Noah laughed and sank back in his seat while keeping his broad and straight posture. “I do not beat Keaton.”
“I saw the marks on her back, you son-of-a-bitch.” Brandy’s bridled voice heightened. “Don’t sit there and lie to me. Matter-of-fact, you know what?” She pointed her finger toward the guests at the table. “This isn’t some cool getting to know you dinner. It’s an intervention because we want Keaton to see the truth about you and leave you.”
Turning my attention to all three of my friends, I questioned them, “Is that true?”
Sonja looked guiltily to her lap while Nathan and Brandy kept a steady eye on Noah.
Noah took his time to look at each one of my friends while wearing a dark expression. “My relationship with Keaton is complex. She doesn’t need to be saved from anything. She is free to leave at anytime.” He turned his attention to me. “Tell your friends why you stay, why you don’t need their help, and directly after, escort them out of my fucking home.”
Brandy pushed out her chair so quickly it fell nosily to the ground. Leaning across the table, she placed her balled fists on either side of her untouched meal. Her wavy brown hair draped over her shoulder, shielding the sides of her face and making the fury she wore on her a face a touch more intimidating. “You might scare Keaton, but you don’t fucking scare me, Noah Oliver. You know why? I don’t believe the bullshit those media-whores spouted on television about you. I believe they’re lying, and they’re lying for you. I believe that you are or were the real boss at Rebirth. I think that’s why you have my friend brainwashed and scared to leave you. She won’t be scared of you forever. You can fucking bet, she will see the light and leave your twisted ass soon.”
Noah glared at me, willing me to move.
With a nod, I lifted from my chair and grabbed Brandy’s hand, guiding her toward the elevator. “Can you all give Noah and me some time?” I regarded each one of my friends with furtive glances. “I’ll call you all later on tonight.”
“I’m not leaving without you, Keaton,” Brandy protested, firming her hold on my hand.
With a mournful look, Nathan shook his head. “As much as this is going to hurt us, we can’t make her leave unless she really wants to.”
Slipping her hand from mine, Brandy left in a huff. Sonja touched my shoulder as she walked by, offering sincere parting words. “I’m always here for you, Keaton. Give me a call anytime you need me. There is no judgment here. I only want you to be happy and healthy.”
I stood there, unmoving, watching my friends disappear down with the elevator.
Stuck in a daze, I startled when Noah touched my arm. “If you’re upset—”
“On the contrary, princess. I’ll clean up the mess your friends made. Go take a shower and get in bed.”
Examining him and thrown by the sweet way he spoke to me, I studied his features for any signs of his anger. I couldn’t see beyond the darkened void in his hazel-blue eyes.
I took a long shower, seeking a refuge from the stressful dinner, and shampooed my hair. Wrapping a white terry cloth towel around my waist, I carefully combed through the waves in my hair and pinned it up into a bun. Clearing the quickly dissipating fog from the mirror, I jumped at the sight of Noah behind me. I slowly smiled at him until I saw what was in his hand.
My towel was ripped from my body, and I was grabbed by my loose bun, causing it to fall apart. He slammed my head down, my cheek crashed against the closed lid of the toilet seat with a latent throbbing sting.
“Do you recall what I told you, Keaton? This place is for us alone. You stained it by having your friends visit here without my prior permission. Why is it so difficult for you to understand what I need? Please. Abide. Obey. Let this be your reminder…” The biting edge of burning hot leather hit the swell of my behind, burning me with its temperature and the impact wielded by a brutal hand. I choked on my swallow, unable to breathe and cry properly at the same time.
It impacted my skin repeatedly. I was licked with the leather, freshly cured in boiling hot water. My knees buckled, unable to hold my weight. I fell to the floor on my sore behind, hard. Sobbing, I clung to the toilet and adjusted myself. The cold hard floor was an unwelcome sensation to the slow-forming welts. Movement increased the slow-creeping acidic feeling pervading from my wounded skin.
