Page 41 of Take Her
Before she could finish her sentence, I’d stepped much, much closer to her, and put one arm around her waist, and the other around her upper back, setting a careful hand atop her braids, making her dip slightly sideways, so my face in profile would be clear. I held the pose a moment longer than was necessary, released her, and then the Camry drove on.
“That is the one and only,” she said, beginning to protest. I lifted my hands off of her and backed up, while she did a disgusted shimmy. “That had better not get on the internet! I have a reputation to uphold!”
“It won’t,” I said, while she squinted at me, waiting for me to be more forthcoming.
“Well?” she demanded, but I shook my head silently. That didn’t stop her. “So if she’s not FBI, Rhaim,” she said, insinuating all sorts of things with her tone as I flipped open my wallet for cash for our table.
“Then I don’t know,” I said, and when I looked up next and saw her eyes flashing. “And I don’t want to make assumptions.”
“Oh, I’ll make them for you,” she promised, and snorted loudly.
“Don’t,” I commanded. “We both know fucking Nero’s daughter would be like jerking off while holding a live hand grenade.”
She gave me an impish look. “Sounds fun, up until the end.”
“Says the woman who’s never touched a penis,” I muttered, turning on my heel before she could taunt me again. “See you around, Sable.”
“Hacking Russian oil conglomerates is nowhere as amusing to me as watching you deal with your love life,” she called after me in sing-song, but I refused to turn back.
18
LIA
Remember that part in Roadside Riders when Jolee had to hide in her tub with her mattress over her head because the tornado was heading her way and she thought that Grant was dead because he’d been coming to save her?
Today was a lot like that.
Gotta read my way out of it—recs? No trigger warnings!
Thanks in advance ladies!
From @rosepetalromances
I’m so sorry babe! Have you read the latest Jane Birdy? My daughter recommended it, I'm halfway through and it’s so good—it’ll make your brain ease up for a few hours.
From @lightinthedark2026
Iwasn’t in the dark, but I was a little girl again, staring at the message on the screen, until I threw my phone across the room with a shriek.
After that though, I’d curled into a ball on my bed for the rest of the night, pretending that the floor was lava. I knew if I got off of its small island of safety, among the nest of my covers and nightlights, something bad would happen to me.
My throat was tight, my heart was racing, and it didn’t matter how bright it was. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something horrible was on its way.
I didn’t know how long I’d stayed there, pinned like a spider beneath an upside-down glass, tormented in turns by my memories and a million and one what-ifs. All the decisions I should’ve made but didn’t that would’ve changed things. All the times I could have spoken up, before I lost my voice.
I wanted to destroy everything and everyone because it wasn’t fair that this had happened to me. And then, because I couldn’t—and because it felt like I’d let it happen to me, no matter how many therapists would’ve told me that I had not, if I could have ever squeaked a word out—I wanted to destroy myself.
I’d tried both things before, with varying degrees of success, but I knew that neither were actually helpful.
So there was nothing for it but immobility.
Staring at the wall.
Hearing the distant ticking of my hall clock.
Until my body ran through all of its adrenaline and collapsed.
I got to Corvo Enterprises at 1 p.m., let myself into Mrs. Armstrong’s office, and then tentatively knocked on Rhaim’s office door to apologize for my tardiness. I’d broken my phone’s screen the night prior and it’d run out of battery before the morning, so I’d lost my alarm.