“What are you talking about?” Cooper says, turning to me. “I’ve got people who can save her.”
“If they’re dead, it won't matter. We’ll be too late.”
“So your plan is…?” Brad waves his arm in a motion for me to hurry up.
“Make the call and you’ll find out.”
Rob pulls a phone from his pocket, my power over him as strong as his once was over me. Silence descends over the boathouse when the operator answers and we all listen to Rob make the call.
“Cooper,” I say, turning to him. “I love you. I am your butterfly. I belong to you, and you only. Remember that. Please remember that, and tell your baby girl that there was a woman on this earth who loved you as much as you love her.”
“Caterpillar.”
“I’m sorry.”
I raise the gun towards Cooper. I will never forget the image of sheer terror in his eyes, the panic on his beautiful face, as I pull the trigger. A flash lights up the room, a loud bang sounds out, and Cooper falls to the floor in the foetal position.
“Let her go,” I say, crouching down to stroke Cooper’s hair as I point the gun between Rob and Brad. “Make the fucking call and let her go.”
Rob licks his lips; Brad takes a step back, and he takes his phone out, swiping at the screen.
“Kate Jennings has been given her location.”
“Good.” I nod. “The ambulance is coming, and the police will escort them thanks to your suspicious call. Erase the footage you have of Cooper, or I’ll hand you to them.”
“You’re going down for killing him,” Rob says, approaching me slowly as Brad searches through his phone to erase the evidence. “You fucking killed him.”
“I told you I would come with you. Now you have your prisoner. Do you have the balls to kidnap a murderer?”
“Oh, pretty girl.” Rob grabs my hair and forces me to my feet as he shows me the footage deleting from his device. I’m sure he has copies, but I didn’t think that through. “They’ll be recovering your body soon enough.”
Something sharp stabs me in the stomach, forcing me to double over, and as I scream out in pain, something heavy collides with the back of my head, forcing me into the dark.
The most difficult thing about taking a risk is not knowing if it will pay off. Regret is the emotion that will consume me in the days that will follow, I shot Cooper and went willingly with Rob and Brad. I didn’t know if he’d survive; I just hoped that he would—that the bullet would graze something irrelevant in his body, and just pass out from the shock of my betrayal. I hoped Rob and Brad would stick around to watch Cooper, and I would be able to see if he survived, if the paramedics saved him and wheeled him to the ambulance alive, or if he was brought out in a black body bag that would make my sacrifice so much easier. If he’s dead, I want to die too. There is nothing else for me—Cooper made sure of it. He succeeded in breaking me, in ruining me, but in return, he gave me something I never dreamed I’d have. A sense of self. I know who I am now. Cooper Jennings’ butterfly.
I wake up in a dark room, slumped in the corner against the cold wall. It smells of alcohol and chlorine, and I know they moved me from the boathouse.
“Get up,” Brad growls, making me jump. I didn’t know he was in here with me, but he’s very much present, his ragged breathing filling the space with depravity. “Get. Up.”
I struggle to my feet, using the wall to support me, searching blindly for him in the darkness. I’ve only met Brad three times before what he did in the boathouse, all at swim meets, all while I was fucking his brother. I didn’t grasp the psychopath aura enveloping him, but I’ve got a firm hold on it now. Cooper’s unpredictability holds nothing on this man and the thoughts I can almost hear running through his mind.
You’ve been a prisoner before.
You can do this, Caterpillar.
I keep my back to the wall, so he can’t strike from behind, but I know he’s in front of me when he takes a step forward, shuffling on the wet ground.
“Has he fitted you with a tracker?” he asks.
I gasp and shake my head. “No.” But I’m thinking about it. Cooper hadn’t stuck anything on me; he didn’t plan on letting me out of his sight, so why would he fit me with a tracker? “No, he didn’t. I stayed with him willingly and he didn’t need to.”
“Paranoid Cooper Jennings didn’t tag his pet,” he muses. “What about this?”
I flinch when his fingers graze my clavicle, as he raises the butterfly pendant between us.
“I bought it,” I lie.
“Did you now?”
