The urge to hide away was strong. In my post nut clarity, the sins of the last handful of minutes washed over me and I felt strongly about it. I was pretty sure the look of regret had even reached my face, based on how quickly after looking at my face, he shoved me away from him, cursing.

“Get the fuck out of my bed,” He snapped, and pushed me even further away from him. This time, I fell off the bed and onto the floor. I barely had time to process the situation, and he was still screaming at me, this time with a hunting knife in his hand.

My legs barely carried me out of the room as I bolted, the t-shirt still the only thing on my body. It wasn’t until I got under the blankets in the room; he gave me. I realized I was shaking. Thank God it was cold, so I couldn’t be sure if it was from that or actually being fearful that he would hurt me with that knife. Pulling my hand through my hair, I let out a shaky breath and wanted to scream in frustration.

Eventually, I was going to get hungry and would have to leave this room and face him. Rolling up in the blanket, it was cold on all my exposed skin. As if on cue, I felt hungry and cursed myself for even thinking about it. Standing up, I kept the blanket wrapped around me as I went to the kitchen. Sebastian was in the kitchen, another man with him talking as if they hadn’t even noticed me standing there. The knife from the bedroom was laying open on the table, and I was worried about getting any closer to him at this point. This man was a walking mood swing, and right now he was armed.

“Leave us. I’ll deal with this afterwards.” He said, and the man left the kitchen, carefully walking around me. He turned his attention to me. “Come sit. I’ll make you something to eat.” Slowly, he stood up, and his eyes tracked me as I avoided getting too close to him in the kitchen. Sitting in the chair, I watched him while he moved around the space.

“Earlier, I shouldn’t have pointed the knife at you.” He muttered, and if hadn’t been actively paying attention to him, I would have missed him speaking. I swallowed, the dryness in my mouth still there.

“Could I have a drink?” I choked out, and he stopped what he was doing to get me a glass of water, setting it on the table, an arm’s length away from me. Reaching out for the glass, he grabbed my wrist, and I tried to yank my hand back, but I couldn’t.

“You don’t need to be so damn jumpy, Rhory. I won’t stab you. At least not with that.” He chuckled, and I was pretty sure I paled. He let me go and went back to cooking whatever it was. He set the plate of eggs, toast, and bacon down in front of me before he handed me a fork.

“Do you have a smaller fork?” I muttered. The fork in my hand was like a pitchfork. I wanted a salad fork.

“There’s something wrong with my forks now, too?” He muttered, before he went to the drawer and pulled out every single fork he owned before setting them out in front of me. They were all this damn big.

“Salad fork.” I muttered.

“You want a damn salad fork, Rhory?” he muttered, and I could tell he was actually getting annoyed. But he took the time to look further into the drawers and eventually found a disposable plastic fork that was smaller. He put away the other forks and gave me the plastic one. “Now eat.”

Eating in silence, he was texting someone while I ate, and it wasn’t until I was almost done eating that he made a move at all. Chewing the toast in my mouth, I was grateful he could cook.

“Are you full?”

“Yes. Thank you.” I said and picked up my plate to bring it to the sink, abandoning my warm blanket cocoon and forgetting about my lack of clothing underneath. Sebastian muttered to himself that I needed pants and took off with the knife back to his room, I assumed. He returned with loose black lounge pants, and that was it. There were no boxers along with them. This man wanted me to go naked underneath.

“I’ve sent someone out to get you something you’ll need. Boxers included, and until they arrive, you will just have to make do with these.” He said, and handed the pants to me, watching as I pulled them on and tied them up. “I have some things I need to take care of, so someone will come to watch you, relax, and I should be back within a few hours at the most.”

I nodded and went to the couch, taking the blanket with me. Tossing it over me, I curled up on the couch, with the fancy tv remote in my hand, watched Sebastian until he left. The man who came to watch me was quiet, and avoided even looking me in the eye, and it made me feel weird. I would have preferred him to say something.

