They ate in silence and then she took her time cleaning up, hoping he would leave her alone. She wasn’t so lucky.
“Are you finished yet?”
Camila hung the towel up and nodded.
“Then let’s go to bed.” He allowed her to move past him, but then he put his hand on her back as if he was guiding her.
Camila picked up her pace, moving away from his touch. She got the room and entered the bathroom. She wouldn’t be allowed to sequester herself in there for long, but she took a moment to catch her breath as she changed into the red lace night gown. She was thankful that he didn’t make her wear it during the day anymore, but he still demanded she wear it at night.
“Camila!” He banged on the door. “Hurry the fuck up.”
Camila opened the door and moved into the room.
“Get in the bed,” he demanded from behind her.
He was a lot closer than she had expected, and she just barely held back a flinch. She walked toward the bed, moving a little quickly, though it was with reluctance in her heart that she crawled onto it. One end of it was pushed up against the wall, and Adrien usually insisted she sleep on that side. She had her back to him when she heard the bed squeak as he climbed in behind her.
Be calm, she thought to herself. Calm, don’t worry about it. Be calm, nothing will happen…
Camila couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t try something, but she prayed really hard that he wouldn’t. She treated him like the dangerous person he was. She just knew, that since he was pretending they were husband and wife, he would want something like that from her one day.
Not happening.
Camila was willing to do a lot to keep up her act if it got her out of trouble. Kept him from shocking her. But this was one thing she absolutely would refuse to do, even if it got her killed. Have sex with Adrien? Hell to the Fuck No! Even if she didn’t have that terrible memory from yacht, she knew she wouldn’t be able to stomach it. Not when she had the memory of Samuel making sweet love to her in a way that no other man ever had. Or even the hot and passionate way they’d last been together. She wouldn’t allow Adrien to take those memories from her and ruin them with his touch.
Camila lay on her side, listening. She could feel and hear the bed move as Adrien kept trying to readjust himself. He didn’t come within touching distance of her, though. Thankfully.
Then she felt exhaustion start to tug at her. She opened her eyes wide and stared at the wall, trying to keep her eyes open. But her lids were fluttering, her eyes wanting to close shut. Her heartbeat and breathing started to slow down, her body relaxed into the bed.
She was right on the edge of sleep. She wasn’t totally aware, her consciousness about to float away. But then, she felt it. Adrien groping her, probably thinking she was asleep already. At first, it was just a touch on her waist that raised interest in her mind, but then that hand moved and her heart began to race in fear. His hand moved down over her hip, around to her stomach, then higher, cupping over one of her breasts and squeezing.
Camila’s eyes snapped open as disgust filled her.
When they had been together, she’d put up with it. Hell, she anticipated it at times, but those stupid times were over for her. She was done letting this man take advantage of her, no matter how afraid of him she was. She elbowed him, and it was probably more because of surprise than because she hit him with too much force, but it was enough to surprise him and get him to remove his hand.
Why is he groping me? she thought in fear. I’ve always fallen asleep before him... has… Oh my god. Is this…the first time he’s done this?
She didn’t want to think about it, but it was possible he had touched her like this before. She’d woken up fully dressed in the red nighty every time, so she hadn't worried, but she didn’t know what he did while she was asleep.
No way…
Her breathing grew ragged. She wanted to push away from him, but as she was sleeping by the wall, there wasn’t much room for her to move. She looked down, and while Adrien was still trying to catch his breath, slipped off the foot of the bed and crawled under it. It was dark under the bed, and she could feel the dirt under her hands. She was sure she felt a few spider webs touch her, too, but she pretended there was nothing.
If I don’t see it, it’s not there.
Hopefully, she wouldn’t get herself bit by a spider, but she would rather sleep under the bed than get anywhere near Adrien again. If this got him to leave her alone, she wouldn’t mind sleeping there.
There wasn’t much room, but she rolled until she had her back to the wall, curling in on herself as she looked at the space in front and beneath her. She could hear Adrien groaning, and the bed squeaked some more as he moved around above it.
She knew Adrien was too drunk to do anything. He’d drank that entire bottle of whiskey. He moved until he stumbled off the bed, but the drinks were already getting to him. He stumbled as if he were dizzy, and he ended up falling back onto the bed, making it creak and bow down over her. His legs still dangled partially over the floor. He stayed where he was and didn’t move, so she hoped he’d finally fallen asleep.
Camila was distraught, thinking of what he could have done to her, before and tonight, clenching her hands over her nose and mouth to keep her breathing as quiet as possible. He knew where she was, but she was reacting by instinct, as if she could hide if she stayed quiet. She could see his legs, but he didn’t seem to be moving, and after a while, her body started relaxing.
She didn’t fight against it, but she was tired, and that fright just made her even more tired. Finally, when it didn’t seem like Adrien would move again, she slept.
Chapter Three
Camila’s mind came slowly into awareness. She felt uncomfortable all over, and when she opened her eyes, she found that she was someplace dark, though she could see light coming in all around her.
When last night’s events came back to her mind, she remembered where she was.