I looked up at Noah with tears flooding my eyes and at the belt dangling from his hands, dripping with what was probably once water, radiating with steam.
A crooked smile appeared as he dropped the burning hot belt on my lap.
He slowly moved his hand down his body to bring attention to his erection, pressing against the material of his pants. “Meet me in the bedroom, princess. I have a serious corrective fucking to give you tonight.” With a wink, he turned away, heading to the bed and partly undressing on the way there. “Today, Keaton. Before I lose my hard dick.”
Startled by his shout, I stood to my feet. Whimpering and shivering the entire way with my suffering, I met him in the bedroom.
THE SMELL OF SMOKE flooded my senses. Barely wanting to move for the swelling and tender bites decorating my body and the constant throb of my ruined sex, I could only open my eyes.
On a serving tray beside me in bed was a glass of water and two large white pills. I cared very little for what they were. I only hoped they would alleviate my distress. I took them down, moving as little as I could without exacerbating my torment.
Face down in bed, I remained until I began to feel the soothing affects.
The medication was strong enough to leave me almost numb. I slipped carefully out of bed, touching the raised welts on my behind. Wetness draped my crux of my thighs. When I fingered what was there, bright red blood speckled my fingertips. A dull ache throbbed in my pelvic area. It would sway from excruciating to barely bearable.
As the minutes passed, a welcome drunk sensation washed over me. Feeling completely numbed from the harsh strength of the pain relievers, I slipped into what was next to me on the bed.
Sliding my feet across the floor, my posture curved, my movements lazy, and I ambled toward the wardrobe closet on the far end of the room. A red silk dress exactly like the one I was forced to wear at Rebirth hung on the brass handle. I opened the doors to be faced with the same exact dresses neatly lined up on hangers. My clothes and shoes were nowhere to be found.
It wasn’t the only thing new about the space. In the kitchen, the cabinets were left open, showing a bare minimum supply of food. Inside the refrigerator, a full stock of protein shakes meant for dieters.
Moving slowly and carefully, I took the elevator upstairs. The sparing level was vacant. The strong perfume of smoke lingered and assaulted my nose.
I went up to the roof.
The medicine left me so numb, I couldn’t register the sensation of the frigid winter air, nor could I maintain a good balance. What I knew to be the cold concrete flooring of the roof was barely felt.
I collapsed a few feet shy of the trash can. Noah was there, standing over a large tin can with orange and yellow flames licking the air. I struggled to stand. My limbs were completely numb and unable to behave like I wanted them to.
Noah placed a hand on the top of my head, directing me remain on my knees. “I’d prefer it if you crawled for the rest of day.”
Bowing my head, I rested my arms awkwardly on my lap.
“I’m burning your clothes,” he stated, answering my unasked question.
“Why? And why isn’t there any more food?”
“Today is the start of something brand new between me and you. I’ve decided I’m no longer going to show you any bits of kindness or sensitivity. I have to tell you, princess, it was never who I really was. I thought it would be best if I showed you two sides to get you where I needed you to be. Now that is no longer the case—since it’s no longer working the way I’d like—your change will be forced in a more familiar way, for me anyway.
“Consider me, from now on, your motivational coach. I’m going to
rip apart the shell you put on for the world and make you who I want you to be. I’m going to remove the dents from your soul, put there by people who shouldn’t be in your life. I’m going to darken your soul so severely you’ll never know the definition of light again—like I promised you I would. Welcome to the first day of the start of your real rebirth.”
“If you’re feeling really daring and want to see how I can frighten you, princess, keep misbehaving. Disobey. Go ahead. Give me plenty of reasons to teach you the meaning of fear.”
-THE SECT
Several weeks were spent in isolation from any semblance of the outside world while I remained under the influence of the pain meds I stole from Brandy and stashed away underneath the mattress.
