“But, Dad, Travis was trying to—”
“I won’t have this nonsense in my household.”
All I can think to myself is, I’m getting the hell out of this dysfunctional nest of vipers the second I can.
WHEN I WOKE UP, it was pitch dark again. I realized that Leo and I were going to have to mark the time going by, maybe with soap on the bathroom wall, as we had nothing else to do it with. No pen. Zilch. It was the first time I’d been without my cellphone since I could remember. A tinny silence was ringing in my ears. We could hear nothing outside this room, except the odd faint siren going by, or honking of traffic, dim and low in the distance through the triple-glazed windows. All we had was each other and it made me know that I needed Leo. I needed him. I had never needed anyone before. Having a mother as an addict and earning all the money for the entire family can make a person pretty self-reliant. But wealth and money meant shit right now. I sat up, Leo still by my side, fast asleep. A strong smell of food caught in my nostrils.
“Leo,” I whispered. “So sorry but I’m going to have to turn on the light.” I covered his face with the sheet and felt my way to the door. Being so high up meant there were no streetlights to illuminate the room. I couldn’t work out where the strong food aroma was coming from. My imagination? Like when people see a mirage of water in the desert?
The overhead florescent light flooded the bare room and, just beside the door with no handle, were several shopping bags of groceries. Ten or so. I leaped upon them like a kid with candy, not understanding how we had missed our one opportunity to attack our visitor and get the hell out of our prison when we’d had the chance. But we still had that drug in our veins, coupled with weakness for not having eaten for so long—no wonder we’d conked out cold.
I grabbed at the groceries. Mostly tins of things—non-perishable items that would last for years. It made me nervous, the amount of food spilling out of the bags; was this to be our new home? And why? What did my brother want from me? Then I looked at the tins. They were the old-fashioned kind that you needed a can-opener for. My heart sank. Another head-game of Travis’s.
“What’s going on?” Leo groaned—his head buried under a pillow to block out the harsh light.
“Food’s arrived. But—”
“How?”
“Someone shoved it all through the door when we were sleeping.”
“How the fuck did we miss that?”
“I don’t know and it pisses me off. We could have jumped him if we’d been more on the ball.” I pulled out a ready-made roast chicken—which must have been what I’d smelled. Everything was either a tin that couldn’t be opened, or meat. No can opener. Packets of salami, ham, and turkey.
Tears—tears that I didn’t even think I had in me—began to flow out of my stinging eyes. “The bastard.” I could feel my body shake.
“Star, what’s wrong, baby?”
“I don’t eat meat. This is Travis’s power game. He wants to break me.” I sifted through the bags some more. Meat, meat, and more meat. And . . . a family-size pack of condoms. I knew well what that message meant.
Leo jumped up from the mattress. “I’m sorry, is it really that bad, Star? You’re hungry, so eat.”
“I can’t eat an animal that’s been tortured. Suffered in a tiny cage so small it can’t turn around, pumped full of antibiotics, with its beak sawn off and . . . ” I didn’t want to go on. There was nothing worse than a preaching vegan. Each to their own. But I didn’t want to be preached to either.
“You don’t have to watch me eat, but I’m ravenous,” he said. “Give me that chicken, will you? Leo tore his teeth into the cold roast chicken—delicious by his standards, but there wasn’t one single morsel for me here that wouldn’t make me vomit.
I could hear Travis laughing now—a hilarious joke—all on me, his pathetic little sister.
What a sicko.
I skulked off to the bathroom, not knowing where else to go. After brushing my teeth and washing myself, I shuffled back to the bed, pulled the sheet over my head and conjured up the most beautiful image I could: warm Caribbean water and sugar-white sand. A palm tree making dappled shade—me lying beneath. The sound of gently lapping waves. A huge, juicy watermelon.
I tried to lull myself to sleep.
I FELT THE NOW familiar warmth of Leo’s strong body pressed up against me, both of us in the spoon position. He’d turned out the glaring light and we were once again shrouded in darkness. He’d done me the favor of brushing his teeth; I’d heard him for a full fifteen minutes in the bathroom earlier. I could feel his minty breath on my shoulders as he enveloped his muscly arms around my now skinny body, weak with hunger. I was drifting off. I felt whispery kisses on the nape of my neck, as he threaded his fingers through my hair. The rhythm of his breath grew deeper, stronger, and a finger traced down my backbone causing a shiver to run up my spine. My nipples peaked as I sensed the ridge of his rock hard erection press up against me.
“You’re so beautiful, Star,” he whispered in my ear. “I’m sorry about crude things I said earlier—I was just teasing. Just being dirty boy.”
I pretended I didn’t hear. But my body couldn’t help itself. This dirty boy was turning me on. My bottom eased back against him, comforted by his warmth, his proximity. That was all it took to encourage him. His large hands slid around to my front, slowly clinching my waist and up to my breasts. His touch was unexpectedly soft—not the brute I had imagined at all. He rolled his thumb and finger on my nipple and my eyelids started to flutter with desire. I wanted to stop him but couldn’t. I heard myself let out a little moan.
“Oh baby, I know you feel like you’re in Hell right now, but I can take you to Heaven, if you’ll let me.” It was the kind of pick-up line I’d laugh at normally, but coupled with his sensuous touch, it made total sense. Sensuous/sense—my hunger had me almost delirious. I was prone to low sugar levels at the best of times and all I’d had was water. Right now I was in no mood to fight him off.
Leo continued stroking me, his hands traveling south. I felt a finger slip into my panties and rest on my clit. He tapped it lightly. He repeated this several times—the rhythm changing, circling his other hand around my breasts, not touching the nipple. I ached for more, wanting direct contact on my erogenous zones—he knew what he was doing. He was waiting for me to give the okay signal.
“Please,” I heard a girl’s voice whimper that I hardly recognized as my own. I wanted more. My heart was beating erratically. He slipped his finger a few inches further down.
“So wet, my beautiful Star.” His finger eased inside me as his huge erection pressed up against my butt, straining against his boxer briefs. He kissed my neck again, passionate this time, nipping me, as he plunged his fingers in deeper, and he groaned in my ear.
I felt my body turn so that I was facing him, and in the darkness our lips met. My mind was in turmoil—a sort of beautiful chaos—floating, dreaming, transcending earthly reality, but my physical body was giving way. I wanted to control myself, but I just wasn’t sure if I could hold out any longer.
I felt like I was falling . . .
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Falling Star (Beautiful Chaos #2) Page 8
