Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
“Hello there,” he muses when he sees me. “How are you today, pretty girl?” He keeps smiling at me in a weirdly creepy way. “You know, I don’t think we’ve had a proper introduction yet. My name is Raymond.”
I don’t respond. I’m far too occupied with whatever is in his hand because it’s gotten that Beast to go completely haywire, tearing at the bars, ramming them with his fists. He even bites into one of them.
Good God.
Raymond’s brow rises as he looks at the man in the cell with me. “What’s wrong, Beast?” He pulls something from behind his back, and my eyes widen at the sight of a plate filled with red meat.
Raw meat.
And he sways it around in front of the bars like some kind of treat. Just out of reach. “Are you hungry?”
My stomach about hurtles itself out of my throat at the idea.
The man in my cell begins to growl. “Give it to me!”
“Uh-uh.” Raymond swishes his finger back and forth and pulls the plate back. “Be nice.”
Beast paces around, frothing at the mouth, ravenous, enraged. “Please,” he says through gritted teeth after a while.
A filthy smile forms on the guard’s face. “That’s more like it.”
And he pushes the plate underneath the bars where a tiny slit allows food to pass through. Within seconds, Beast has snatched the plate out of his hands and chomps down on the raw meat like it’s nothing.
I can’t stop watching him even though I should definitely look away.
But my God, I’ve never seen anything like it before.
“Savage, isn’t it?” Raymond says.
I don’t respond. He’s trying to bait me. But damn, is it hard to remain quiet.
“Whatever,” Raymond mutters, and he turns around.
“Wait,” I say, quickly getting up. “Isn’t there more?”
“More?” He glances at me over his shoulder and laughs. “More meat?” He brings his hands to his belt buckle. “I’ve got plenty if that’s what you want.”
I wince and turn away. “Gross.”
His nostrils flare, and he turns to spit on the bars, missing me by a hair. “Fuck you. You’re lucky the boss kept you alive. Have fun fighting for scraps with that thing.”
The guard walks back upstairs, and I contemplate saying something, anything, to keep him from shutting the door. Just to keep the light here.
But I can’t bring myself to ask. To beg.
Still, I can’t stop myself from breaking the silence and yelling, “He is not a thing!”
THWACK!
The door is slammed shut again, and the world has returned to darkness.
I shudder in place, tears forming in my eyes.
The only light in this room comes in through the small crevice under the door. Just enough to see the glimmer in my own damn tears as they fall down onto the ground.
Just enough … to see his reflection.
I shriek as I look up straight into his eyes.
He’s right in front of me, staring me down. I stand frozen to the floor, lips quivering.
The plate is held right underneath my nose. “Do you want a bite?”
I don’t even know how to respond.
One second, he’s eating that stuff like a mad dog, and then he suddenly wants to share?
I shake my head.
Then my stomach growls.
There’s a pause as the embarrassment makes my cheeks glow.
“You sure?” He offers it again.
My hand rises to waft it away. “No, thanks.”
My stomach growls again even though it usually never does. Just my luck.
The man inches closer. Deathly close until I’m forced to lean up against the wall as he inspects me.
His finger suddenly pokes me in the belly.
I hold my breath.
“Hungry.”
I shake my head again. “I’m fine.”
His eyes narrow as he pushes the plate underneath my nose.
I push it back. “You take it.”
He cocks his head, then turns around and walks back to his corner to sit down and munch in silence. But he never takes his eyes off me, and it makes me swallow. Hard.
He takes small nibbles of the meat now, all while watching me, almost as if he wants to show me he can be gentle too. Which makes no sense because he was destroying that meat mere seconds ago. Devouring it like he hadn’t been fed in ages.
Why would he care about the way it looks now?
I slowly lower myself to the floor, squinting to see more. Even though I know I shouldn’t be this intrigued, I am. There’s no point in denying what’s obvious.
But the fact that I can’t stop watching him as much as he refuses to stop watching me should make alarm bells ring in the back of my head.
Should.
But all I can think of is how just now he wanted to share some of his food with me, despite being so obviously famished.
My stomach growls so loudly he stops eating.
And I thought my cheeks could not get any redder than they already were.
I’m so glad neither he nor I can see it in this darkness.