I slept under the fucking bed. No wonder I’m so uncomfortable.
She tried to shift, only to realize the space was cramped. She was laying on her side on the hard floor, a hand underneath her cheek. Her shoulder was numb from lying on the floor, and there was an ache at her hip as she moved.
Wait… Adrien!
She couldn’t see him in the space between the edge of the bed and the floor. His feet had been visible when she fell asleep, that they weren’t there… meant he was either on the bed, or he had woken up already.
What am I going to do?
She had been really brave, treating Adrien like that last night. He was bound to be mad at her. Should she consider herself lucky that he hadn't attacked her yet?
It was only a matter of time before he did, though, and she was sort of regretting last night. Not getting away from him, never that, but knowing there was no way to get out of that situation without irritating him, especially since he’d been drunk.
Maybe she would get lucky and he would forget with his morning hang over.
My luck can't be that fucking good, though, or I wouldn’t be here to begin with.
First, she had to know where the bastard had gone. Should she come out from underneath the bed? But then she’d just make a target of herself if she did. He knew where she was, though, so it wasn’t like she could hide there forever.
Camila curled in on herself, folding her legs up to her chest, then closed her eyes tight. Her hope was that he would be too hung-over to deal with her for now. She knew, unless he was so drunk that he forgot about her shoving him and running away from him last night, he would be planning to punish her no matter how long it took.
I need to get out of here, she thought in fear, trembling.
As if things couldn’t get any worse, she felt her stomach clench a little. Her eyes fluttered open, and she realized she had sweat pouring down her forehead.
No way…
Her stomach wasn’t feeling too good again, and she wrapped her arms around her mid
section as her body trembled. She hadn't felt any nausea since the last shock she’d received, and she wondered if it was because of all the fear she was feeling now? She’d never been so afraid she made herself sick before, though.
Just what the hell was going on with her stomach? Did she need to go see a hospital or something, maybe? If she was actually sick… it couldn’t have chosen the worst possible time.
There had been no opportunities so far, but her ultimate plan was still to find a way to run, if she wasn’t found first. She couldn’t run or go far if she was sick.
Hold it in… hold it in…
If she asked, Adrien might let her look into the bag with the medical supplies. She might be able to find pills in there for her stomach, but it wasn’t as if she could ask him for it. Camila hated feeling nauseated, though. It always left her uncomfortable, and that was when she wasn’t feeling in pain because of the heaving.
She swallowed several times, trying to push back the urge to vomit. She pressed her hands hard into her stomach, and a hard shudder went through her body.
Out of nowhere, a hand wrapped around her ankle, and she let out a yelp in shock, her eyes snapping open. Then, that hand pulled, and she was tugged out from under the bed. It wasn’t painless for her, because the side she was sleeping on still hurt, but she didn’t get the time to do a thing about it, either. When she looked up, Adrien was squatting above her looking down at her with a scowl on his face.
“Did you think you could hide from me forever, Camila?”
She lay beneath him, trembling. She didn’t know what to do, what to say, to make him stop, and even if she could think of something, her vocal chords felt frozen.
“Well?” he growled, his hand holding onto her ankle squeezing around it. “Do you have any idea the kind of trouble you’ve given me, huh? I might have thought about reducing the weight of the punishment a little, but I woke up and had to get medicine for my headache myself. Where was my beautiful wife when I woke up, hmm?”
I’d like to know that, too, Camila thought. Where was the pretty, obedient wife Adrien kept imagining she was? If she came out, Camila wouldn’t have to deal with his shit. Of course she didn’t think of coming out when she woke, and he was pretty much always awake before she was, anyway. He was just too lazy to do things himself, and he had confused her for his servant at some point, so he always waited for her to do everything and if she didn’t do it fast enough he demanded or shocked her and then demanded.
She was sure he knew she was afraid of getting punished and that was why she hadn’t come out. Even if he said he would have reduced it a little, she didn’t believe him. A tiny punishment to him meant a lot of pain for her, so no matter how much he planned to dish out, she wasn’t going to be happy and offering herself up for it!
None of this came out of her mouth, though, which was a good thing. But she couldn’t speak up in her defense, either. Her throat worked, but all she could manage was a weak whimper that didn’t seem to impress him at all.
More importantly, his tight hold on her ankle was beginning to hurt, and it was making her foot go numb.
“Move it!” Adrien demanded, standing up.
He dragged her along, pulling her away from the bed, and her leg was lifted up as he stood. She let out a short cry when she hit the back of her head on the ground as he pulled her along, releasing her leg when they were in the center of the room.
“Now, what should I do with you?”
He released her leg, finally, but it was only so he could bend over and grab her hair instead.
“Argh!”
Camila’s hands jumped up to hold onto his hand as he dragged her up by the hair. She got her legs under her. But one of her legs had fallen asleep because she’d been lying on it, and the pain in her hip flared. With another cry, she slumped back into the floor. Adrien’s hand slipped out of her hair, but not without tugging a few strands out.
Crap. Now my head hurts.
“Oh,” Adrien murmured. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to let go. You even lost some of your hair…”
Camila opened her eyes and watched as he dropped the strands of her hair he’d pulled out.
