Chapter 16
“You’re a monster,” I spit, my anger burning through the haze of pain and fear. “And a coward.”
He looks utterly unfazed by my comment. “I’m also going to be incredibly fucking rich.”
“All of this, staging a fake research trip, putting the rest of us in danger—it was all for money?”
He scoffs, pretending to look offended, “Not just any money, sugar. Government money.”
“We discovered the only other sentient species in the universe, you dipshit,” I say, aghast, nearly choking on the words. “Money was never going to be a problem. There was practically a Nobel with your name on it!”
Stan’s laugh is harsh and vile. “And share the winnings? How juvenile. Believe me, there are plenty of people out there willing to pay a hell of a lot more.”
“Our entire team is dead!” I shout, my voice cracking with anger and grief.
Stan begins taking slow, calculating steps toward me. “And whose fault is that?” He reaches my bedside and starts walking his fingers up my bare leg. “After all, it was your scaly little boy toy who tore those boys to shreds.”
I shake my head wordlessly, fighting off the tears stinging my eyes. Stan continues, letting his hands tug up the hospital gown I’d been changed into, slowly revealing more and more bruised and mottled skin. “How does hearing that make you feel? Knowing that you’re the reason all those men are dead?”
A tear trails down my cheek. “No.”
“Yes,” Stan says, balling the hospital gown in his fist but stopping just shy of ripping it off my body. “But that begs the question, why not you? What makes you so special?”
“I’m not,” I mumble.
Stan slaps me hard on the thigh. I hiss in air through my teeth at the sting. “I’m not!” I shout. And it’s true. I’m not some chosen one selected by Wake to bridge the gap between our peoples—I’m just the only one who tried.
“What were you doing in the tank last night?” Stan demands.
“You already know what I was doing,” I snap, and he smacks me again in the exact same spot. This time, I audibly cry out. “I was examining him! He was injured. A shark bite on his right upper bicep.”
“Liar,” Stan sneers, pinching my inner thigh. I shriek. “I got a real good look at that fucker this morning, and I think I would have noticed a goddamn shark bite.”
Panting, I hiss, “What can I say? He’s got a hearty disposition. You wouldn’t understand.”
Like the serpent he is, Stan snakes his hand up the inside of my gown and grabs hold of my breast, pinching the nipple in a vice grip, making me gasp. He lets out a disgustingly earnest moan.
“Damn, I love how fucking responsive you are to me, baby,” he whispers, momentarily releasing the stranglehold on my nipple to knead my breast in his hand. “You and I could bring this whole goddamn world to its knees…if only you would cooperate.”
On a dime, Stan returns to pinching my nipple, twisting so painfully that it makes me arch off the bed, whimpering. “Where was it taking you?” he demands.
“I don’t know!” I gasp, “I don’t know!”
Stan wrenches my nipple even harder. “Where the fuck was that thing taking you? Are there more of them out there?”
I let out a shuddering whimper. “I swear, Stan, I don’t know!”
Abruptly, Stan releases me, his cold dead eyes never leaving mine as he slides his hand back down my sweat-slicked body, stopping over my hips to dip his hand between my legs. Pure, reptilian instinct slams my legs shut, trapping Stan’s hand just short of its goal.
“Listen to me, you fucking animal,” I sneer. “I am not lying to you. Wake can hardly speak more than a few words of English. He couldn’t tell me anything about himself if he wanted to.”
Stan leans in, a triumphant look on his face. “Wake, huh? So, it’s got a name after all,” he purrs menacingly. “So, you have been holding out on me.”
“No! Stop!” I shout, as he moves. “Help!”
I try my hardest to lock my legs together, but Stan wrenches my thighs apart, leaving my most intimate parts completely exposed to him. He eyes me greedily, “Now, this is more like it.”
“You can’t do this to me, you asshole! Someone help me!” I shout, my struggles growing more desperate. I just need someone to hear me…anyone. “Wake!”
I don’t know what makes me call Wake’s name, knowing that it’s unlikely that he’s close enough to hear. By some miracle, though, it’s enough to make Stan pause, even if he only does so to mock me.
“Calling me by another man’s name? Baby, it’s almost like you want to hurt my feelings,” he chuckles. “Lucky for us both, your fishman is dead.”
I stop…stop struggling, stop breathing, stop thinking. “Wh…what did you just say?”
Wake, he…he can’t be…
Stan’s cruel smile turns vindictive, “The Little Merman’s gone belly up, love.”
No, no, no! “You idiot,” I hiss, my throat too swollen with scalding hot tears to speak any louder. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“Oh, I know exactly what I did.” He moves to place an arm on either side of my head, caging me in, “I just proved who the dominant species is once and for all.”
My body moves faster than my mind does, utilizing the only weapon I have left at my disposal, as I whip my head forward. There’s a sick crunch as my forehead connects with Stan’s nose.
“Gah! Fuck!” Stan screams, tripping backward as a river of blood spurts from his broken nose. “You stupid cocksucking bitch!”
Stan cocks back his arm, and I shut my eyes, bracing for the impact of his clenched fist across my face. Only, it doesn’t come.
Before Stan can retaliate, the door to my room opens.
A slender, blonde man in a white lab coat and square black-rimmed glasses steps in and stills as he takes in the scene. Edgy silence stretches between the three of us, each one too tense to move a muscle, until the newcomer calmly reaches up to adjust his glasses and clears his throat.
“Ahem, Mr. Wilcox, am I interrupting?”
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
