10

Friends in Low Places

The guard never came.

There was no dinner…but there was no torture either.

I considered myself lucky, even though I was so hungry I actually started to feel sick. My muscles were tightening and turning stiff because I didn’t have the electrolytes for healthy contraction.

I couldn’t even sleep because I was so hungry.

It was a long night. I just had to tell myself that Magnus would return and make sure I had plenty to eat.

When the guard woke me up the next morning, he was still furious. “Bet some cock doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?” He grabbed my boots and threw them right at my face.

I winced when the bottom of the boot hit me right in the cheek.

“Let’s go.”

I got my boots and jacket on then followed him to the clearing, but just the walk was difficult. I was out of breath, shaky, so weak… I didn’t know how I would get through the day. When we made it to the clearing, he nodded to the table. “Get to it.”

Bethany was already preparing the next box.

I went to the table and struggled just to slide it toward me. I opened the box and then slid it into my arms. But I lost my balance, and it almost toppled over, nearly spilling the cocaine everywhere.

Bethany steadied it before it could spill.

“Don’t help her!” he yelled from the other side of the clearing, watching me like an experiment that was about to fail.

I returned the box to the table and breathed hard.

Bethany pretended to be working on her box even though it was ready to go. “What did he do to you?”

“I haven’t eaten in days…” I took a moment to focus my brain, to tell myself that I could do this, that I had to do this. This was exactly what he wanted, to make me so weak that I would be the next victim on that noose…unless I gave him what he wanted.

“Fuck.”

I used my entire body to pick up the box, swaying from the weight, and turned around and slowly made the journey to the table.

The other girls obviously had been watching, so when I came closer, the girl closest to me discreetly helped me get it onto the table, like they’d noticed I didn’t get lunch yesterday and the guard was purposely starving me.

“Thank you,” I whispered under my breath.

When I turned around, my gaze locked on Melanie.

She looked heartbroken, her eyes wet from the tears that quickly evaporated.

I promised her we would get out of here, so I had to keep going.

I had to.

When lunchtime came around, I didn’t get a tray.

Again.

I watched Bethany eat.

She didn’t try to slip me food, because my guard was waiting for the first opportunity to bring someone else down with me—and make me feel even worse. He even came over and stood at the edge of the table, just hovering over us, like he wanted to make sure Bethany didn’t successfully give me anything.

Because he wanted me to break.

I probably wasn’t the first woman he’d done this to.

He didn’t get off on rape. He got off on submission.

If I didn’t want to be the next victim, I’d have to suck his dick.

I literally had to suck his dick to save my life.

I wanted to tell myself that I could keep going, that I didn’t need any food, but if I didn’t get lunch or dinner…I would pass out.

We got back to work, and I was growing weaker by the second. I wasn’t sure how I made it to the end of the day. Time passed so slowly. Every time it felt like three hours had gone by, it’d only been three minutes.

The girls rose from the tables and prepared to return to the cabins.

Bethany walked up to me, a few of the girls at our table coming close and standing nearby. Then Bethany emptied her pockets and stuffed food into my pockets, moving as quickly as she could without dropping anything.

I wanted to cry.

It all happened within ten seconds.

And then the girls walked away…like nothing happened.

In the privacy of my cabin, I ate everything they’d given me.

It was way more food than the contents of a single meal, which meant that several women had given up parts of their meal and handed it over to Bethany to donate to me. There were several pieces of chicken, slices of bread, even a protein bar, grapes, and an entire apple.

Within minutes of finishing everything, I felt better.

I felt alive again.

If I didn’t want the guard to realize what was happening, I had to pretend to be weak, but not so weak that I couldn’t do my job. I couldn’t be the strongest one in the herd, but not the weakest either.

I felt a bit guilty because by not being the weakest one, that meant someone else was, and that meant I would live…and they would die.

Tags: Penelope Sky Chateau Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net