Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
I kiss him back now, feeling an urgency that wasn’t there before. His hands are wandering, and so are mine. It’s like we’re drawn to each other in a new way now and our joining is the only thing that matters.
I struggle, getting out from underneath him, and then I straddle his hips, pressing my hands down on his chest as he looks up at me with lust-filled eyes.
“That’s it. That’s exactly it, Olive. Keep going.”
The voice startles me and my head whips to the right. “Brose?”
“Keep going,” Shep says. “It feels good. Keep going.”
“Yeah, Olive,” Brose says. He’s leaning against the cell wall with his arms crossed and that smug smirk on his face, his words deadpan. “Keep going, Olive. We’re almost there.”
27 - Shep
“What the fuck is going on in there?” Collin’s voice comes booming through some kind of loudspeaker, making me pull away from Olive’s forceful kiss. “Olive! What the hell are you doing?”
I want to say it’s not her fault, but I can’t because she won’t stop kissing me. I try and push her back because this is just not right. There are cameras everywhere and Collin is clearly pissed.
But I can’t push her off me. She’s strong and leaning into my chest with all her weight. Then her lips are right up next to my ear. “Guess what?” Her voice is weird. Different. So I don’t answer. “You’re mine now, Ean Shephard. All mine. And there’s a rule when you belong to someone.”
“What?” I manage to gasp out.
“The rule. I think for you. You act for me.”
Suddenly, I’m dizzy. The whole room begins to spin. My head goes light and I feel like I’m floating, but when I look around, I’m not. I’m lying on the mattress with Olive on top of me. “See,” she says. “Doesn’t it feel good?” And then she puts her hand across my throat. Her palm isn’t that big, but it doesn’t take much pressure to compress an airway. I want to throw her off of me, but a ringing sounds in my head, distracting me from everything else that’s going on. It’s sharp nearly to the point of being painful.
And then there’s a voice. A voice I haven’t heard in many years. “Do you remember me, Shep?”
For a moment, I’m not here. I’m not in the cell. I’m not on the Edge Compound. I’m in a dark, black room. There’s just enough light to make rippling waves across the four black walls. Like it’s being reflected off a pool of water.
When I look down, I realize that’s because I’m lying down in a shallow pool of water. It covers the entire floor of the room.
“Do you remember me, Shep?” the voice asks again.
I do, but I don’t either. So I say, “No.”
“That’s OK,” she says. “All you need to remember is the rule. And the rule is, I think for you, you act for me. Can you say it back for me?”
“You think for me, I act for you.”
“That’s right. That’s very good, Shep. You’re a good, good boy. And you’re going to get lots of rewards when this is over and you come home.”
“Home?” I ask.
“Home,” she says. “But not yet. We’re not done here. Olive is taking my place in your head. She’s your new handler.”
“What?” I’m starting to feel sick. Like I might throw up.
“Don’t panic,” the voice says. “You’re fine. You’re not even going to notice the difference. She and I are the same person as far as you’re concerned. It’s all going to work out just fine as long as you remember the rule.”
“You think for me, I act for you.”
“Yes,” Olive says. And suddenly, the room with the water is gone and I’m back in the cell.
Time was going in slow motion, or something, because Olive is still on top of me, her hand pressed against my throat.
She choked me.
She fucking choked me and I passed out!
Holy shit!
Rational and logical thinking return at the same moment that the door to the jail flies open and Collin and Amon are coming in heavy with a whole team of men behind them. “Get away from her!” Collin is yelling. “Get away from her!”
I start protesting, trying to get to my feet as Olive once again presses her fingers into my airway. Even though she’s tiny compared to me, she grips hard enough and with enough force to bring the stars and encroaching darkness.
“Do you know what to do?” the voice asks.
Immediately, when I hear these words, I’m back in the black pit of a room filled with water. I’m looking up at the ceiling where tiny pinpricks of light are shining down on me.
The woman leans in to my field of vision. “Hi, handsome. I bet you never thought you’d see me again.”
“Who are you?”
She smiles, whispering, “I’m the puppet master, of course.” And something about her tone, or her look, or maybe just the fact that she called herself the puppet master makes me recoil.