Page 18 of Obey

The man had always been put off by a woman when she was bleeding. That had been a stroke of genius on my part, if I did say so myself.

“How long?” he asked, the cringe obvious in his voice.

I almost grinned. “Just started before I went to bed. Be at least a week before I’m done. You wouldn’t want me right now, anyway. I haven’t showered in days.”

Another nearly audible cringe from him, and I almost cheered. For a man with such disgusting habits, Devil was one of the prissiest men I’d ever met. He hated touching anything that might be dirty.

This wasn’t the first time I’d used that to my advantage.

“Fine,” he ground out. “I’ll get Sioux to give you a bath. But if you give her any trouble, she’s got permission to knock your fucking teeth out. Just keep that in mind before you do any kicking or biting, Saraya.”

I kept my mouth shut, knowing better than to respond to that particular threat. Any wrong word, any suspicious tone of voice, and he’d take it as a reason to demonstrate what getting your teeth knocked out felt like.

Besides, I was getting my way. Him out of the room and Sioux back, plus a bath into the bargain. I didn’t need to say anything else. I just needed him gone.

He slid out of the bed and left the room without saying anything else, and Sioux entered almost before the door closed behind him, making me wonder whether she’d been waiting right outside. Had this all been some sort of trick? Was he actually going to rape me, or had that been some sort of test?

If it was a test, had I passed? Or had I walked right into his trap?

The thought sent cold shivers running across my skin, and I turned my attention to the other girl, trying my very best not to think about what Devil might be planning for me.

Sioux turned on the lights, gave me one glance, and then headed for the bathroom. I heard the bathtub start up and moments later she was standing in the door to the bathroom, looking me over.

“Surprised you haven’t taken a bath for yourself,” she said softly.

“Kind of hard when I was handcuffed to the bed,” I said sourly. “And the one time I tried, the shower wouldn’t work.”

She smirked. “The water pressure in this house is shit. None of the showers work. But you wouldn’t know that unless you’d been here before. But the tub is clean and the water is hot. I’ve even got bubble bath for you.”

I rose from the bed, feeling like me admitting that I’d tried to take a shower had somehow pleased her—or had it been the indication that I’d never been in this house before—and walked into the bathroom to find the tub filling with fragrant, sparkling bubbles and hot water.

It was so beautiful that I started crying.

Look, I knew it was pathetic. I knew it was silly. But I was back in the hands of the man I’d run from, and I was pretty sure he was going to try to kill me. I didn’t know where Knight was or even if he was okay, and Brock and Tinker were dead, and Mandy was in jail, and I felt like I’d hit the absolute end of whatever rope I’d been given for this particular adventure.

I was tired, scared, and hungry, and the thought of being clean for the first time in days...

It felt like at least one answer.

Sioux looked at me, shocked, and then quickly moved to the door and shut it almost all the way, then took me in her arms and rocked me gently. “Shh,” she murmured. “I know. I know.” She rocked back and forth, falling into a rhythm, and I leaned in to her, thankful beyond words for the human contact, and let myself go to pieces.

Yes, I was in enemy territory. No, I didn’t know if I could trust Sioux any more than I trusted Devil. She was, after all, one of his women. But I was so alone, here, that someone holding me at all...

Was almost more than I could bear.

She held on until my sobs had grown quieter, and then rocked back to look at me. “Have your bath,” she said quietly. “I’m going to sit in here with you and keep this door open a bit so I can see if anyone comes into the room. Last thing we need is someone sneaking up on us.”

I nodded wordlessly, agreeing with that much, and then got undressed and slipped into the tub.

The water felt just as good as I’d expected it to.

Sioux let me sit there in silence for several moments before she started asking questions.

“Was Devil in here trying to force himself on you?”

I snorted. “‘Course he was. Acts like I haven’t even been gone or learned any better.”

She snorted in return. “I figured. You know sleeping with him is probably the only way to stay alive.”