Page 64 of Vicious
“You realize you’re throwing a different kind of tantrum now, right?” I say as I get one arm underneath her back.
“A tantrum?” she asks, and there’s the slightest spark of indignation in her voice. “I’m sorry I’m fucking depressed, Master. It’s almost like I’m being held against my will by a fucking psychopath or something. It’s almost like I’m in pain, and I’m miserable, and I’m just waiting for the next time I fuck up so you can beat me and coo over how much I loved it.”
“Wait for you to fuck up?” I pick her up, and she squeaks at the sudden motion. “Ah-May, I’m going to whip you even when you don’t fuck up. I fucking made sure I didn’t hurt you too badly! Would you rather go back to working under Pavone? Should I sell you back to him, so you can spread your legs for every man who pays ten bucks? You can ask Stef how much fun that is.”
I don’t mention that Ntimacy is apparently gone.
May flinches hard enough to where she has to bite her lip to keep back a sound. “I hate you,” she whispers, and tears well up in her eyes.
It’s not really like her to cry like this; that’s more Stef’s speed than May’s.
I carry her through the basement and up the stairs. It’s a little unwieldy, but I manage, although I might actually need to hit the gym a bit more beyond just my usual swim.
She seems to perk up a little when we enter the pool room, though.
“Last chance,” I say as I approach the pool. “If you don’t want your cute little PJs to get wet, you’ll have to strip them off before I drop you in.”
“I’ll take them off,” she mutters.
I set her down, and she strips, tossing her pajamas and knickers on a nearby chaise.
“There. Now are you going to drown me or what?” she asks tartly, with a little more of the attitude I’m used to from her.
“No. Let’s do a swim lesson.” I approach her and, without any further warning, push her into the pool.
May yelps on her way in, but she gets her head above the water.
While she splutters, I strip off my own shirt and trousers down to my swim briefs. I jump in with a bit more finesse, approaching May.
We’re near the middle of the pool, so the water isn’t so deep that May can’t stand here, albeit with the water up to her chest.
“Good job on not drowning,” I say to her, smiling.
“Yeah, well,” she says. “Good job on not throwing me in the deep end.”
I swim around her briefly. “You want to try the butterfly stroke again? You weren’t too bad with it last time. Or we could attempt the backstroke.”
“Can we just… not today?” May asks, and her voice is quiet. “My back really does ache today.” She pauses, then mumbles, “In the not-good way.”
I stop in front of her, and I sigh. “We’ve been not on most of these past few days, May.” I gently tilt her chin up to look at me. “You aren’t this pathetic, May. You’re the woman who managed to claw a semblance of a decent life out of the mess it was. You take scraps of trash and turn them into pretty costumes. You somehow stay afloat despite Simon trying to drag you down, over and over.”
She flinches hard at the mention of her father, and while she tries to pull away from me, I only grip her more firmly. “He wasn’t trying to drag me down,” she says, predictably defending her father. “He doesn’t mean to get in over his head.”
How she can defend him is beyond me, and a little bit of anger starts to rise up within me.
“Really? He didn’t mean to borrow money from the mob and get you sold as a sex worker?” I snap.
“You mean a sex slave?” she retorts, heat in her own voice until she seems to realize she’s only emphasizing my own point. “Fuck you,” she says. “Just leave him out of this. What he did doesn’t matter. He’s going to do better now that he doesn’t have me to fall back on, all right?”
I burst out laughing. “Do you really believe that?”
“Don’t laugh at me!” she says, grabbing my wrist and trying to pull my hand away from her.
Her fierce expression makes something spark inside of me. I pull her closer and force my lips onto hers.
She resists for a moment, but when I nip at her bottom lip, she gives in to the kiss—gives in to me—and even kisses me back with a desperation that surprises me.
We keep kissing, the warm water lapping up around us. I run my fingers through her hair, down her neck, and even across her back. Her mouth parts in a moan, and I take the opportunity to plunge my tongue inside her mouth.