I nod. “Yes. It isn’t a lie that I ran away…I just happened to run into Cooper and decided he was more interesting than a deserted island.”
“I think…” He tugs the thin chain and it breaks under his force. He caresses the pendant as the chain hangs defeated over his fingers. “I think I’ll keep this. If it isn’t fitted with his hi-tech bullshit, it’ll be a nice trophy for me to keep when you’re gone.”
“What are you going to do with me?”
My voice doesn’t sound like mine, but I don’t sound afraid. I did this. I refuse to let these men beat me. The only man I’ll let command me is Cooper, and if he’s gone, then I’m a free woman until I take my last breath. I will not take orders from monsters.
“We’re going to keep you, just until we can confirm Cooper’s death, and then we’re going to get rid of you—to punish you for fucking everything up.”
“Where’s Rob?”
“Waiting for you.”
“Where?”
“Let’s go find him.” He holds his hand out to me, encouraging me to take it and let him lead me to Rob—the monster who started this whole thing. Would he be the one to end it, too? “I haven’t got all day, Caterpillar.”
Should I be grateful that he’s calling me by the name Cooper gave me. I would consider it disrespectful now if someone called me by my old name. I won’t answer to it, like Cooper asked me not to. I will be referred to as Caterpillar and I smile, half-grateful, half-knowing I have some power here, and take his hand. Like I did with Cooper, I will let these men believe they’ve won, and then I’ll find my way in to beat them.
Brad leads me across the room, opening a door on the far end. I squint in the light, using the hand that isn’t in Brad’s, to shield my eyes from the glare.
“Where are we?” I ask as we walk along a white corridor, tiled from floor to ceiling.
The familiar and no longer welcoming scent of chlorine overwhelms me, forcing my thoughts to return to Cooper—as if they ever left. I might have killed him. I may be a murderer. I may have killed the only man who could have saved me. That was my plan; free Doe, get Cooper to safety, and hope he’d call for support to come and find me. I hoped he’d feel enough for me to find me and let me live. But…now I’m not so sure. Now I believe I might have killed him, and I’m destined to die here, the memory of Cooper the last thing I smell, Rob and Brad the last thing I see. Is that really my future? Nothing?
“Swimming clubs over here are losing grants faster than you lose your knickers,” he says, glancing at me with a menacing glare. “So pools are being forced into closure. Do you know how much it costs to restore a leisure centre? To keep it open?” I shake my head. “Thought not. You just relied on Mommy and Daddy to pay for everything, didn’t you? And now you resent them for cashing in on your fortune when you owe it to them.”
“That’s not-”
“That’s exactly what you think. You owe Rob, too. He loves you, you know. He knows it’s not allowed. He knows he should have waited until you were of age and no longer on his team, but…” He licks his lips when he looks at me again. “That’s not how we work.”
“So we’re at a pool.”
It’s all I can say, because I refuse to believe I owe anyone anything—especially not my parents. I know Cooper wouldn’t ask for a penny from Doe in return for paying for whatever hobbies she’ll grow to have a passion for. What if he’
s no longer alive? What if he’s alone somewhere, cold and forgotten? Will Kate give Doe what she deserves? Will she go and see Cooper, hold his hand and tell him she’ll never forget him? It should be me—death will never part me from the man who stole me and gave me the world.
“Yes, we’re at a complex. One of the abandoned ones. One of the many places no one will bother to look for you.” He tugs my hand when I fall a step behind, and forces me to walk beside him. “You killed the only man who might have come for you.”
“He’s dead?” I ask on a whisper, my voice breaking.
“Of course. He was dead before the ambulance arrived.”
“No!”
I fall to my knees and tear my hand from Brad’s. He gives me time to allow the world to crumble around me, but not much. With a hand in my hair, he drags me the rest of the way, throwing me into a shower cubicle. I land on a pair of bare feet, but I don’t need to look up to know who’s waiting for me. Rob.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he coos, his voice thick like chocolate, edgy with his smoky rasp, like the chocolate is on fire and laced with toxins. “Did you sleep well?”