I spent most of my time sleeping. My waking hours were filled with being in servitude to Noah and his increasingly depraved needs. I was his doll, posed as he wanted, destroyed as he wanted every night. Whether it was torment administered in the room upstairs, or his brutal sex, I never felt any of it. I made sure I was too numbed by medication to be able to. The lack of the ability to elicit any reaction out of me frustrated him to no end. He never found my stash, and I was able to maintain my silent and passive way of rebelling.
I called in sick to work often, speaking only with the HR department, fearing my mother would hear something in my voice to make her visit me.
At times, I could’ve sworn Noah argued with the guard downstairs. The people who loved me came to visit and were turned away with threats or outright lies. I had access to my phone when he deemed it necessary. It was in my possession for ten minutes over the duration of several weeks.
My head was under water, plunging into depths far below sea level. I hadn’t the slightest idea how to keep myself from sinking to the bottom of the dark water. I was freed only to find that my freedom was a chimera. The space may have been more vast than my bedroom at the House of Rebirth, but the walls were tighter and the company was more punishing.
THE SMELL OF FOOD cooking wafted into bedroom area. I had thought to remain in bed until I was told to prepare for dinner with individuals whom Noah claimed were his special guests. Unable to do much more than walk into the dining room, I did as I was directed.
At the dining room table, I was shocked to see Nadine and Adam sitting with Noah. A glass of wine was in her hand. She covered her mouth as she guffawed heartily, behaving as though she didn’t have a single care in the world.
“Keaton?” Noah remained seated, his vocal tonality while addressing me lacked in cadence. The smile he once held for Nadine began to fade.
I looked to the unexpected guests. “Nadine…Adam,” I greeted them skeptically.
“Always great to see you, Keaton,” Nadine said, her greeting inauthentic. “I know I said you wouldn’t see my pretty face again, but things have changed.” She reached for Noah’s leg underneath the table and gave it a squeeze. “Our boy has a way of getting what he wants, doesn’t he?”
My attention darted from Nadine to Noah. “While it’s…” I couldn’t say that her visit brought about any semblance of positive feelings—if I knew the definition of the word positive anymore—I had reasonable concerns about her reappearance. “…interesting to see you both again. I’m really tired.”
Noah rose from his chair and turned toward me. “Sit down and have dinner with us.”
“I’m tired,” I repeated, blinking rapidly feeling the heavy weight of my drug-induced fatigue. His punishments over the past two weeks replayed in my mind. While my body couldn’t recall the suffering, I could clearly see the look in his eyes—the same look he held currently; darkly sinister in the way he enjoyed watching me fracture.
“I won’t ask again,” he hissed at me.
I stared at him, holding to my desire to disobey him over my fear for more torment. “Haven’t you had enough of punishing me for no reason? I’m sorry you don’t like my world. I’m sorry you’re uncomfortable in it. I’ve given up everything to make you happy. What else do I have to do to make you stop this?”
He strode to the chair at the side of the table and pulled it out for me.
I turned to leave. He stomped forward, grabbing me by the back of the hair. He dragged me to the table and forced me to sit down none too gently. The numb split away for an instant.
He leaned over the top of my head, his heated breath prickled my scalp. “If you fuck with me again, there won’t be a word to describe the pain I will exact on your body. I promise you, princess, it will be a pain so deep, no pills or salve will alleviate it.” He moved back to the head of the table and sat down.
Nadine’s laughter prevented her from successfully tipping the glass of wine to her lips. “You’re crankier than normal, Noah.”
“That is because I don’t care for the pain-med addicted version of Keaton,” Noah answered Nadine.
Normally, his words would’ve affected me; this time, they didn’t. “You don’t care for me at all,” I mumbled. I scanned the room, noting that no one had heard me.
“Is there anything I can do about that?” Nadine asked.
“It depends…” Noah looked at me. “Are you still feeling like someone other than who you were made to be, Keaton?”
He didn’t receive a response. Finding my strength, I glared at him, unmoved and unshaken.
