"My parents won't let me keep him," Alice said, flitting her eyelashes and making puppy dog eyes. "Can he stay with you? Please? Please, Caleb?"
Caleb sighed as he looked down at the kitten. The little guy was purring and rubbing his face along her hands as she petted him. Yes, it was cute, but he would get bored with its cuteness after a time, and still have to feed it and look after it.
*** Authors note: Content Warning - this story contains scenes that some people may find uncomfortable. These include sex, drug use, violence, torture, mention of rape (no actual rape scenes). This is a dark romance. ***1."If you could pinpoint the exact moment your mental barriers broke, would you stick a plaster over the hole... or let the crazy seep out?" Dylan whispered.
When Alice got home from school, she found her older brother in the exact spot she's left him in this morning, curled up on his side, taking up the entire big sofa opposite the television.He rolled over and groaned when he heard the clatter of her bag dropping onto the kitchen table.
"I can't believe you gave that bitch a perfect opportunity to apologize and she just stood there staring at her feet," Dylan said, shaking his head. Since this was the third time he'd bought it up, Caleb figured he was pretty mad about it. The fact he was so enraged on Caleb's behalf was either sweet or creepy, depending on how you looked at it."I know right," Caleb said, rolling his eyes. "I guess you were right about her."
As Caleb reached into the pile of rubble on the corner to find a decent-sized stone, he noticed Dylan picking up a brick.He turned to the lad with a grin. "You wanna smash the windows in or what?"
"Has something happened?" Alice asked Carla. As she glanced about the schoolyard at her peers, she detected a tangible buzz in the air, like the hum of static electricity before a storm.Carla looked up from her iPhone, eyebrows raised as if to ask,"really?"
Caleb found Danny's front door left slightly ajar. He was poised to knock regardless—it was the polite thing to do after all—until he overheard his name spoken in vain.It was his ex, Lisa, slagging him off loudly to whoever else was in the room. Creeping around the door while indicating for Dylan to shush, he found it was Ahmed and Danny listening to her rant.
"Well… that didn't go quite as planned," Alice muttered to herself.She sat on the bench in the freezing cold, losing feeling in her legs as she gathered the courage to return home and face her brother.
Alice tried not to think about it. She willed her brain to think about anything but Caleb freaking Spencer, but it didn't want to know.Every time she tried, her mind would wander back to the moment she declared herself his slave and the kaleidoscope of butterflies would return.
"My parents won't let me keep him," Alice said, flitting her eyelashes and making puppy dog eyes. "Can he stay with you? Please? Please, Caleb?"Caleb sighed as he looked down at the kitten. The little guy was purring and rubbing his face along her hands as she petted him. Yes, it was cute, but he would get bored with its cuteness after a time, and still have to feed it and look after it.
"You're desperate for praise, aren't you? Just crying out for love and adoration. Why is that? Did Mommy not cuddle you enough?" Caleb sneered. "You always want to hear about my childhood trauma but what caused your damage, huh? Did Daddy never tell you he was proud?"Dylan turned his head away, face stretched into a hateful scowl. Caleb didn't allow it, grabbing him by the chin and lifting his staring into his eyes.
Alice read over the contract as Dylan used her phone to message Caleb. With any luck, Caleb would see through whatever lie Dylan dreamt up. He was too smart to fall for it. She had to cling to that hope.As she poured through the contract, her eyes almost crossing as the horrid font began to look like ants crawling across the page, she found a spark of hope.
It was tempting to sit in a tree outside Dylan's property with a pair of binoculars, but he knew the sneaky bugger had camera's set up out there. Alice had assured him she would be fine, that she could handle anything he threw at her, but honestly... that was bullshit.She wasn't as weak as he and Dylan had originally assumed—she was a warrior—but Dylan had ways of finding people's weaknesses and exploiting them. He was a genius when it came to inflicting suffering
Alice thought she might be sick. The journey to Dylan's house was only a twenty-minute walk, but it felt like hours as every horrible possibility cycled through Alice's mind. It was the waiting that killed her. Not knowing what he would do to her... or make her do."Dylan, why are your parents never home?" Alice asked. She wasn't fishing for information—intel was going to have to be Caleb's job at this point—she was genuinely interested.
"Oh shit," Alice muttered, staring down at her phone in dread."everything went according to plan," the message read. All lowe
'Shit,' was all Caleb could think. 'Shit, shit, shit. What now?'Caleb considered the options. He could admit the truth and throw himself at Dylan's mercy.
Caleb racked his brain. Why would he order a drink if he planned to leave before taking a single sip? It was a fair question.He felt the weight of Dylan's gaze as he desperately tried to formulate a response.
Caleb locked eyes with Kate, warning her not to cause a scene. She was definitely the type who craved drama, much like her younger sister.Kate seemed to get the message. She smiled up at the Bouncer and told him there was no problem.