I’ve never been happier to be threatened in my entire life.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Ravi
It turnsout one of the things I don’t like is blindfolds.At least not while moving.The time Liam tied me up and fucked me while I wore one was interesting.Riding in a car with one on?
Pass.
“Can I take this off now?”
“Hold your horses,” Liam grumbles.“One of these days, I swear I’m going to teach you patience.”
“That time when you tied me to the bed and fucked me and we tried to see who could hold out the longest, it was not me who came first, Daddy,” I remind him.
He mumbles something I can’t make out over the sound of rain beating on the building roof.“Do you want to keep complaining, kid, or are you ready for your birthday present?I have the feeling that once you see it, you’ll shut that bratty mouth.”
“I’m ready.”I give a little clap with my hands.“I hope it’s a gift card for the bookstore downtown.Or a gift card for Gil’s.Oh…I could use some new sketchbooks.”
My first day back on campus, I went and switched my major.From Biology to Art.Trust me, everyone’s happier.
His sigh makes him sound totally beaten, but I can hear the smile in his voice when he says, “Those are all things you can get for yourself.”
“But they’re more fun when someone gives them to you as a gift.”
“Right.Well.”Liam clears his throat.“The thing is, it occurred to me that I’ve done a pretty shit job with your birthdays since you moved here.That first year, there was nothing I could do to cheer you up, so I thought maybe not making a big deal out of it would be better.”
I reach around, grasping at thin air until he takes hold of my hand.“I understand why,” I assure him.
He’s right that I didn’t want to celebrate that first year.He’s also right that I’ve missed it more recently.Lately there’s been this need to replace that memory with something better.
“Well, I think this will make sure your birthday is memorable for a different reason from now on.”There’s a sound of creaking metal as he leads me through a door.“Watch your step, baby.There’s a metal strip going across the doorway.”
There’s a dripping sound nearby.And muffled noises, like grunting or something.I’m so confused.“Did you bring me to a live sex show?”
It doesn’t smell like sex, though.The air is filled with mildew and rust.
He laughs.“Something better, I hope.”
Liam pulls off the blindfold.
We’re in the warehouse, I realize.I recognize the pitted cement walls.The room where I saw him torture that guy with a very long knife.That’s when I find it, the source of the grunting sounds.It’s not people having sex, it’s a struggling man zip-tied to a chair.
Lightning flashes outside, brightening the room.The man’s face is drawn and pale, but I think I’ve seen him somewhere.
“Is that…?”He looks familiar.I know he does.Then Liam pulls the rag from the guy’s mouth.
“Man, what the fuck is going on here?Do you have any idea what my father will do to you when he finds out where I am?”
Now that I hear his voice, it all pops into place.“The guy from the pool.The one who grabbed me.You said you’d break every bone in his arm.”Thinking of it now, I’m a little breathless.
“If I touched him again.”The guy jerks from side to side.“You said if I touched him again.I didn’t, though.I didn’t touch him.I didn’t even know where he was.Y-you can’t do this.”
Honestly, he sounds a little desperate.I turn to Liam.“He’s right,” I say, almost weirdly disappointed.“He didn’t touch me again.”
I don’t like hurting anyone innocent.Still, I remember the look in this guy’s eye.The way he grabbed me.He’s at least a bad guy.Maybe even a worse guy.
“He touched a lot of people, baby.That’s his entire problem.”Liam circles around to the back of the chair.I hear a snap, and the guy in the chair screams a scream so loud it’s echoing off the walls.