Nadine arose from her chair and stood behind Noah, rubbing his shoulders. “So tense.” She glanced at me. “In case you were wondering, princess, we’re all here for your benefit. We’re all worried about you.”
“Worried?” I questioned, lifting my gaze to regard her. “About me?”
Noah gestured over his shoulder, directing Nadine to stop touching him. With a huff, she sat back down.
Noah reached for my hand, showing me affection in a way he never had before. A half-hearted smile splayed across his lips. True to his changeable nature, he transformed his mood from the one he hardly showed me since we returned to D.C.
“Look,” he released my hand and reclined back in his chair, “I know you want things to be as they were during our private moments at Rebirth. I want that, too. We can’t have those here.”
“What are saying?” I chose my words carefully for a reason beyond anything I could immediately determine.
“We need to leave,” he replied, pushing an issue I thought we’d discussed and dismissed. “We’ll leave together and tell no one where we are. We’ll be who we were again.” He looked at Nadine and Adam. “All of us.”
With contempt, I shook my head at him, declining his unattractive offer. “You’ve been so brutal toward me lately. Why would you think I would say yes?”
“It’s the stress of being here,” he balked as if my concerns didn’t matter, “under your mother’s watchful fucking eye. It will change.” He leaned forward and clasped his hands over the table into prayer position.
Nadine cleared her throat, garnering my direct attention. Her eyes were trained to Noah. Without directly regarding her, he nodded in acknowledgement of an unspoken conversation between the two of them.
Noah ejected from his seat and sauntered toward me. He pulled my chair from the table and turned it around until I faced him. He brushed the back of his hand down my face and held me with a tenderness, exemplifying yet another gesture he would never have done previously. “I know what my problem is. Stress, plus the lack of the thrill of being with you. The thrill of being caught. The thrill of being watched.” He glanced at Adam and Nadine. “They aren’t here only to convince you of what I’ve been trying to get through your thick head. They are here…to be my audience while I give you what you know you really want.”
I couldn’t hide my apprehension nor my full out rejection of the idea. No words needed to be said. My silent reaction told Noah everything he needed to know.
“Don’t pretend the thought doesn’t make you a little wet, princess. I know it does.”
Shaking my head and feeling too many things at once to explain, I slid up from my chair and walked backward as he
stepped forward.
His words held very little meaning; we had an audience and he punished me in a violent manner.
He was seducing me, aiming to dig inside my head and stir up the Keaton who thought she couldn’t thrive without him. It worked at one point because I believed in the good parts of Noah.
I was awakened and very aware. I wasn’t thriving with him; I was fading into nothing. I couldn’t leave my friends and family for a life with promises of my self-destruction with a truly demented man. I once believed in a method to his madness—penalize the guilty and make the innocent grateful for what they took for granted.
While at first I was unsure how I’d fit with my family and friends, I always missed them. The pieces of who Noah and I were failed to fit together. We were two incompatible music notes who couldn’t form a harmony no matter how hard we tried. Everything I had was in D.C. I only wished Noah hadn’t succumbed to his darker desires and wanted to be a part of it, or found some way to conform to me, the way I tried to conform to him.
“We’ve tried it your way and it didn’t work,” I reminded him, my back meeting the wall.
I was tugged by my hair so hard I fell forward. He threw me over his shoulder and forced me to sit back in the chair.
“Move again, Keaton,” Noah threatened.
“I really feel sorry for you.” Nadine wiped the corner of her mouth with her thumb and smirked at me.
I looked between the two of them, questioning what constantly pulled them together and made them connect to each other. “Don’t feel sorry for me. I don’t love him like he wanted me to, but now I’m thinking it’s a problem that I don’t.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, princess.” Noah snorted after a measured delay while standing over me. He rested his hand on the back of my chair and leveled his gaze down to me. “I don’t need your love when I can control your obedience. Why would I need your love when I have your mind and every inch of your body?”
The Rebirth of Sin (Wicked Trinity Book 2) Page 10