Toxic

Without thinking, I shove up the long sleeves of my scrubs as I record his measurements and check the clock as I desperately countdown to my first break. I just got here and I’m already impatient for ten thirty to roll around so I can get fifteen minutes of solitude. 

A shiver runs down my spine, and like the prey I am, I freeze before forcing myself to look to the doorway. I expect to see Vic standing there, watching me. That’s the only explanation I have for the way my whole body freezes and the urgent need to flee takes over. I scan the room, certain he’s there waiting for me to do something wrong. Like breathe without his permission. Instead of my husband’s eyes on me, it’s the inmate’s attention that’s causing my panic. My gaze follows his, and when I move to hide my wrists, his muscles go rigid.

Dark, purpling bruises encircle my wrists from the vicious grip Vic had this morning in bed. Sweat beads on my upper lip, and my ears ring. Frozen in stasis, I can’t think of an appropriate response or excuse—not that I need to give him, of all people, an excuse. After a moment of suspense-laden pause where my eyes flit to his narrowed ones, I turn my back on him and head to the infirmary to call the officers back for their prisoner. Since we always seem to be understaffed, it isn’t uncommon for them to split between both rooms, and right now, I’m cursing that for all it’s worth.

I don’t make it that far. 

I should have known better. Every instinct since I stepped into the room has been telling me to keep my guard up because the moment I took my eyes off him, he’d pounce. 

And, fuck me, it’s exactly what happens.

In the long space of a protracted moment, he’s so close to my back his warmth surrounds me. He pins me between his body and the wall, his front to my back. A stab of profound fear engulfs me, and I can’t control the whimper that explodes from my throat. 

He doesn’t make the mistake of touching me, but the threat is there nonetheless. Which is exactly what he wants me to know. He may be the one behind bars, but he’s the one with the power right now. 

He speaks for the first time, and my body turns to ice. At least I hope it’s ice. The only other explanation is one I won’t even consider.

“Did someone hurt you, little mouse?” His voice is as empty and hard as his gaze was. An abyss of secrets and lies. He shifts but still doesn’t touch me as he leans forward and inhales.

Is he smelling my hair? 

“Is that why you look like you want to crawl back into a hole?”

Words are an impossibility.

It doesn’t seem to matter to him because he goes on speaking. “What’s a girl like you doing in this place anyway? Hmm?”

Touch Her and Die, Stalker, Dubious Consent, Forbidden, Serial Unaliver, Antihero, Morally Grey

Dub Con, Non Con, Rape, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Violence, Graphic Sex