"You know me?" the word let go of my hands reached her tongue but she gulped them down with her saliva. She could not trust him, but she had nowhere else to go. If she was in for a wager, she was going to take it.
"Wait.. you are the girl from the carriage." he stared at her small scratch in her hands and scowled, "you are a fool to do that. Does it not hurt?" Did it hurt?
She looked at the wound as if she was looking at it for the first time. Perhaps she was! But why did it matter? It was not the first time she was wounded, not the last.
She got injured all the time in her work, in her house by her father, by others. She ignored the bitter taste of her mouth and concentrated on him again.
He was staring at her wound. Then he took off his gloves and He rubbed it slowly as if he wanted to soothe it. It was hard to believe that he was behaving so kindly to her when he called her guttersnipe just a few hours before and looked at her as if she was filthy. She was! But what changed him?
"It did not hurt." she lied, not exactly. So many complex emotions were consuming her that she did not know what she was feeling. "I need your help." she hoped that he was the one her mother had called for. He would help her.
He let go of the small scratch. Other ladies would have cried their lungs out if they had been wounded half than this. But he noticed that she was not lying when she said that it did not hurt. He noticed how she was dressed up as a harlot.
That was one of the reasons he had taken her as a night girl. Her body looked cleaner than before but it smelled worse. Full of cheap scent and powders that… he ignored the profanities. She was the key he was looking for. He did not care if she was dressed in rags. For he would change her clothes soon.
But he had to make sure that she was what he was looking for and she would cooperate with him.
"Is that why you have written the letter to me?" he asked, rubbing her palm this time and he noticed how her breath hitched by the small action. Perhaps she was not that experienced for this job. But just then his eyes fell on the mark of her neck.
And his eyes narrowed. It was the freshly love bite and she was dressed like this. She was.. He gasped. He could not bring a harlot with her to claim the position. She was of no value to him.
He let go of her hands as if the touch burnt him suddenly. She frowned at the change of attitude. Just a while ago, he was looking at her as if he had found a hidden treasure and now.. But she bit the question back for she was in no condition to hear a refusal.
"Will you help me? I will return the favor later. You know who I am right?" she asked, pressing as she tried to hold his hands again but he pulled them away to create some distance. With her peripheral vision, she noticed Dallon coming closer and her breath hitched.
"I thought you had come looking for me." She pressed with a pleading gaze but he looked at her with a conflicted gaze. Humiliation filled her again the way his eyes lingered on her skin that she wanted to cover her body, hide herself from it but she stood straighter instead and braced his look as if he was the one at fault for looking at her like that.
She felt a tap on her shoulders and then a gentle pull.
"Did she disturb this gentleman? I apologize for her actions." Dallon smiled charmingly at the rich bloke as he made sure that she was not able to move. She was not able to do anything funny but her eyes still pleaded to him and a look of misery started to shroud her.
"Please save me." she whispered without a sound coming from her mouth, knowing well that he was still looking at her.
But he did not move, he did not reply back. He kept looking at her as if he was in trance. She closed her eyes, disparity filling her when Dallon truend her and gripped her tightly, digging his nails into her skin and leaning closer.
"You have lost the bet, Abi. now be a good girl and give a good show to the public." he wanted her to suck him and he wanted to do it in public. The thought brought acid to her mouth. Her bile rose and she felt like throwing up.
"Please, not here." was all she could muster since she knew even begging would not change her fate now. As long as it was in a room, she would try to endure. Or perhaps.. There was a window. Oh foolish Abi, you would never give up on hopes. Would you? She sneered at herself when he laughed.
"What made you think that you still have a choice." he snickered at her when she acted weak, "were you not being so arrogant before. What happened, did your ego hurt when the man did not pay any attention to you?" she scowled when he pulled her hair hard and winced. Her eyes closed barely for a second and then, she raised her leg to kick him. If she was going to die with his hands, at least she should put up a last fight. But he held her leg as if he was prepared for it.
"You bitch. You are finally showing your true colors. Hmm? But I have handled a lot like you. I am not Mark or your father. I am the hell you deserve."