That didn’t happen. Despite what my father and all the other preachers out there said, no one was watching over us. There was nothing in this room except for Preston and me. A monster…
Preston’s cold eyes snapped up to mine.
And his prey.
“You want some water?”
I really, really didn’t. Judging by the look on his face, I didn’t want anything. I’d stay right here and happily starve to death. The cage wasn’t so bad. I had a nice soft cushion, blanket, and a bucket in the corner. I didn’t need anything else. Freedom and food were overrated anyway.
“Speak up, Little Bird. I’m not a mind reader.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
Me and my big mouth. Riley was the one who suffered from word vomit, not me. Then again, I wouldn’t complain if I suddenly found a fork in here. Maybe she was on to something with that.
“You want to play Little Bird?” Preston tipped his head in a slight nod and pursed his lips. “All right.”
And that was how she died, your honor.
Two seconds later, he reached out for the door.
That was when panic really took hold. I jumped back, completely forgetting about the bars behind me, then tried to wriggle and squirm through them. Ever seen those gifs with animals stretching their paws between bars? Well, that was me.
I reached out, desperately searching for a gap large enough to squeeze through. I didn’t find one, of course, but that didn’t matter. My mind had given up all forms of logic. Escape was all I could think about until Preston grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled me onto my feet.
Then I did something really stupid.
I spun around and slapped him across the face.
The pain tearing across my scalp was nothing compared to the look on Preston’s face.
Until that point, he’d managed to maintain some modicum of control. It wasn’t much, but I saw that string tensing up just like I saw when it broke.
Preston’s head twisted to the side, and that string snapped. His typically cold eyes filled with lava so hot I could feel the burn when he slowly turned my way.
One swallow.
That was all I got before my neck was grabbed, and my feet were off the ground.
The fact that he could lift me with one hand was terrifying enough. Add in my quickly depleting oxygen supply, and I was in full panic mode.
The only thing that stopped me from flailing around like a mad woman was the ringing in my ears from being slammed violently back into the bars. It took a second for the ache to follow. When it did, it crawled up my spine with hooked claws that dug into my nerves. Not even that could dull the threatening tone of Preston’s voice.
“Did you just fucking slap me?”
This was it. I was going to die in this cage, and no one would ever find me.
Mustering all the courage I could, I peeked up through my glasses and croaked out, “I didn’t mean to.”
“Uh-huh.” That was all I got before he snatched the glasses off my face.
“No,” I cried out as they fell to the ground.
My entire world shattered when the heel of Preston’s boot slammed down on them. As if that wasn’t enough, he twisted his leg, grinding his heel against my fragile frames. The crunch that floated up broke my heart.
My shield, the one protection I had, was gone. My vulnerability was laid bare for the entire world to see.
“Ooops,” he hissed. “I didn’t mean to.”