I say nothing. I have nothing I want to say, and nothing left to give. I killed Cooper. After everything; after promising he would tell Doe he loved her himself, after deciding I would sacrifice my life for his, I had been the one to take his life.
“Get up,” Brad grunts, kicking me in the side to edge me further into the cubicle. “Get the fuck up. We need to wash his stench off you.”
“No.” I shake my head, tears pooling in my vision to cloud it from reality and replace it with the fantasy of Cooper alive. “You might as well just kill me now.”
The brothers laugh, and I’m forced to my feet with two hands on my waist, and another two on the tops of my arms. I stumble, falling into the wall. I don’t react when ice cold water pelts my body. I don’t scream, I don’t flinch, I don’t recoil. I took away Cooper’s ability to feel anything, so in return, I will feel nothing. I will not give these sick fucks a second of my life, because it ended with Cooper. Now I’m just a body. I’m just a vessel with organs that keep me existing, but I’m no longer a person. I’m just…I’m a caterpillar. I’ve wrapped myself up in a chrysalis and I will never emerge. The water continues to pummel me like icy shards and I shiver, wrapping my arms around my body, and my clothes tighten with the weight of the water. Maybe they’ll suffocate me. Maybe this will be where it ends for me, and I can find Cooper and tell him I’m sorry.
I’m so sorry.
I don’t open my eyes to see who tugs off my bottoms. I don’t look to see who rips my t-shirt down the middle, as another pair of hands tear my bra from me.
“You’re filthy,” Rob says, his rough hands skating over my body. I keep my eyes closed and imagine this is nothing but a punishment from Cooper that will feel like so much of a reward. “Absolutely fucking filthy.”
He has no idea. I may be filthy to them, but they have no idea how filthy I want to be. I wish I could shower in their blood as I make it pour. I wish this were a vampire story, so I could syphon their blood, pump it into Cooper, and bring him back to life to live for eternity as my monster.
“So what?” I spit, stepping away from the wall to face the brothers head on.
“So we need to clean you.” Brad steps closer to me, his hot breath invading my personal space. “Every dirty inch.”
“Get down, sweetheart,” Rob breathes. “Squat to the floor like a good little girl.”
I refuse to look into his eyes, focusing instead on the greying beard framing his face where a prominent jaw once felt like heaven between my legs. I thought I loved this man. Once upon a time, he was my life. Things have come full circle; he’s once again the centre of my universe. Only this time, I’m the black hole. I have nothing but the urge—the unbearable need—to swallow his life whole and wipe him from the planet.
“Now,” Brad barks.
With a hand on my shoulder, he pushes me down, forcing me into a squat. I use the opportunity to curl in on myself, with my knees to my chest and my arms wrapped around my legs. I look up at the two huge forms in front of me, while I’m on the floor like an obedient animal. Like I’m nothing but a plaything. It’s so much worse than all the times Cooper made me feel neglected. He never made me feel like nothing. There was always something in his gaze that told me I was everything. To Brad and Rob, I’m something to be enjoyed until they’ve had enough. I have no idea why they want me here, but my breath hitches when Brad drops to the floor, his blue jeans soaked through until they’re black. I focus on them. I focus on the black. I concentrate on the darkness and let it take me hostage.
He tears my arms from my legs and pins them to the wall above my head. They slip on the wet tile, but he holds firm. Rob parts his legs and stands over me, holding a bottle of blue liquid in front of his crotch. He laughs, drawing my attention up to his eyes. They’re alight with deviance, laughing at me while he thrusts his hips and jams the bottle into my lips like it’s his cock. With a flick of his thumb, he pops open the lid and squeezes. A spurt of shower gel hits my face, dripping bitterness into my mouth and making me gag. With every thrust, he squirts more blue soap onto my body. I squeeze my eyes closed to protect them, but it doesn’t stop it from dripping from my head, soap suds raining down over my face and making my eyes burn. The tears fall freely, connecting with the soap until I’m crying bubbles, spitting bubbles, breathing bubbles…too many bubbles, and none of them allowing me to breathe. I picture bubbles of air scattering in front of me as I propel through the water. I’m never going to swim again. I’m never going to feel free again. I’m never going home again.
