“You’re good. Go.” Levi nods to him, and there’s a silent exchange before the guard disappears back to his post.
“Making s’mores?” I ask sarcastically when I see a long metal stick resting inside the fire.
He raises a brow and then grabs the end of it. “With this?”
When he pulls the metal out of the fire, I see the red-hot end of a branding iron. One that has the same bull with horns that he has on his chest. He stands slowly with it, forcing me back as far as I can go on my heels, brandishing the blistering metal until I slump over backward to avoid it. He looms over me, his cowboy boot resting on my inner thigh.
“Nah. Just thinking about where I might use this on you. You got any tattoos we could ruin? Maybe one of those cute little ones on your lower back you got when you turned eighteen? One of those sweet things you girls like. A butterfly maybe? Or do you prefer flowers? I bet you like flowers.” He raises a brow, and there’s a flicker of a smile on his face, but his tone is unlike any other he’s ever used with me. He’s furious.
He steps over my legs and hooks his boot under my rib cage, surprisingly gentle when he rolls me over onto my stomach. I’m face down in the dirt, buying a precious inch with my palms spread under my cheek as he bends over to pull up my shirt and reveal my back. Goose bumps break out over my skin with the cold air, and a bone-chilling sense of fear runs up my spine.
I hear the short exhale of air as he finds the tattoo I actually have there. One my husband forced me to get on our short-lived honeymoon. One of the best parts of the convent was that I didn’t have a mirror long enough in the bathroom to see it reflected back to me. It was tattooed to look like a label with stitching all around the edges. Corey laughed when he saw the final piece on my back and slapped my ass. I cried when I read the words “Property of Corey Craig.” That’s all I ever was to him.
“He did this to you?”
I nod silently. I don’t want to speak. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of hearing my voice waver.
“Why?”
“I refused to sign the paperwork to change my name to his.” It was my one small act of defiance, the only thing I had controlover at the time when I was forced to hand everything else over to him. I figured it was bad enough I was a Schaefer. I wouldn’t be a Craig too.
“He thought this would change your mind?”
“He just wanted to shame me. Told me if I thought any other man would ever want me, he’d make sure they knew. Joke’s on him, though, since I just wanted to be a nun,” I explain, trying not to squirm under his touch as I feel his fingers run over the line of the tattoo.
“All because you wouldn’t change your name?”
“The last straw, anyway. There was a lot he didn’t like.”
“Even bigger cunt than I thought.”
I hear the clatter of the brand hitting the stone at the edge of the fire pit as he tosses it back into the flames. He wipes his hands on his jeans and mutters something under his breath. I’m still trying to make sense of it when he wraps his hands around my middle and drags me back up to my knees as he crouches down to meet me. His eyes search mine for a long moment. In the dark of the night, with the flames dancing over his glasses, I can’t tell if it’s pity or sympathy behind them.
“If you take me back to the convent, I can avoid worse.Youcan avoid worse.” I try to warn Levi one last time, pleading with his better angels.
“I’m not taking you back to the convent. By now, he knows, and he’s pissed off. But I’m not afraid of your husband, sweetheart. I want him to come find me. I have a growing list of reasons I can’t wait to see his face.”
The tears return, and I’m embarrassed that they do, born out of frustration as much as fear. I shake my head and close my eyes, wishing there were some way I could get through to him. It feels like the night before my wedding all over again. Me begging a man I thought cared about me to help get me out of harm's way, only to be rebuffed and promised that they had it all inhand, and I just needed to do what I was told. I imagine Levi will use me the same way my father did, as a bargaining chip to get whatever he wants.
“I know you’re scared. Fuck… With men like that in your life, no wonder you ran to put yourself in confinement.”
“And you think you’re better? Lying, manipulating, kidnapping, threatening torture.” I start listing off his sins. I can nearly match his fury by the time I reach the end.
“I’d say we’re pretty even on that front.” His eyes flick over me and settle in a frank assessment, like I’m not seeing the facts for what they are.
“Agree to disagree.” I have my faults. I might have approached this the wrong way with him. But this is different. “I didn’t deceive you for weeks on end, pretending to be a friend who was kind and caring. When in reality you just wanted to use me to get to my father.”
“I’ll give you that. You don’t have many reasons to trust me. So far, I haven’t shown you anything you haven’t seen before. But you give me time, I’ll give you reasons. And the good news is, we don’t have to lie to each other anymore. I can be honest with you, and you can be honest with me.”
“What does honesty get me? I’m being honest about how badly I want to go back to the convent, and you won’t listen.”
“You work with me, and I’ll take you back to the convent.”
“Work with you how?”
“For now, you don’t have to do anything.”
“Then why keep me here in captivity?”
