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A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. “Yeah, Kit, he does.”
She blushed again, then turned away for a second before pointing to the overhead cupboard. “The antibiotics are on the top shelf. I can’t quite reach.”
I opened the cupboard, then reached high. My mind was captured by the past, on the way Tobias had hated me, before that hate had become an inferno, as a touch came across my stomach. The sting burned across the tattoo they’d carved into my skin.
“That’s pretty.” Kit stepped closer, her eyes fixed on my stomach. “H inside the O. What does it mean?”
Terror descended, dragging me back there, to that place andthat room.
Hold her down!
HOLD THE BITCH DOWN!
I cried out and stumbled backwards, slapping a hand against my stomach, the other shoved out in front of me.
In the blur of my panic, Kit stepped toward me. “Ryth?” She reached toward me. “Are you okay?”
Hold her down…hold her…THE FUCK DOWN!
I couldn’t speak, couldn’t scream. My heartbeat exploded, punching against my ribs.
I saw everything, the way she reached for me…the way shemoved.She became them. Their hate, their cruelty. Theirneed.I had to get out of there. Had to…
Run…
I spun around…and lunged. The doorway was a blur, so were the living room and the front door of the cabin, and even when I hit the sunlight, I still didn’t stop. Because I couldn’t.
“Ryth! RYTH! I’m sorry!”
Hard rocks stung the bottoms of my feet as I lunged from the veranda and hit the ground. By the time I hit the treeline, I was in full sprint. Branches lashed my face, stinging my cheek, blurring the forest through my tears.
“Ryth!”Caleb’s roar came far behind me.
I caught the faint sound of Kit’s panic. But I was too far gone to care, ripped away from the sunshine and slammed back into the dark.
And the cold.
And the empty room…
And their empty stares.
She’s ruined…you like to be beaten? You like to be fucked…
A hand across my mouth, a hand around my throat, pressed against the wall.I bet I could make you fucking scream…I had to run. I had to escape. I had to—
“Ryth!”
Hands grabbed me and pulled me backwards as I scurried over a fallen tree.
“Ryth, it’s me!”
A hard chest was at my back. A deep growl was in my ear and the rage, so much fucking rage. It bubbled up inside me, too, ripping free until the burning screams were all I could feel. I lashed out and kicked, bucking against the arms wrapped around me.
“It’s me!”The roar boomed.“Ryth! Ryth, it’s me. It’s Caleb!”
I clawed, fighting against the hold.“No! NO!”
But he didn’t let go…he…didn’t let go.