My body is slippery from the shower gel, the scent of something sweet and sickly, yet masculine and calming. Some sort of shower gel designed to relax one’s muscles after a long day. It does the opposite for me. I seize up, tensing up tight and trying to fight Brad, as he crouches in front of me and grips my knees.
“Open wide, sweetheart.”
He grins at me and with a wink, wrenches my legs apart. I cry out as my hips pop, but he says nothing, and he doesn’t stop. Brad slips his free hand to my stomach, keeping my back flush against the wall, as Rob keeps my legs open, baring me to him. He watches with sick amusement as the shower gel runs down my body and slips between my legs. I try to close them, and I try to shake my head as a wave of bubbles rushes over my face. I take in a deep breath, breathing in scented water and choking on a mouthful of bubbles.
I’ve tried not to feel anything, I’ve tried to block it all, but I scream when the bottle rips me in two. Rob has shoved it inside me, and he’s laughing as my body trembles with pain. The bottle is hard, unforgiving and punishing, and I scream until my lungs burn when he begins ramming it into me.
“Too much?” he asks, halting his movements. My pussy clenches around the bottle, but there is no arousal. There is no deviant desperation without Cooper, just the need to get this foreign object out of me. “I just wanted to make sure we opened you up for cleansing.”
“W-what?” I stutter beyond the water cascading over my face. “Please, no.”
My plea falls on deaf ears and both men laugh, Rob capturing my teary gaze before he narrows his eyes and squeezes. A thick spurt of shower gel fills the cavity and I feel it sticking to the walls of my pussy, making everything inside me sludgy and sticky. He continues to push the bottle in and out of me, until I feel the soap drip out, with any and all remains of Cooper’s seed. Knowing I lack all ability to fight, as my feet fall numb, my legs burn from holding my weight, and my entire body screams for relief, Brad raises his hand to squeeze my nipple, using his thumb to foam the soap and wash me thoroughly. My skin burns, my flesh wishing it could slide away from the bone to escape this torture.
“Do you want some relief, Caterpillar?” Brad asks, leaning in to bite my ear and whisper into it. “Do you want the bottle out of your filthy cunt?”
I give in, so easily beaten into submission and nod, shaking my
head to get the wet hair out of my face. With a sneer, Brad grabs my neck; the bottle tears from my body, violent pins and needles surge up the length of my legs, and I’m forced to my stomach on the floor of the cubicle. The bottle huffs as the last remains of shower gel hit my back, then I flinch when the bottle hits my head and the empty plastic collides with the tile. Empty, just like me, despite the pools of shower gel oozing from inside me, the ribbons of blue aiding Rob as he drags me to the centre of the cubicle and positions me spread-eagled. I don’t have the energy to fight, the burning heat in my core rendering me numb and useless. I don’t move when two pairs of hands spread the soap over my body, smearing it over my back, massaging it into my shoulders, and using it to squash my cheek into the tiles as one pair scrubs at my scalp. I close my eyes, waiting for it to end. Either they’ll stop, or I’ll die. At this point, I’ll take either option. A pair of hands, rougher than the other and I know they’re Brads, squeeze my hips, digging his thumb into the bottom of my spine and sliding down. No! I know how much anal penetration hurts when Cooper fucks me, but with these brutes? I’ll break. Physically. I won't survive it. I won't be able to walk again. I won't be able to breathe without remembering what they’ve done. Brad sits on top of my legs, one hand on my back to keep me still, and shallow grunting sounds out. He’s naked, his vile body sliding against mine as he pumps his dick and squeezes my arse. I don’t have the energy to yelp when he spanks me, when he hits me over and over again until my flesh sings with agony. I can feel him rutting against me, tugging his dick with sharp, rough movements. He grunts like an animal, breathes like a beast, and squeezes me like a vice. I close my eyes and wait for the inevitable.
“We have to mark you, sweetheart.” Rob smacks the back of my head to make sure I’m conscious. I stir, but don’t move. “We have to make sure you’re branded with us.”
Because I’m not already? Because they haven’t commanded every inch of me? My stomach clenches, the internal bruising travelling outwards and making my stomach smart.
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