Page 85 of Volatile Waters

“So much pain.” She grasped at her chest as if trying to remove something I couldn’t see.

I observed her stressed fingers failing at their task. “Why?” My thinking was, if she could explain her discomfort, maybe I could end mine.

She screamed, “Because you fucking killed him!”

I warned, “Do you wish to finish the video, Fire?”

Fire now guarded the iPad as if it were her only link to the dead as she protectively pressed it to her chest. “Yes.”

“What does the pain feel like?’ I mirror touched the place where she was massaging the pain on herself, on my own chest. I wondered if it was the same annoyance I had been experiencing. “In here.”

She stared at my chest as if searching for a sign of hope—a heart that didn’t exist. “It, uh, feels very tight. The tightness grows into a sharp, stabbing feeling.”

Literally, I had been stabbed, so I was attempting to correlate the two wounds, mental and physical. “Like with a knife?” I asked this because both Wolf and Mrs. Thompson had jabbed me with shocked glares. Those made me uncomfortable, also.

With much hesitation, she replied, “I don’t know. I’ve never been stabbed.” I unbuttoned my shirt to show the scar above my left breast. She paled. “You were… stabbed?”

Her voice faded, and the memory of Mrs. Johnson wanting me dead suddenly had me feeling disconnected. “Finish the video.”

With Fire’s little red nose sniffling, she tapped the screen. Over the video, I heard myself say to Crash, “You speak of your brother giving his life, yet you are the one going to die for her.”

Her dancing was my drug, but would I die for her? At that point? No.

As she continued to watch the video, tears streamed down her face. She tucked a curl, exposing a perfectly proportioned ear. There was nothing hanging from it. The only jewelry Fire had on was the silver charm necklace from fucking Link.

She gasped when she heard Crash speak of knowing how much Link loved her and how much she was truly in love with him, even if she didn’t know it. I wanted her to argue those words, say it wasn’t so, but her expression spoke what words could not. Crash had once again been a Whitney expert.

When my voice resonated from the device, “Crash, we have a problem. You stole from me. Her virginity was already sold for another to take,” Fire started to shake while making a high-pitched hiss noise. As Crash spoke about feeling like he had no choice but to sacrifice himself to me so that I wouldn’t bring her to my training facility, Fire peered around the room as if it were haunted. Maybe she now understood Crash had once been here, too.

Her eyes met mine.

I smiled.

Along with my voice over the recorder, I mouthed, “A debt is a debt.”

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

There was a bit of an overly dramatic reaction from Fire when she continued to watch the video and witness Crash being severely beaten by me. Crash’s pleas over the iPad must have been too much for my little slave because she vomited. I took advantage of her weakness, of course, and made a deal. I would turn off the iPad if she obeyed and called me by my name. Fire finally caved and called me Master. It was a euphoric moment I will never forget.

Now, it was time to introduce her to how I planned on keeping her in my constant control. “Fire, I need to understand Crash’s meaning and the why of the willing sacrifice. I figured the best way is to see it first-hand. You will show me.”

Wiping her mouth, she asked, “How the hell am I going to show you how to sacrifice?”

Waiting to see how deep her affections went for her best friend, I uttered, “Link.”

Fire’s skin seemed to melt from her skull as she stared at me. That is how strong her silent, unmoving reaction was. I knew, instantly, she was mine in a whole new way—one I had not imagined. She was going to endure anything I wanted for the young man she loved.

That was the moment I knew I hated Reether Jones.

I wanted my pet to desire only me.

Reasonable? I suppose not, but my goal, never-the-less.

Trying to put aside my jealousy, by reminding myself Reether Jones would never see her again, I simply stated, “Crash said your heart is limitless. I say everyone has their limit.” And I will find yours. “You see, due to who Reether’s mother is, he is technically my property, as are you—”

“You’re insane.”

“—so, in trade, for keeping him from experiencing what you recently overheard—”