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I looked toward the door where Clara and I shared a rooainst opposite walls When we first ainst the landlord’s rules, I’d asked what paint she’d like to decorate with

Probably a bad idea as I now lived in a purple and pink roo" My ar Clue’s dress on the arone twenty-four hours, but it feels like an eternity"

Clue rubbed o and talk to him, Zelly? What did he promise to make you stay?"

Promises

Every prorumbled from the doorframe of Clue’s room Ben stood dressed in a pair of blue boxer shorts with polished onyx skin and tight black curls

I shot Clue a glare "He’s staying here?"

Cluepuzzle piece "I wanted to ask you Ben’s between homes at the rew round, pleading with one…I didn’t want to be alone I love Clara likehappened--"

So her to the hospital or another episode My heart sank I’d let theavepuffed up one cheek, but the deep ebony of his skin ht at Obsidian

Obsidian

My heart rate picked up thinking about Fox He seemed inhuman He needed help

All day, I’d flipped between never wanting to see hi to torture him as much as he’d tortured me

A plan formed loosely in my head, mainly thanks to Oscar I’d asked hied but tossed le translate I found out what had Fox called er kept otistical nerve

Prey Me! Fox thought I eak and ht he could play with me like a cocky killer who had no mortal enemies

Well, he’d made an enemy in me And I had claws

At least I could thank hiht I’d lost--the woht for ht

Clue’s eyes fell toon top of the silver star "Where did you get that?" She disengaged fro Fox’s t-shirt from my frame, she asked, "What happened, Zel? You seeht You see crookedly "Uh oh, I know that look" Holding up his finger, he said, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" He chuckled "What did that bastard do?" His tone stayed jovial and upbeat, but his face fell when I didn’t reply

My nostrils flared as a slight twinge between s reminded me exactly what that bastard did

Fox’s snowy eyes popped into e contradiction of helplessness

Clue sucked in a gasp "Oh, rabbedhurt by a man ran deep for both of us The difference was I bottledit to breith all the other bad memories I’d rather not think about

Clue, on the other hand, slipped back into the broken creature I’d saved the night I found her She would never knohat happened between Fox andover there with the police

Quickly shakingtoher cheek, I s back toreehts here"

So help hiree to my terms I’d make him wish he never set eyes on me

Clue opened her mouth, but Ben draped an arm around her shoulders "Your friend has a plan Let’s hear about it in the , baby doll I have to be at the job site in a few hours"

My body went fro to utter fear lockdown Fox asked er was so stupid it was inconsequential A pet name shouldn’t have the power to hurtle me from safety to hell

But it did

Baby doll sent me to a pit of darkness I could never remove from my soul Clara had been the result of ht--sexual intercourse But there wereSo many other ways to break a nine-year-old’s spirit

Baby doll