I don’t respond with the apology she is expecting, and for a second I think I see a flicker of surprise filter into her expression, but it’s gone too quick for me to be sure.
“Ezra, as we have discussed, you should know better.” I don’t know what I expected, but the playful nonchalance in her tone isn’t it.
“Heard, Lenora,” he snaps back, his Cheshire grin a balk at her show of authority, even if his retort appears respectful enough.
She huffs at his use of her first name, but nothing else is said as Ezra stands, towering over her as he moves to get between us. With his back to her, he tucks his spoon into his boot, flicks his coin, and silently considers the result as it lands in his palm.
“Soon, Red. God help me…soon.” He grips my hand, his fingers caressing my palm as we part.
I straighten as I turn to my boss, every tight line of her unamused expression conveying her frustrations as pointedly as a slap from her manicured hand would. The twitching of her palm as she seems to consider it subsides as she collects herself. Assaulting the staff probably wouldn’t be the best look for her, not that I think for a second that it’s that reasoning that is stopping her. For the briefest moment, I wonder whether anyone has truly met the real Lenora Blackwood—and then her mask slips.
“We don’t fuck the patients, Miss Morgrieves,” she hisses, all show of workplace decorum vanishing as she sneers at me.
I swallow down the bark of laughter that threatens to rumble out of my mouth at this woman’s audacity—remembering clearly how I saw her mounting not one but two of her patients the other day in the basement. Getting double-teamed on your lunch break by the Knox twins must be a higher management job perk I'm not privy to.
Choose your battles.
The thought, while clipped, makes a good point. Arguing back now will only spell trouble for me in the long run. With Simon off my case, I could use a few days sans the drama of this place.
A commotion in the game room next door is a blessing in disguise as Lenora turns away from me. The tinkling of scrabble tiles being thrown onto the ground and the scuffling of bodies rolling around mid-battle doesn’t faze her as she commands the orderlies with a flick of her fingers to tend to the issue. Gliding elegantly across the room in her expensive heels like she’s strutting her stuff on a catwalk, I breathe a sigh of relief and slump back down into my chair, chewing on my nails as I go over everything that has just happened.
I could do with a stiff drink right about now.
You could do with a stiff something.
CHAPTER TWENTY
CARA
After what feels like the longest shift known to man, the only thing I can think about is a shower, and when I emerge thirty minutes later, I feel like a new woman.
I pull back the shower curtain that is ratty at the edges and climb out of the clawfoot brass-coloured tub. White tiling covers every surface except for the deep porcelain basin beneath the aged arched mirror in the same brass tone as the bath. Wrapping the fluffy towel around my body, I pull open the door, steam billowing out into the bedroom as I hurry over to push my feet into my slippers.
Winding my wet hair up into another towel, I move around my bed to load a record onto the LP player. Sounds of Luna Day’sObsessedflooding from the speakers.
The scent of lilies clings to the air, and as I turn to find the source, I see an ornate display of them arranged in a vase centred on my dressing table, the usually crisp white petals stained at the roots with a mottled black that creeps like a fading smoke shadow up to the tips. I turn over the note attached, already knowing who placed them there.
Obsessed guys send flowers, sweetheart…
I bring one up to my nose, close my eyes, and lose myself in the moment—in awe of the simple gesture that makes my heart swell. Beside the vase is a piece of paper torn from my journal and a tarot card selected from my deck—the image of a wolf beast with a maiden seated on his lap in a dense forest would be enough of a message, but I appreciate the scrawled instructions he’s left me.
The Devil card, widely misinterpreted, but I know the imagery is the sole reason why Ezra has chosen this one. The irony is that the theme of powerlessness, that feeling of being stuck, the sense that the Devil has convinced you that you have no freewill, couldn’t be further from the truth. This card tells me I hold the keys to my freedom, solidifying the fact that ultimately only I can open the lock that is keeping me trapped. Giving myself to Ezra Wolfe, the man who has never hidden the darkness that resides deep within himself, feels like the only choice I’ll ever need to make to finally feel like I belong.
The forest clearing
9pm
Red lace required
Underwear - optional
Ezra
I sway along to the music as I shuffle into the red lace set Suzy had sent me, opting for underwear because I have every hope he’ll be removing them later with his teeth as he kneels between my legs.
The part of me that knew Ezra had been watching me had torn this place apart yesterday looking for the answers, desperate to know how he was doing it and staying undetected.Tired and frustrated I had nearly given up and then I remembered an oldmurder she wroteepisode where the killer had tucked a camera behind a mirror to catch his cheating wife. That’s what led me to the hidden voyeur room adjacent to mine. Safe in the knowledge that I had time to snoop because he’d been hauled off to the weekly group therapy session. I recognised his scent the second I stepped inside, admiring his fingerprints smudged on the glass of the mirror that looks into my room. He’s been watching me since the first day I got here, and fuck if that realisation didn’t have my pulse racing.
I’m wet between my thighs at the mere thought of everything he’s seen even now. Cara from three weeks ago stupidly thought a maid service was making her bed every day; Raven almost choked on her sandwich when I had suggested it.
