Taken by the Heartless (HEARTLESS, Book 1) (NOW EDITING)

GETTING ON WITH BULLY

Bully's laughter bounced off the walls and Cassandra was surprised that he could laugh like that. His whole body shook with the laughter and Cassandra was still perched on his body. She felt so small on his massive body. Then his laughter died down gradually and he set Cassandra down.

  "Next time, you don't play with things you know nothing about," he said as he walked toward the gun.

Cassandra bit her lower lip, fighting back a smile. Bully picked the gun up and turned to her. The darkness in his eyes has eased a little and they now held amusement. She played on, looking like she was still scared from the whole thing. Bully swirled the gun in his hand and smiled at her.

  "Go back to your food." She stood there still looking at him, refusing to comply. He stared at her for a while. "Why are you so stubborn?" he asked.

  "Am I the stubborn one here? I almost killed myself because you refused to say a word to me."

  "We are not supposed to be in talking terms, Miss."

  "The name is Cassandra Lopez, Cassie for short, not Miss."

Bully tucked the gun in his side this time, not ready to be played twice. He sat down at the table, waiting for her to come over. She moved over to the table and sat opposite him. He stared at her for a while without saying anything. She could hardly read his expression because his long, bristling beards almost masked his face. When the silence sat between them for a while, she looked away from him, resting her eyes on the plate of food in front of her.

  "You know, I have never seen anyone like you before," Bully said.

  "Do you have a family?" Cassandra blurted. It was the first question she had wanted to ask him. She has a lot of questions sitting on her tongue, but she couldn't just find the right words.

  Bully frowned and jerked his head back a little, probably surprised at the suddenness of the question. "Eat." He said curtly and made to stand up.

  "I believe everyone has a story. You might look all tough and grumpy on the outside, but today proved to me that you have a human side to you. You have feelings too and the way you watch the other men play that game, tells me you also need human association. You are not an animal, Panda"

  Bully stopped in his tracks while she spoke. He turned quickly to face her once the last word left her mouth and banged his fist on the table. Cassandra flinched. "Now, listen carefully, Miss. You don't know me, you don't know what I want or how I feel, so I will appreciate it if you keep your opinion to yourself and keep your mouth shut before I shut it for you."

  "I miss my family." Cassandra ignored the warning he just gave her. "I miss my father a lot." She wiped at the tears that were now strolling down her face.

  Bully stared at her; his face scrunched up in a frown again. He leaned closer and sat down. "Are you crying?"

  "I don't know, was I supposed to laugh?" she chuckled lightly.

  "This is what Eros has been looking for; to see you like this, to see you cry, but you are proving so stubborn. Why don't you just break down like this in his presence? maybe he would set you free."

  Cassandra wiped away her tears and sniffled. The last thing she wanted was Eros walking in there and seeing her like this. She didn't even know when her emotions overwhelmed her, and she cried in front of Bully. "Set me free? Do you mean to throw me in that dungeon as a slave and use me whenever he wanted? I can work, I am not handicapped. I can work and pay him back his money, I can work outside the confines of this place and pay back that money."

  Bully poured her a cup of water and handed it to her. She watched him as he stuck out his hand to her, but he turned his face away from her as if being kind was a whole shameful thing to do. She took the cup from him, and a little smile crept up her face.