Page 40 of Pushed Through The Dark
The more she told me I was just like the men I hated, the men I found disgusting, the men who didn't deserve to breathe one more fucking breath on this earth, the more I hated what I'd become.
I willingly stepped into this world. The money was amazing, it drove straight into their hands. I was selfish.
"I'm nothing like them." Dabbing my hand in the air, blood dripped off my fingers, staining the ground with red raindrops.
Her eyes moved to my hand, her fear washing away as she saw the blood.
"You're hurt, let me see it," she said, attempting to reach out and take my hand.
Pulling away, I clenched a bloody fist and tipped my chin higher. "I don't want your fucking help, if you hate me, then hate me. I don't need you walking around pretending to be nice because you think it'll get you out of here." Pulling a handkerchief out of my pocket, I wrapped it around my hand and tied it.
I was angry. My blood was boiling, my chest was aching, and my muscles were tensing up. All because I dipped my hand once in the pot. But it didn't mean I was anything like the assholes who drank from it.
Can't she see I fucking saved her?
"That's not—" she started to say.
"I don't need a damn explanation, just fucking be real. If you want to scream at me, scream at me. But, don't antagonize me, don't say stupid shit to get under my skin, because if you'd actually open your eyes, if you'd actually listen to a fucking word I say to you, maybe you'd see someone else. Because right now, you're never getting out. All you can see is hate. You live in a gray world, minx, and that's too bad."
She blinked slowly with big doe eyes, her expression soft at first, almost as if she couldn't understand exactly what I was saying. Then it changed. Her lips turned down, her brows furrowed.
"You have no right! No right to tell me what I'm living in when my entire life has been stolen from me!" Her hands flew through the air as she came alive with emotion. "If you want to show me you're different, then do the one thing no one else has, and let me go!"
She was pleading with me, begging me to give her back her life.
"I'm sorry, I can't do that."
"Yes, you can. You're the only one who can do it." My little minx dropped to her knees, her eyes glassy as she peered up at me. "Look at me. Is this what you want? Do you want me to be the obedient little servant? Because I will. All you need to do is just promise to let me go when you're done."
That's not why you're here.
My poor minx. Lost and broken, on her knees begging for something she can't get from me. I wasn't the one who locked her up, but I couldn't free her. She had to do that herself. She was the only one who could craft that escape.
Because right now, she was exactly what Virgo wanted her to be. It made me sad for her. To know she was in such pain, living with such hurt, and not able to see the gift I was giving her.
But I couldn't just release her out into the world. That wasn't how this was going to work.
"Get up," I said, flipping my hand for her stand.
"Please," she begged, falling forward and pressing her body against my calves. "I'll be whatever you want me to be, I don't care. Just promise to let me go when you're done. That's all I want."
Taking her hands off my legs, I pulled her to her feet. "Get up. You don't belong at my feet, you belong at my side."
A single tear dripped down over her cheek as her eyes shifted between mine. Softly, I ran my fingers around her face, smoothing my thumb across her bottom lip.
Smacking my hand away, she snarled, "Don't fucking touch me." Grimacing, her nostrils flared. "I fucking hate you." Through clenched teeth, her words tumbled out. "I fucking hate you."
"You don't hate me," I said, taking a step in. "I've only been nice to you."
"You call this nice!" Throwing her arms in the air, she shook her head wildly. "You're fucking insane. You're refusing to let me leave! How is that nice?"
I loved the spunk in her, it was beautiful, raw, and real. It was the fucking sexiest thing I'd ever seen.
"Calm down," I said, patting open hands in the air. "I'm just trying to help you."
"Fuck you," she barked, her eyes turning to pinpricks as her pupils darkened. She took a brazen step forward, her chest puffing up. "You are a fucking weak weak man."
The corner of my mouth pulled up into a slight smile. "Is that right? You think I'm weak?"
