I raise a brow. “Don’t you love reading about boys' love? I did some research and that’s apparently a thing a lot of women do. Reading and watching gay men material.”
Her face turns a deep shade of crimson. “So what? We’re not hurting anyone by cheering on gay men to get together. I won’t allow you to shame me.”
It takes everything in me not to smile at the spikiness in her voice or how she hugs the mangas as if protecting them from me.
“Who says I’m shaming you?”
Her defensive stance turns into that of careful bemusement. “You’re…not?”
“Why would I buy you those if I were?”
She narrows her eyes. “Why did you buy these, anyway?”
“So you can read them here.”
“How do you know I’ve gotten this far in all the volumes?”
“I was in your room the other time, remember?”
“Stalker,” she mutters, but she sits down opposite me and strokes the covers of the mangas.
“I know.”
She whips her head up, her slowly drying strands swishing with the motion. “It doesn’t bother you to be called that?”
“If that label makes you feel at ease, go right ahead. I have no fucks to give.”
Cecily watches me peculiarly. “It’s not normal that you stalk me, buy the mangas I read, do some research on them, and even buy clothes that are exactly my size. Did you go through my wardrobe?”
“I did, but I didn’t need that to know your size.” I lift a hand and trace an imaginary outline. “I remember every nook of your body and can guess the size.”
Her lips tremble, but she murmurs, “You’re really impossible.”
“So you keep telling me. You need to learn that I don’t give a fuck about what’s considered normal or socially acceptable. If I want something, Iwillhave it.”
She goes still, probably detecting my nonnegotiable tone. Her gaze slides all over me, from my face to my nonchalant position to the ink that’s spilling out from my short-sleeved shirt.
It lingers there, on the ink, before she slides it back to my face. “How are you any different from barbarians?”
“Don’t know and don’t care. Labels hold no importance for me.”
“What does then?”
“At the moment? You and your submission.”
She swallows thickly. “What if I say no?”
“Then you’d be lying to me and yourself. You enjoy this, Cecily. It’s in your nature, so how about you let go for once?”
She clamps her lips shut, not saying anything.
I know I have a long way to go with her. She didn’t even admit to the reason behind her decimation until I basically forced it out of her.
My blood turns ice-cold in my veins at the thought of that fucker who hurt her and transformed a proud girl into someone who can’t control herself. What he did to her must be the reason why gagging and drugging are her limits.
I will find him.
I will make him regret fucking with her.