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The following morning, Kimmie’s mood was nothing short of manic. She raced around the room, trying on one outfit after the other, leaving those she had discarded all over her bed and the floor. She chattered to herself as she went, a constant stream of consciousness not directed at any of us.
“No, no, no. That won’t do at all. The hemline of that one is weird, isn’t it? I don’t like the way my legs look. Got to get it right, though...”
We all stayed out of her way as best we could, not engaging her in any way, and exchanging worried glances between ourselves. She got angry with herself, balling dresses up and flinging them against the nearest wall, where they made no impact whatsoever and simply floated to the ground in a waft of silk and chiffon. Finally, she decided on something to wear and stalked into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
The atmosphere in the room changed noticeably now there was a door between us and her. I exhaled a long breath, and I sensed the other girls doing the same, our shoulders dropping and bodies relaxing. Being in a room with Kimmie felt like we were all poised on an unexploded landline and were all too terrified to move in case we set it off.
“Is she okay?” I whispered to Deanna, not wanting Kimmie to overhear me. “Was she always like this?”
I couldn’t imagine spending even a matter of weeks trapped in here with Kimmie acting this way, never mind months or years.
Deanna shook her head. “No. She’s always been a bit bitchy, but nothing like this. Your arrival seems to have triggered something in her.”
My heart sank at that. I had no love lost for Kimmie, but I didn’t want to be the cause of another girl losing the plot.
Deanna must have read my feelings on my face. “It’s not your fault,” she said. “Torres is the one who’s done this to her, not you. He likes to work his way into our heads, if he can. It’s not all physical with him.”
“What do you mean?”
“He likes to play with our minds as much as our bodies, and he’s seen that Kimmie has latched onto him and is the jealous type. He’s probably enjoying watching both of you squirm.”
Yes, I’d seen that in his eyes when he’d been fucking Kimmie over the desk and watching me watching him. While I was sure he’d enjoyed having sex with Kimmie and spanking her, too, it was the way he’d focused on me to get my reaction to the scene that had weirded me out most of all.
“But what’s enjoyable about that?” I asked her.
Grace sat on her bed on the other side of the room, her knees drawn up to her chest, watching us with wide, blue eyes. Inside the bathroom, the shower turned on as Kimmie continued to get ready for that evening.
“It’s like a game,” Deanna said. “We’re all different, and he likes that. He seeks out our weaknesses and tries to figure out a way to break each of us. That’s how he likes his women, Catalina. He doesn’t want to see us as whole people. He wants to see us broken. Damaged. He’ll work out our weaknesses and use them to make us lesser people than we ever used to be.”
“Kimmie’s weakness is him,” I said.
“Yes, though he could be any man. She just wants to be loved and worshipped, and will do anything to feel that way.”
“What about you, Grace?” I asked to the girl on the other side of the room, but she only shrugged and glanced away.
Deanna filled in for her. “Her youth, perhaps. Her innocence, and naivety. That is how he took her.”
That made sense. He clearly had a thing for that, considering he’d bought me at age ten and had wanted my virginity. Maybe that was his idea of breaking someone—destroying everything pure about them and degrading them down to his level.
“What about you, Deanna? What’s your weakness?”
She gave me a small smile. “I don’t know yet, and he doesn’t either. I think most men would have gotten frustrated by now, and perhaps tried to beat my stubbornness out of me, but I also think he rather likes the challenge.”
“So, he wants us all like Kimmie?” I asked.
I wanted to say, or like Grace, but I didn’t, not wanting to upset the other girl. She’d already lain back down on her bed and pulled the sheet up over her head, as though she’d decided she wanted no more part of this conversation.
“No, not like Kimmie. She’s just one part of his game. Like I said, we’re all different, and that’s what keeps him entertained. I think he’d get bored of us if we were all the same.”
“What do you think he’ll do if he decides he can’t break you? When he’s finally gotten bored and had enough?”
I was asking for myself as well as Deanna. Things had changed since he’d first purchased me. I wasn’t that naïve little virgin anymore. I hadn’t seen much of the world, but I’d seen more than I would have if I hadn’t run away with Angelo, and I’d experienced what love was like at the hands of a real man.
Deanna caught my eye, fixing me in her gaze.
“He’ll probably kill me.”