GAME OF PRETEND

“Are we gonna talk about it?”

“Let’s pretend what happened, didn’t,” I suggest.

“I’m down for a game of pretend.” He shrugs, still looking out at the brick garden.

“Good.” I release the breath I choked back when he mentioned our wet, naked encounter.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t want to take you right there in the bathroom.” He turns toward me, his arms crossed on the table, and leans in. “I’ll pretend I didn’t want to bend you over the sink, press your face into the mirror, and fuck you until you release all over me.”

And I’ll pretend I didn’t want you to.

“Greier.”

“Don’t worry, Rae.” He sits back in his chair again. “I know the deal.”

Black Magnolia

2.13.18

⚜ ♔ ⚜ MIDNIGHT SPECIAL ⚜ ♔ ⚜

“Maybe I should’ve gone with him.”

Her comment stuns me.

I’m disgusted and hurt she’d even consider going back to that scumbag. But I remind myself this isn’t Rae talking. Not my Rae. This is her father, her mother, years of brainwashing and training.

“Why would you say that?”

Her arms still folded around herself, she strolls over to the open terrace doors and stares out toward the alley. “We wouldn’t be here. You’d be safe, and I’d be…”

“His prisoner, Reagan,” I cut her off, finished entertaining to the drivel coming from her mouth. “You’d be his fucking prisoner. He doesn’t love you. You’re an object to him, something to possess. His daddy bought you for him, remember? And if you went back, that’s all you’d ever be—” I walk over to her from behind, wrapping myself around her, “when you’re so much more.” Her head flops back against my shoulder with a sigh. I set my mouth in her midnight hair. “I’d rather die than let him cage you.”

“Why are you hell-bent on saving me?” she questions with a sad playfulness and a tremor in her voice, as if she’s dreading the answer.

“It’s my blessing and my burden,” I reply as I had before, but this time, I’d sign my soul to the devil if it meant her safety.

⚜ ♔ ⚜ UNTIL DEATH ⚜ ♔ ⚜

“He’s dangerous, Rae. A monster. Wealthier than God. And darker than the devil. He isn’t gonna give you up. In his mind, you belong to him.”

   She peers into nothingness and whispers without emotion, “Until death do us part.”

    The words tear down my spine.

RUN AWAY FEBRUARY 13, 2018