“What about me? I?—”
“You’re gonna go sit over there and let us take care of this,” he said, cutting me off.
I bit down on my back molars and inhaled a deep breath. I didn’t like being dismissed. Part of me wanted to challenge him but instead I turned and stormed to where my bookbag was. Dropping my gun next to it, I snatched my gloves off and tossed them on the ground too. My muscles were tight and my body was wound tightly.
Pulling my ponytail out, I reached down, grabbed my things, and turned for the back of the barn to the steps that led to the shower room. No matter what, after a kill I always felt the need to shower. Today was no different. Nazai could throw his power around all he wanted, but at the end of the day, this was my fight to overcome.
____
The shower was nice, but it didn’t relax my taut muscles. The fact that Neil had put another hit out on me caused rage to fill my body. The worst part was that he had put the hit out before even receiving parts of his son’s body, meaning the threat Nazai gave fell on deaf ears.
When I got out of the shower, now dressed in a sweat suit, I noticed the barn was empty and Victor’s body was gone. I looked around with my brows crinkled, wondering where everyone went that fast.
“Nazai!” I called out, getting met with silence. My lips pinched together and I started for the entrance when the lights went out, leaving me in a shadow of darkness. “Nazai!” I called out again, this time gripping the handle of my bag. “I swear to—” Before I could finish my words, the sound of thunder sounded through the barn, echoing off the walls, causing me to jump.
My heart slammed against my ribcage and my eyes bounced around the room. “Nazai.” My voice was shaky. “This isn’t funny.” The sound of rain pouring sent an icy chill through my body just as the thunder rang out again. As far as I knew, it wasn’t supposed to rain today, so I was confused about what was going on.
For a second, I froze. My body shook violently as my eyes bounced around the dark room. Hurriedly, I moved across the room until I got to the opening of the barn. My hand skated around it, attempting to find the door.
“C’mon. C’mon,” I whined.
I couldn’t breathe. My chest was too tight with anxiety. My lungs were barely able to function properly. My heartbeat elevated along with my pulse.
When the thunder went off again and something like a flash of lighting filled the barn, I yelled out and dropped to the ground. Squeezing my eyes shut, I balled my body up and curled my head into my lap. Memories of when I was younger and when my parents would trap me in the shed alone during storms burned in my mind. The way they would mock me and leave me without food and water caused my stomach to plummet. Tears pooled in the back of my eyes. Moving my balled fists to my ears, I squeezed them tightly. I tried to tell myself it would be okay as my breathing sped up and I rocked back and forth.
My stomach was a ball of knots, growing larger with each second. The rain seemed to pick up. It grew harder to breathe.
I wasn’t sure how long I was stuck in that position, but when the door finally opened I was a mess. Tears ran down my face. My body was jerky.
The light from outside caused me to crack my eyes open and slowly lift them to find my husband standing in front of me. The clear sky hovered in the background.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, wife,” he stated, crossing his arms over his chest.
Blinking rapidly I looked around, realizing the sounds had stopped as I slowly pulled my hands from my ears.
Heat flushed through my body. Slowly, on shaky legs, I lifted myself off the ground. My skin prickled and I grinded my teeth.
“Are you ready to respect me?”
With my breathing still heavy and my eyes cut into slits, I made my way to him. Squaring my shoulders, I pushed out a heavy breath and jolted my chin upward.
“Was that supposed to be your idea of a sick joke!” I bellowed, pushing him. “How could you? After I told you?” I babbled, unable to form a full sentence. My mind was a muddy mess and my body refused to stop shaking.
A hard unmoving expression was on Nazai’s face. His eyes were void of emotion. He reached up and cuffed my chin, forcing my head to tilt upward. It pissed me off that even though I was upset and wanted to scream at him, Nazai’s touch still caused my insides to melt and my body to relax. I welcomed his touch, no matter how I could get it. It was pathetic but I couldn’t make my body reject it no matter how much I wanted.
“You need to learn who’s in charge here. I’m the one with the dick in this marriage and I run things around here. If I have to break you until you figure that out, then so be it. You will learn to respect me one way or another.”
The urge to fight flared in me. The fight and flight mode I had been trained in was determined to take over.
I went to pull away but Nazai was faster, releasing my chin and gripping the metal heart on my collar.
“Regardless of how hard your rebellion makes my dick, you, my wife, will learn to listen to me.” He bent down and pressed his mouth against mine. My muscles quivered and my heart pounded. Opening my mouth, I took his bottom lip into my mouth and bit down roughly, causing Nazai to grunt. The taste of copper filled my mouth. His mouth curved into a smile.
When I released him, Nazai pulled back and flashed me a crooked grin after flickering his tongue over the blood on his lip.
“You making me bleed only makes my dick harder.” He cocked his head to the side. “That fire inside you is hotter than ever, but you need to learn when to put it out.”
For a second my eyes dropped to his center. My stomach did a somersault.
