Damaged Queen (Darkness Within Duet 2)

“Please go away,” Harper said. “I know you mean well, but it doesn’t stop you from being the woman that caused my mother to kill herself. I’m sorry for what happened to you, but we’re never going to be friends or have a relationship. Please, leave.”

“I’ll go and get Draven.”

“No!”

She was already going, and Harper couldn’t sit up. She couldn’t roll over or do anything.

She was trapped, and she fucking hated it. Screaming into the pillow, she moved toward the drawer and looked inside for anything.

“Don’t even think about it,” Draven said, slamming the drawer closed before she could pull anything out from inside.

Not that she knew what she was looking for.

“Leave me alone.”

“I’m not leaving you to do anything. You’re going to end up killing yourself,” Draven said.

Ignoring the pain, she dropped to the floor. She would try to leave. Getting to her feet, she stared at him. Her legs were like jelly, and she glared at him, aware of how naked she was.

“I want to leave.”

“You’re not leaving.”

She lunged at him. Using her nails, she wanted to claw his eyes out, to make him howl in pain.

He overpowered her. Draven held her hands away from him, and she growled, hating how weak she felt, knowing how easy it was for him to control her.

“I hate you,” she said.

“I hate you too.”

“Let me go. You’re a fucking monster.”

He pushed her to the bed, and she screamed. Tears filled her eyes, and he cursed.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You whipped me!” She yelled the words in his face, finding the strength to fight back. “You got them to whip me. What happened to you?”

He didn’t answer.

Draven stood up, and she got to her feet. Glancing behind her, she saw the bed had red streaks.

“They had started to heal. Lie back down. I’ll apply more ointment on your back.”

“Fuck you.” She sniffled.

Walking away from him, she looked in the mirror. Just as she started to look, Draven stood in front of her.

“I want to see the damage you’ve done.”

He did no more than slam his fist against the glass. She didn’t get a chance to see as the glass shattered, shards of glass falling to the carpet.

“Real mature.”

“Now you can’t see.”

“There’s more than one mirror in the house. You can’t hide it from me for much longer.”

“Just lie on the bed and let me take care of you.”

She wanted to argue, but seeing no point in doing so, she got on the bed and lay down.

Draven moved toward her, and she turned her head away from him.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

She gritted her teeth, refusing to give him even an inch. She wanted him dead. She wanted to be the one to kill him, to murder him and for him to know what true pain and anger really felt like.

“I’m going away for a few days. I’ve got business to deal with. Hannah and Ian are going to stop by and keep an eye on you.”

“I don’t want them here.”

“You don’t have a choice. I’m not allowing you out of my sight. The guards know you’re not allowed to leave. Your father would like to see you. He’s worried.”

She finally turned to look at him then. “Are you worried in case I take my own life? You think I’m like my mother?”

Draven’s jaw clenched. He didn’t say anything, but she saw it. He was concerned, and now he was trying to combat it.

Releasing a breath, she looked away, hating him.

Counting to ten, she refused to even allow herself to like his touch, to like anything he did for her.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

So easy to do. She kept on doing it inside her head as tears leaked out of her eyes.

Once he was done, he sat down beside her.

“Please leave.”

“I know you’re hurting.”

“Have you been strung to a whipping post?” she asked. “Have you been punished with a beating?”

“Yes. As a boy my father liked to mete out his own kind of punishments to make sure he wasn’t dealing with pussies. As you can imagine, that wasn’t easy to live with.”

She turned to look at him, hoping he saw the anger that she felt.

“And now you’re dishing it out to a woman you blame for your friends’ deaths. I had nothing to do with Buck or Jett. I tried to stop it.”

“When are you going to stop with all the lies?” he asked.

“When are you going to get your head out of your ass and realize your father is the one that lied? Not me. I was the innocent one in all of this. The only reason I left was to make sure you were all safe.”

Draven got up, and she growled in frustration.

“Just like a man. You can’t handle the truth so what you do is run away. Well, run, Draven. Go ahead, pretend that I’m the one that lies instead of your father, instead of everyone who lied to you. I’m the only one that told you the truth through everything. You know that, and you couldn’t handle that.”