AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I get it. I'll be the body you paid for, but don't you ever come at me like that again. Trust me, the last thing I want to be is anything of yours. Now go and fuck your friends."
"Gladly."
I bite the inside of my lip, watching him leave my room before letting the sob escape my throat. The tears spill, and I grab my robe, walking to the shower. I turn the knob until it’s scalding. The water heats my skin, almost burning. I slide down the black tiles, drawing my knees up and letting the sobs consume me. I sit there until the steam clouds the glass.
Opening the shower door, I see a razor and grip the handle in my fingers. I walk up to the mirror and bang the plastic part of the razor against the black marble of the vanity. Tears blur my vision, but I don't care.
Bang!The blade slides out in the sink. I pick it up, not caring that it slices my fingers. Blood drips down my arm when I hold it close to my face, looking at my reflection in the mirror.
Knock. Knock.
I turn my head toward the bathroom door. "Go away!" I yell.
I hold the razor steady in my fingers a centimeter over the skin of my face, and the door bursts open. "Mrs. Cross!"
I drop the razor with a gasp, turning to face Agnes as she rushes inside with a look of horror. "Please leave me alone," I cry, holding my hands up.
She closes the distance. "Shh," she coos, wrapping her arms around me. My shaking fingers smear blood on her neck while she holds me. "My beautiful child. Don't you dare."
Agnes has been nice to me lately. I refuse to eat at the dining table with Killian since the night I waited for him. I stay in my room and read the novels that I didn't get to read back home. I've shared my favorite ones with her, even if she always gives me curt answers and seems indifferent. But I got her to open up one night, and she told me her favorite characters. She's the only one I hold a conversation with and the last person I thought would hold me right now. No one has ever held me like this, not even my father.
"What the fuck?" Killian's voice booms behind Agnes.
I bury my face in her chest, smelling her sweet perfume mixed with copper from the blood dripping down my fingers, not wanting to see him. "Call the doctor, Killian. Now."
"What—"
"Don't question me, boy. She needs a doctor."
I hear him growl and then his voice as he talks into his watch on his wrist. "Get over here, now."
Agnes steps back and holds my hands in one hand as the blood continues to drip down my skin like red rain running down a windowpane.
Killian steps forward with a towel and applies pressure to the wounds on my fingers. I wince at the sting of pain like a million needles hitting me at once.
I see him tilt his head, and I know he’s staring at the razor blade sitting on the metal opening of the sink. His head lifts, but I make a point to look away, not caring that my hands are still shaking. I appreciate Agnes draping a clean robe over my naked body.
He wraps the towel tighter over my fingers, and then, in one motion, he lifts me in his arms like a bride. "Agnes, tell the doctor to meet me in my room."
"Right away."
He carries me down the hall, my head falling against his chest. My hair dripping wet. "I got you, okay." When we reach the door that must be his bedroom, he looks at the screen on the wall. "One second, let me lift my mask, baby."
He reaches with one hand and lifts it, and our eyes meet for a split second before he bends his head slightly, and the screen scans his prosthetic eye.
"Access granted, Mr. Cross," the automated female voice says.
ChapterEighteen
I'm lying in the middle of his soft bed with black and gray sheets. The bed is the only furniture in the room. Smart panels on the walls change color to reflect the time of day, creating a soothing, ever-evolving chromatic effect that evokes the sun's cyclical movement across the sky. The room's ambient intelligence adjusts the lighting to create an atmosphere as he moves around the room.
The adaptable materials in the bed modify the level of firmness, guaranteeing a restful night. A thin, unnoticeable layer of cloth laced with nanotechnology regulates temperature, creating a microclimate of comfortable warmth or refreshing coolness at the press of a button on the bedside console. It currently reads REGULATING.
The walls are covered in projected holographic screens, each featuring a different image.Thethemes range from tranquil natural landscapes to digital art galleries. With a wave of your hand, you can turn any area into a calming retreat, putting the world's splendor at your fingertips.
After Dr. Archer cleans and applies a specialized glue on my cuts instead of stitches, I notice he gives Killian a hard stare before he leaves.
He pushes off the wall with his shoulders and begins to remove his boots, bending at the waist to undo them.