After figuring out the tv, I spoke. “You can come sit down. I don’t imagine you want to spend the next few hours standing in the same spot. I won’t tell him if you relax either, hell I would prefer that you do.”

He just nodded before he came to sit down and he within just a minute looked right at home, comfortable and invested in the tv too.

“Can I ask you a few things?” I said. The man narrowed his eyes at me, but didn’t say that I couldn’t. I mean, he didn’t say I could either, but that was a technicality.

“Um, does his mood always change so quickly? I mean...” I said, trying to be careful about my words.

The man suddenly let out a chuckle. “I’ve known Bastian my entire life. We grew up together. He is prone to mood swings. They get far worse in the winter months; we all just grin and bear it. You would be wise to do the same.”

“Great to know.” I muttered.

Sebastian returned midway through the third movie; the enforcer watching me had passed out in the corner of the other couch. Sebastian reached out to hit him, but I spoke.

“Leave him, please. He’s tired.”

“He’s supposed to be watching you,” he snapped.

“He was. He only just fell asleep a little while ago. Besides, its not like I was going to run away anywhere. I have no shoes, and frankly, I’m comfortable here wrapped up on the couch.” I yawned before snuggling down further into the blanket.

“I have some paperwork to put away in my office, wake him up and send him back home. He’ll be embarrassed if I do it, I’m sure.” He said, before walking off.

I waited for another ten minutes before I wiggled out from under the blanket and off the couch to wake him up. After one good shake, he woke up and rubbed his face. He looked around before I heard him muttering under his breath about falling asleep on the job.

“Sebastian is home now. He asked me to send you home so you can get proper rest. I asked him to let you rest a little longer.” I said, and he looked at me and barely hid the shock on his face.

“Thank you, I think.”

“Ah, you looked like you could use the rest, and I wasn’t planning to run away, so I’m sure he will just brush this under the rug.” I said, softly.

He nodded and stood up, fixing his clothing before he went towards the office and went to speak to Sebastian. I couldn’t help but shake my head and think about how stupid it was to enter that office. Hell, Sebastian was going to hit that man less than twenty minutes before. Whatever happened, it wasn’t my concern now.

I closed my eyes; letting the warmth of the blanket put me to sleep — well, almost. The sound of yelling, smashing, and fighting jarred me back to reality. Sitting up, I looked around, and a stack of files lay on the table. But the yelling was from the kitchen, along with the scent of something being cooked, too. Carefully, I got out from under the blankets and wobbled to the kitchen.

This morning’s knife was firmly wedged into the table and two gentlemen on the other side of the table from where Sebastian was looked like they might have actually pissed themselves when he did that.

Sebastian turned and was clearly ready to lay into the two guys again, but saw me and didn’t. “Come here, Rhory.” Looking at the knife in the table, and back at him. I made my way to him, and he shoved something into my mouth. “Chew.”

Chewing what he put into my mouth it was sweet, tangy and slightly spicey, but it was meat, and it was great. The slow burn, like a good chili, the flavour lingered long after I’d swallowed. I wanted more. He slipped another piece into my mouth before I could ask and went back to cooking.

The two men at the table had said nothing or even moved since I came into the kitchen.

“Rhory, take your blanket back to your room and make the bed.” He said and pushed me toward my room. I knew he was sending me away because he was probably going to keep screaming at those guys, and I was grateful I didn’t have to witness it.

With my blanket in hand, I went to my room and set to making the bed. Shaking out the blanket, I laid it on the bed and tucked in the end corners.

A scream like I had never heard before filled the house, and it made all my hair stand on end. It wasn’t just a regular scream. This was a death scream or something pretty damn close.

After double checking the bed, I slowly crept back out to the kitchen and, before I could get a good look at the kitchen, Sebastian blocked my view. “We’re going to eat out. I broke the stove.” He said, but on his shirt, there was blood spatter. I touched the spots, and the bloodstained my fingertips.

“If the food is fine.... I’ll still eat it.” I said, distracted by the blood on my fingers.

This was someone’s blood.