Adrien sighed. “You see?” he said, as if he was lecturing her. “Running away didn’t do you any good either, right? So you shouldn’t have bothered trying and you wouldn’t have this problem that you do now, you know. But I can't just let you off either, over something like this.”
Camila wanted to glare up at him. She was kneeling as she curled in on herself, her hand trying to soothe her aching scalp. All of this was his fault, so why was he turning her into the guilty party here? But then, she felt her stomach clench again.
“Now, what should your punishment be? I put the remote for you collar away because we haven’t needed it the past couple days or so, but I think it’s time to pull it out. Get up, now. Come face your punishment like a good girl. So you know never to deny your husband again.”
Adrien reached down to grab her by the hair again. Before he could, though, Camila felt her stomach clench hard as bile rose, her throat spasming as she made a gagging sound.
“Whoa!”
She was practically at his feet because he’d dragged her there, and she nearly vomited all over him, but Adrien was fast. Seeing her heaving, he jumped out of the way. Camila swallowed hard, one hand on her mouth and the other on her belly. She attempted to settle her stomach and keep from making a mess that she knew he’d make her clean up.
“What the hell,” Adrien yelled. “Watch it, Camila! You almost puked all over me!”
“S-sorry,” she muttered, one hand still covering her mouth, the other rubbed her middle in small soothing circles. “I… just feel a little sick.”
Adrien hesitated, looking as if he might run from her. “Sick?”
Camila had a sudden idea. Seeing how Adrien reacted, she remembered the last time, too, when she threw up after he’d first shocked her, and he jumped away from her. If he thought she was really sick and didn’t just have a stomach bug or something…
“Yeah,” she said, making sure to sound weak, not that she had to try hard. “I’ve felt like vomiting a few times, I think I might have gotten the flu. It has been going around, you know. And they’ve said it’s highly contagious. I’m really sorry.”
She kept an eye on him out the corner of her eyes, and sure enough, she saw the horrified look on his face as he backed away from her and to the bedroom door entrance.
“Stay in here,” he demanded. “Do not come out, I’ll leave food for you at the door later. You just… stay here.”
With that, he hurried out of the room and closed the door behind him.
Oh, thank goodness, she thought.
Camila crawled over to the bed and climbed on top of it. One side of her body still ached, so she lay on her other side. The nausea was gone for the moment, and she was finally left alone. Camila couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome.
If I’m really lucky, he won’t come in here for the rest of today.
Now that her body was slowly relaxing, Camila was starting to feel exhausted. Her body felt battered, as did her mind, and she wanted nothing more than to fall asleep. That was dangerous, though. Who knew what Adrien would try while she was unconscious? She just had to hope he wouldn’t pull out the remote for the collar and start playing with it wherever he was in the house.
Soon after, though, the door opened as Adrien walked in. Camila jumped in surprise, quickly sitting up and making herself feel a little dizzy.
Wasn’t he going to leave me alone?
Her thoughts were full of fear. She’d thought she would get to relax for once, but had he changed his mind? Was he angrier about her denying him that he would ignore his own fastidiousness just to punish her?
Oh please no, she pleaded silently. I don’t think I can take any more hits today.
Mentally and physically, she was already exhausted. If he wanted to do anything to her, there was no way for her to stop him, and be
sides, she still had a headache that only came back full force with how quickly she sat up. But, looking at Adrien, she thought that wasn’t the case.
He didn’t look angry or anything, though. He was holding onto his arm beneath his injured shoulder, his expression one of pain.
“I need your help. Come out here and help me, like a good wife,” he demanded. “My wound hurts like hell and there’s more air in the living room. Get it done quickly, then you can hurry back here.”
Chapter Four
Camila slipped off the bed, but she still felt weak and nauseous. She stumbled a bit before getting her feet firmly beneath her, then followed Adrien as he made his way back to the living room. He had clearly prepared everything, the bag with the supplies already set opened on the table.
Did he try to do it himself before he came to me?
He probably had but failed to do it. The wound was in a hard to reach place, after all. It was toward the back of his shoulder, so she wasn’t surprised it gave him trouble when he tried to do it himself.
“Don’t fucking breathe on me, Camila,” Adrien complained, nose wrinkled as he leaned away as much as possible. “In fact, if you can, don’t breathe at all. And go wash your fucking hands. I don’t want any of your germs.”
She bit down on her lip. “I could open up the windows for fresh air. I can't do this without breathing at all, Adrien.”
He sneered but didn’t say a thing, so she took it as agreement. She stood up and went to open the windows and curtains. As long as she kept up the sick front, she would be safe, and she planned on keeping it up for as long as possible. She moved into the kitchen and ran the water, she debated not actually washing them, but was afraid he might check them, so she added a tiny bit of soap and rubbed her palms together and rinsed them. When she went back to sit next to him, she made sure to keep a good distance between them.
“You washed them well?” he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
Camila held her still slightly damp hands up. “Of course.”
Shattered Obsession: Book 3 of the Obsession Trilogy Page 2