my hair back from my face. His touch is gentle. Tender.
“What do you want?” I whisper.
His fingers linger on my cheek and he sighs. “I can’t tell you that.”
“Why not?”
He laughs arrogantly, as if I’m stupid. “Because I’m your nightmare.”
I squeeze my eyes closed as his fingers trail a line from my cheek down to my neck. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“Oh, my sweet girl. In this broken world, what does?”
I don’t have an answer for him. Nothing makes sense anymore.
“Are you going to kill me?”
He sighs. “Probably.”
I should be a tense coil of fear right now. I’ve been scared so many times. I know what that feels like. The drop in body temperature as ice trickles down your spine. The taste of bile in the back of your throat.
None of that happens.
Perhaps I’m in a state of disbelief?
Maybe I’m burying my head in the sand again.
“Why?”
His hand falls from my neck and crosses my chest. I watch him as he takes hold of the bat. Slowly, he pushes the thick end in between my thighs. I squeeze my legs closed, but he twists, increasing the pressure until I’m forced to split them apart and give him entry.
I remember I had a cut there, though it’s not bothering me now.
“I’m a sadist, remember?” He jerks the bat as he finishes his sentence and the pressure shifts me up the bed. “That’s what Ruby told you. I’m only doing what a sadist would do. I want to watch your reaction as I hurt you.”
He increases the pressure until I’m pulling on the chains that bind my wrists, trying to shift myself farther up the bed away from him. Away from what he’s doing.
“How did you know that?”
He laughs. “I know everything you know. I’m mad, remember? Bat-shit insane. Do you know what mad people do?”
I shake my head. I don’t want to know. Not if it means he needs to demonstrate it.
He pulls the bat out from between my thighs and throws it away, though before I hear it drop he’s on top of me again.
The familiar crushing feeling returns, and he cups his hands around my ears, squeezing my head tightly, forcing me to stare up at that hard metal face. I blink a few times. Waiting. Waiting for what he will do next.
What will he do?
He presses down against my forehead, staring at me with empty holes for eyes. “You don’t know what mad people do. No. You are too sweet for that. Too naive. Worry not, you will learn. And soon. I’m going to take it all away very, very soon.”
I wonder if those forehead presses are his own version of kisses.
What a strange thought to have.
Something flashes in the corner of my eye and I realize he’s not holding my