“What did he do, Sophia?”
John was the one who brought her food, when he remembered to do so. I couldn’t be there all the time so it was expected of him to take care of it, although he wasn’t always home. When she’d first gotten there, it had taken me three days to realize no one had brought her anything to eat. It wasn’t something she would have noticed since she was kept drugged most of the time, but she was starting to wither away. She was already skinny, but I could tell she was losing weight. And seeing as though I didn’t know how long they’d had her before they brought her to the house, it was a major concern for me.
But seeing those marks on her, I didn’t want the motherfucker to come anywhere near her again. I was her protector. I was the only one who cared for her. There wasn’t much I could do for her, but I would look after her while she was stuck there.
“Just tell me, Sophia. Don’t make me search you for marks.”
Her eyes widened in shock and I stepped closer to her. I hated that I was scaring her, but I needed to know.
She stood up from the bed, keeping her eyes trained to the floor as she slowly lifted her shirt. I clenched my teeth and tightened my fists at my sides as I saw the huge black and blue bruise splayed across her stomach.
“What the fuck, Sophia? Why didn’t you tell me?”
I walked closer to her and examined her stomach before she dropped the shirt back into place.
“So what if I didn’t tell you, Mason. What are you gonna do, huh? Go reprimand your daddy? It wasn’t him anyway,” she spat. “There’s nothing you can do about it. It was two days ago. I don’t even know who he was. I shouldn’t have tried to run out the door. Where would I have gone anyway? I was stupid for even trying.” She sat back down on the bed and held her head in her hands. She took a deep breath as I stewed over the whole situation, then she finally looked up at me with tired eyes. “I think I’m going to lie down for a bit. Can you come back later?”
I stared at her as she quickly slid under the covers and closed her eyes. It was the first time she’d asked me to leave, and I frowned at her request. I didn’t want to leave her alone, but I didn’t want to disrespect her privacy either. She had to deal with that enough.
I needed to get out of there anyway. I knew John was home, and his office would be my first stop.
Chapter 20
Mason
Emma made me feel weak and out of control, but somehow she was burrowing herself deeper inside of me. She made me look past my habits and in a sense it was liberating, yet terrifying. I’d fucked her in my classroom earlier in the day with no blindfold. At the time, it wasn’t even on my mind. I was losing control. Everything I’d worked so hard to maintain had all gone to fucking shit after only a week. I’d told her I was bad for her, but she was worse for me.
I couldn’t sleep and she was on my fucking mind all the time. There was a reason I lived my life the way I did. Everything I’d done was for a reason. But I knew I still wouldn’t let her go.
Getting up from my office chair, I went upstairs. My mind had been in a fog since I’d fucked Emma on my desk. There were so many things I needed to think about before I saw her again. So many things I was trying to ignore. Emotions I’d tried to forget were begging to rear their head, but only one was poking its way through.
I walked into my room and headed to the bathroom, stripping off my clothes as I went. I knew that giving into the feeling only fed the beast, but I couldn’t stop. The anxiety from not giving into it was beyond the fight of stopping it.
Standing in front of the mirror, I was disgusted as I stared into my eyes. On the outside, someone would see a man any woman would be lucky to have, but looks were deceiving. No one would be lucky to have me. I wasn’t good for anyone. Fuck, I wasn’t even good for myself.
I lived in darkness, my demons too powerful to allow anything else. I’d wished it to be different so many times, but there was no changing who I was. It was in my blood, embedded in my soul.
I reached down and pulled the drawer open to grab the razor. I still hadn’t replaced the damn thing, but I was fine with that. The more it hurt, the more relaxed I became.
Resting my hand on the counter, I stared at it as the light gleamed off the metal. I could feel myself withdrawing, something my mind usually did before a cut. An escape from my actions to avoid what I was about to do to my body.