Shackled (The Lord Series) by Amy T

Olivia

The night passes agonizingly slow, and | alternate from being cold to being hot and from conscious to unconscious, my body

throbbing in pain. | vomited a few times, probably sacid, as | don’t remember when | ate or drank the last time. When more

bile rises to my throat, | turn my head to the side, and more vomit gets into my hair and into the blanket, the smell making me

even sicker.

| never thought | would miss Jason. Not him in particular, but my room from his apartment. | had a small stash of prescribed drugs

and salcohol, and | would get smashed at least once a week while | watched sappy movies.

| just need a bottle of booze and a joint, and | will relax enough to slip inside my mind and not feel anything anymore.

With that in mind, | pull on the restraints until my wrists and ankles are bleeding, but Jasper locked the cuffs tight, and it is

impossible to escape them. What's worse is that my bladder is killing me, but | don’t even dare think about peeing myself. Rueben

would probably cut out my kidneys and shove them down my throat.

There was a twhen Rueben didn’t absolutely hate me. A twhen we could laugh together or talk about...the future. But |

destroyed all of that in one moment. My heart aches, not for me, but for Camila and the life she never got

to experience because of me.

| hate my very existence, and | hope Rueben will finally find speace once he kills me.

Close to morning, | start to feel so cold, my body shakes uncontrollably, and | can no longer control my bladder. My cheeks turn red

with shame, and | consider calling out for help, but experience has taughtthat no onees to my rescue, no matter how hard

| scream. So | lay there under a cold pool of my own urine and pray that Rueben leaveshere until | take my last breath, which

doesn’t seem too far off, as my chest hurts so badly, each breath is agony.

The sunlight finally filters through the window, hittingin the face. | cast a glance out the window, a wooden fence. in front of it

and beyond it a pasture, and | think | see a beautiful black horse with white stars all over its back running before | fall into a

dreamless sleep.

“Olivia,” someone says my nloudly as they shake my shoulder, trying to wakeup. Jasper?

| know | have to obey, but | am finally out of pain, and memories no longer torment me, and | want to keep sleeping.

“She is burning up,” Jasper says next.

Am 1?

Did | die and end up in hell, where | belong? But if so, why do | feel so cold? Even my teeth are chattering.

“Being a wh ore must have finally caught up with her,” another says as the blanket is suddenly yanked away fromand my left

leg pulled to a side, “Rueben is not wrong when he says she has a diseased cu nt.”

Diseased cu nt? | was never called that before, but it’s not a lie, not after all the things | was forced to do with men, but it still hurts

to know what others think of me.

E

Olivia

“Did she p iss herself?”

Oh. My. G od.

My eyes open and dart around the room, but everything is spinning, and my head feels like it's about to explode, | am still alive,

still breathing.

Jasper and one of his blood-brothers stand next to the bed, probably looking with disgust at the mess | made.

“I'm sorry,” | croak. “I tried to be good....” | did, | really did, but the room is so cold.....

A wave of nausea hits me, and | close my eyes, not wanting to vomit again, and | hear, “You should have tried harder,

dumb bi tch.”

“Guess detox is a pain in the a ss,” Jasper says as he opens the handcuffs, then he picksup, a hand resting under

my bare a ss, sending stabs of pain all over my body.

He is wearing a tank top, and | rest my cheek against his shoulder. “You are freezing,” | tell him.

“| cstraight here after | took care of Juniper.” Who is Juniper? Another woman? Maybe from last night? “The

stable is pretty cold today.”

He keeps the poor woman in the stable? | want to ask, but it's not my place to question them. But if they have another woman,

maybe they won't want to f**k me. Jasper wasn’t interested yesterday. Maybe he is interested in this Juniper person, and he won't

touch me? It is wishful thinking, but | hate sex and men touching me, but | am also a really awful person to be relieved Jasper is not

f**kingwhen he could be harming Juniper. Why am | so awful? | hate myself so da mn much. My self-loathing grows daily, and

my only thoughts are to end my pitiful existence.

Next, Jasper says, “Tyson, help her take a shower.”

“Why me?” Tysonplains.

“Because | am cleaning the bed,” Jasper huffs. “Or you can do it.”

Tyson snarls, “I will take care of the bi tch.”

| don’t have to be a genius to know he absolutely hates having to help me. Tyson takesto the bathroom and hasstand in

the middle of it. | am so dizzy and weak that | fall to my knees. My ribs feel like they are on fire. At least the floor is cold, and | rest

my right cheek against it.

“Good G od! | don’t know why Rueben insists on keeping you around,” Tyson snarls as he dragsinto the shower and turns it on,

a waterfall of cold water falling on top of me. | curl up in a ball. “St*pid bi tch, you gotall dirty. Now |

stink like a bum.”

‘lam sorry,” | want to say, but everything hurts, and the water keeps falling on top of me.

“Get your as s up and wash yourself!” he orders me.

POSTMENT

Priscilla Klingman

Tyson is so inhumane treatment of an incapacitated women. He is clearly not helping. Helping involves being hands on and he is

not hands on.