Page 76 of Forever Only Once

He started to pace, and I looked around the old cabin, trying to figure out exactly how I could get out. But I couldn’t.

There was nothing I could do. Maybe if I moved my hand a little bit towards the side, I could figure a way out of these bindings he’d just put me in.

But I had to be careful because he was watching me. Like always, he was watching me.

“I did good. For you. I stayed away just long enough for you to miss me. But then you were with him. That fucking asshole. You like beards and being a whore? I didn’t realize that about you. You fucking whore.”

He hit me again, and tears slid down my cheeks, my entire body racked with pain.

“Look what you made me do. You’re making me hurt you because you just don’t understand what I need. You used to. But now, you don’t.”

He let out a breath, then continued. “I married you because you were mine. Our families were always associated, and your parents gave you to me. You were a gift. My perfect gift, and then you threw me away.”

“That’s not what happened,” I said, my voice hoarse. “Thomas. You have to stop. Please. Don’t take this any further.”

“I said, shut up!”

He slapped me again, the sting warm against my cooling flesh.

“I’ve always watched you. I’ve always known where you are. No matter how safe you thought you were online, you were never safe enough. I texted you. Told you I saw you. Because I always see you, pet. But you never returned my texts. And when I got out, you never visited. When I got past my lazy parole officer and drove all the way here to find you, you weren’t waiting. You had your little security system at your home like you used to for me in our game, but I still got through. I had ways. I was always good at that. You remember. I had money, yes, but I am also brilliant. You know that. You know that I learned computer hacking and other games for us to play.”

Games? He thought my fear was a game.

I’d never been so wrong in my life. I’d never screwed up as badly as I had when I fell for Thomas. And now I was paying the price.

And Macon was, too.

“I came here for you. For us. And where did I find you? Fucking another man in our bed!”

I’d thrown away the bed I’d shared with him, but I didn’t say that. It didn’t matter. He was in his own world now, and I was only a pawn.

“You were supposed to be my perfect wife. It’s going to take me way too long to teach you the ways of how I need you to be now. Why do you have to be so difficult?”

I didn’t open my mouth to speak this time. He didn’t expect an answer.

“All I wanted was you, and you lied. You put me in jail. I suffered because of you. Now, you’re going to suffer through every little thing that I was forced to endure inside that jail cell. That prison cell,” he amended, his voice shrill.

“I hate you, but yet, I love you. You’re going to learn to love me. And you’re going to forget that bearded asshole. You’re going to forget him, and you’re never going to want him again. I was always the one for you. You let him fuck you, I’ll just fuck you harder. You let him touch you, I’ll scrape every inch of skin off your body.”

Fear slammed into me, and my whole body shook, my stomach revolting, bile filling my mouth.

“I see you get it.” A sick grin twisted his lips.

“You were always mine, yet you dared to give yourself to another. Now, you’ll pay the price.”

Chris interrupted from the doorway. “First, though, I need my money. Let’s get that business done. I didn’t want this. Not this blood and shit. But we’re here, and I need my money from Cross’s accounts. From my accounts.” My head turned to him at the same time Thomas’s did. My eyes widened, and I wondered what the hell he was doing. Cross had said that Chris had stolen from him, but this?

There was blood on his hands, and I looked down at them, tears falling freely from my eyes. He smelled like smoke and gasoline.

And Macon wasn’t with him.

Cross’s brother was dead, all because of me. All of this was because of me.

“I’ve got your payment right here.”

There was another shot, and Chris’s gaze went from surprised to glassy in an instant as he fell to his knees, part of his head blown off, blood and brain matter coating the wall behind him.

I opened my mouth and screamed.