PETE
All my life I had been taught to be honorable, to do what was expected of me. Today I went against it all.
Smart and tall, Vegas appeared in the doorway, come to claim his prize. His eyes roamed over my naked body, and mine did the same.
...
My hands were splayed out against the white tiles of the shower. I couldn't breathe. Terror clogged my throat. Nothing in my upbringing had prepared me for this. Nothing could have. I was falling apart fast. Faster than I'd ever thought possible.
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Pride and honor were the pillars of our world, the pillars of my upbringing. I needed to cling to them. He could take everything from me, but not that. Never that.
Simeone was screaming and I pressed my palms against my ears, trying to shut him out-to no avail.
Ice Prince no more.
My eyes were blurry from tears and water. But the image of Vegas sinking his knife into a man with that twisted smile on his face was etched into my mind. How was I supposed to stay prideful? How was I supposed to hold my head high and not let him see my fear? Nothing had ever scared me more than Vegas Theerapanyakul.
Monsters aren't real, my mother had told me a long time ago when I was afraid to sleep in the dark and kept crawling into Sam's bed. I hadn't believed he back then, and that was before meeting Vegas.
The screaming stopped.
I shuddered and lowered my hands slowly. Something red caught my eyes. I looked down at the shower floor where red water was pooling around my feet. I blinked. And then it clicked. Floor-level shower. Vegas bringing down the knife on the man's ... My feet looked even paler against the red. My vision shifted and something broke apart in me. I was standing in someone's blood.
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I heard myself screaming and tried to get out of the blood but the ground was slippery. I twisted around, holding onto the shower walls. And then I saw the rest of the cell. The entire floor was covered in blood, and amidst it all stood Vegas, tall and dark, knife still gleaming in his hand. His chest and arms were smeared with blood. Red. Red. Red. Everywhere.
I was still screaming and screaming until I couldn't scream anymore because there was no air left in my lungs. And I could not breathe.
