Chapter 8

The ache within her shoulder-blades woke her up. She was still on her side, but now clutched a pillow to her chest. Any second now she’d hear her phone’s alarm go off, telling her it was time to start the morning shift at her dad’s restaurant. Charlie and Jack would be there, the two Sunday brunch brother regulars who took turns hitting on her. She put up with them because they tipped well. If it was supposed to be nice out after her shift, she’d call Aubrey and maybe they could go swimming at the quarry, then catch a flick at the movies later. There was a new horror movie out she wanted to see, though she doubted it would compare to...

Her train of thought faltered. This bed didn’t smell like hers. She didn’t just sleep with one thin sheet. She usually piled on two to three blankets, even in the dead of summer. She opened her eyes, then squeezed them shut again, willing herself to go back to sleep when she realized where she was. Jason’s home. Jason was near. Her back still stung, but it was a far cry from the agony she’d experienced at the time the injuries were in the making. Her hand snaked down between her thighs to gingerly touch herself, barely brushing a fingertip along the little petals of her sex. That didn’t really hurt at all, but the memory of what he’d done to her made her wince anyway. What had he cut, when he’d done that? She hugged the pillow tighter, then opened her eyes again.

Jason snapped awake and looked towards the clock at his bedside. 11:07am. It was a bit later than his usual wakeup time, but not by too much. He rubbed a hand across the stubble on his jaw and sprang out of bed with a morning energy that was unusual for him. Money. Retirement money. Like an obsession, that thought was either on or just beneath the surface of his mind. He took care of his morning business along with a hot shower and stepped out of the room. He looked down the hallway at the guestroom door and paused. To achieve his dream, all he had to do was to destroy an innocent girl. Inwardly he flinched, but he couldn’t understand why. He had seen the life of over a dozen girls brutally snuffed out, why was Echo different? He shoved down whatever he was feeling and slammed the steel door shut. Now wasn’t the time for his emotions to interfere with his lifelong goal.

With his game face back on, he strode towards the door and placed his hand on the biometric security reader. A distinct click came from the sturdy door and Jason proceeded to open the door and enter the room. He froze when he saw her lying on her side and clutching a pillow. A bit of her back was exposed and he could see the edges of the bloodstained bandages. Once again he felt that decidedly unpleasant sensation in the pit of his stomach. He responded to it with anger and compensated by furiously yanking the sheet off her body.

“Rise and shine cupcake! We’ve got things to do!”

Whether it was intentional or not he couldn’t say, but just being around her kept him off balance and he wanted to return the favor.

Echo jerked as cool air gripped her exposed skin, and the iota of calm she felt a moment ago was obliterated. She didn’t waste time leaping to her feet. Fear could really get a person moving, and her last interactions with Jason had scarred her for life. She was climbing over off the side of the bed in an instant, desperate to get away from him, to keep the distance between them. She moved with so much more articulation than anyone who’d endured what she had last night should. Only the film of tears that immediately welled at the rims of her eyes suggested she was still quite sore, still recovering, but more aware of her fear of this man than any pain that was left.

There was a shimmery mixture of anger and submission written in her eyes. She didn’t know how not to let him see it.

What fresh horrors did he have in store for her today? “Like wh-” her voice croaked, so she tried again, “Like what?” It came out a little clearer. She wiped at her eyes a little, playing it off as wiping away the sleep instead of the tears.

Jason was initially surprised at the explosion of motion that brought Echo to her feet. Once he was over this pleasant shock, he grinned as her fluid movements boded well for the success of his experiment. He tried not to linger on the way her perfectly shaped breasts bounced and instead brought his amused gaze up to her teary eyes. He couldn’t quite read the emotion behind those honey brown orbs, but he found he ... liked it.

“Well for one, we need to get you cleaned up.” He decided against saying anything about inspecting her wounds. She was in serious denial last night and he doubted anything had changed since then.

He stepped towards her with an arm outstretched to herd her into the guest bathroom. He didn’t quite touch her with his forearm. She seemed intent on avoiding physical contact with him. He flipped on the vanity light knowing the sudden brightness would sting her eyes and distract her from the removal of her bandages. When the first piece of gauze came off, he broke into an elated smile at the sight of unblemished skin. This first one was the shallowest of cuts and proved without a doubt her healing ability was off the charts. Each subsequent cut showed uncut skin, but progressively darker bruising. The last and deepest cut was the only one showing broken skin along with the most intense discoloration.

He had one last thing to check, but he would wait once they were in the shower.

Echo wanted to get clean, but he was seriously underestimating how contaminated, how dirty she felt after last night. A bath in bleach wouldn’t make her feel any less sullied. However, as he corralled her into the bathroom, a shower or true bath didn’t seem like the worst idea in the world. She was careful to avoid his arm bumping into her, but she didn’t run. The day she decided to run would be the day she accepted the metal collar’s purpose as her fate. Much to her own surprise, she wasn’t there yet.

The light did sting her eyes, but not so much as the sight of herself in the mirror. God, did she look lost. Her lips were a little dry, but the ring of bruises around her neck was gone, as were the marks that had once bloomed so colourfully upon her breasts. Her flank was littered in streaks of crusted blood, though. She startled when she felt him tear off one of the bandages on her back, but instead of looking for a way out, she gripped the edge of the vanity’s countertop and willed herself to stay put. Running might anger him. No more breaking monitors, and she couldn’t fathom the consequences of trying to run.

She waited for him to turn on the shower, since it was his home, not hers. She didn’t bother asking if it was cold or hot when it was time to get in, she just went for it, suddenly so eager to wash away the evidence of what had happened last night.

Jason swiveled and moved towards the full bath and turned on the water. He set the water temperature to as hot as he could handle and then dialed it back a few notches. He looked at her and nodded his head, “Get in.”

After she got into the shower, he let her soak in the hot water for a minute thinking he was going to leave her to wash herself before he disrobed and entered from the opposite side of the shower nozzle. At first she hadn’t noticed him enter since her eyes were closed and the sound of the heavy spray drowned out the subtle sounds of his entrance. He touched her shoulder blade and her body jerked in response. He didn’t need to see her face to know that whatever brief moment of peace she had had just been shattered. His lips twitched into a grin at further keeping her off-balance and keeping her guessing.

His fingers traced a path down her smooth and slick back before he grabbed a bar of soap and worked up a white sudsy lather. He started on her back and covered her in suds before gently scrubbing away the dirt and caked blood accumulated over the past day. He methodically washed her back section by section until she was as clean she was going to get. Next up were her slender arms. Those he made quick work of since they suffered the least of last night’s indignities. He did note that the raw red marks from the cuffs had all disappeared. He stepped in close and pressed his hairless chest into her tender back. At the same time, unsurprising to him and probably a bit unsettling for her, he nestled his hard cock between the cheeks of her ass as he proceed to soap up her front and paying particular attention to her pert breasts. He hadn’t intended to take liberties with her body again, but the silky feel of her hot skin on his fingertips and the look of her glistening body under the hot spray was like a wet dream come true.