“Fuck.” I was certain he rolled me over, but I wouldn’t feel it. I couldn’t feel much of anything besides that awful ache. When bandages were taken from my skin, when the familiar prick of a needle stitched my sides back together, I settled into a new fear. Tonight would leave me with another disgusting scar— another reason for a man like Michael to never want me.
Another scar for the freakshow.
Was that why he left? Was that why he hurt Josh? My head was too fuzzy to remember.
“I told you not to move. You never fucking listen.”
“No one’s gonna want me now.”
“Don’t be so fucking dramatic.”
Tears dampened the side of my face, but as the world slipped further away, not even that mattered. All I wanted to do was sleep. My vision darkened.
“Please make it stop,” I slurred. “Please, Michael. It hurts so bad.”
“Tell me who was in the car with you.” When the answer wouldn’t come, his snarl filled my head. “Tell me who did this to you, Bridgit.”
It I were in better shape, I might have sobbed. If I was in less pain, I might have bitten out at him, might have said something else to regret. Instead, my silence stirred something else in him. I could sense him beside me, could feel his eyes even in the dark.
“Tell me who was with you and I’ll make it go away.”
The pain was enough to make me gag, enough to block even the sweetest part of it out. I could barely hear him with my head under the water. Even his hand so gently on my cheek wouldn’t open my eyes, even the softest touch along my thighs. Had he undressed me? Would I even remember if he did?
Awareness started to return as I felt the tips of his fingers trail up my soft thighs, but by the time my eyes fluttered open, my world had become a pinprick. All I could focus on were his lips— the ones I hadn’t tasted in so long.
“Just tell me,” he hissed. “Tell me who did this.”
“Please.”
My whimper sent a shiver through him. Something in Michael weakened, and as his body threatened to collapse, his forehead rested of softly against my temple. The sweetness of his breath was almost enough to cancel out the stench of blood. For just a moment, I remember what it was like to be with him. For just a moment, I remembered what it was like to feel his smile pressed against my lips.
If I had to die, it wanted it to be like this.
“Tell me who you were with, and I’ll make it go away.”
The rush of everything brought a strangled cry to my lips. The pain had a way of intensifying everything. My body was starved for his touch, desperate for his attention after so much agony, that it was hard to know where the pleasure started and the pain ended. In the darkness, I felt his finger run over my slit, teasing me through already-soaked panties. Every muscle was so weak, but Michael knew how to make every one sing. He’d always known how to do that.
“Please, Birdy.” I shivered with the name, moaned at the warmth pressed against my cheek. “If you know who did this, I need you to tell me.”
“No one.”
Even through the haze, I knew it wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear. His body tensed with another growl, but my softest murmur brought the monster back to me. The pain ricocheted through my side as my stomach tensed, as I reacted to the slightest brush over my sensitive clit. My heart wouldn’t let me rest anymore— not when I was so close to it all. I needed a reward for my answer, a reward for the six years I spent stupidly faithful to him.
“Please.”
“Don’t beg.” I could hardly breathe with his hiss. My eyes squeezed shut with relief as his hand dipped beneath my panties, as I finally felt him against my skin. “I don’t want to hear you fucking beg anymore.”
“Michael.”
“I warned you what would happen.” I cried out as two of his fingers plunged inside me, cried again as he pulled them out agonizingly slowly. Every curl of his fingers made me want to jump out of my skin, made my body shudder with something foreign, but Michael’s left hand kept me pinned in place. “You told me you’d be careful.”
There was something awful and unfamiliar in his voice— something twisted beneath the anger. I’d hurt him somehow, but the pain, the beautiful release, took away any reason I had left. All I knew anymore was I wanted him. I wanted to feel all of him, wanted to finally know what it was like to feel his cock inside me, to feel his lips on every inch of my skin.
I wanted all of him.
Ineededall of him.
“I’m sorry,” I slurred. “Please, just—”