James tried to gasp, his vision swimming. "What are you talking about? I don't... I don't understand..."
The words were barely out of his mouth before Hazel's palm cracked across his face. Before he could reel from the blow, her hand clamped around his throat, pinning his head against the cold floor. James clawed at her wrist, his lungs screaming for air. As the edges of his vision began to darken, his mind drifted to his stepmother's face in that hospital bed.
Is this how I'm going to die? he thought bitterly. Why am I the one suffering? What did I even do to deserve this?
"How dare you!" Hazel's voice was a jagged blade. "How dare you sleep with that thing!"
"Hear... me... out..." James wheezed, his face turning a bruised purple.
"Why?" Hazel shrieked, her face contorting with a raw, agonizing emotion that looked like a twisted version of grief. "James, why? Is it so bad to love me? Why do you care about that evil thing when you don't give a shit about me? Why always her? Why?"
"Wait..." James struggled, his strength failing.
"You can sleep with any other bitch you want! But not her!" Hazel's grip tightened for a terrifying second before she suddenly let go, leaving him coughing and retching on the floor. She didn't stop. She moved with a manic energy, grabbing a heavy cord from the desk and binding his wrists together behind his back.
As James struggled against the restraints, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Hazel reached in and pulled it out. The caller ID flashed: Ashley.
A dark, predatory light returned to Hazel's eyes. She tapped the 'Accept' button but didn't put the phone to her ear. Instead, she set it on the floor right next to James's head.
"Hello? James?" Ashley's voice came through the speaker, frantic and high-pitched. "Are you at the hospital? James, answer me!"
Hazel didn't let him speak. She leaned down, her teeth baring as she sank them into the exact spot on his neck where Ashley's mark sat. James let out a sharp, guttural cry of pain that echoed clearly into the phone.
"James? What was that?" Ashley's voice turned sharp with suspicion. "Who is with you?"
Hazel ignored the phone, her hands moving over James with a possessive, violent hunger. She crashed her lips against his, muffling his protests. James tried to pull away, but with his hands tied and his body battered from the crash, he was at her mercy.
"James!" Ashley screamed over the line. "Is that her? Is that Hazel? Answer me!"
The sound of rustling clothes and the heavy, rhythmic thud of bodies hitting the floor filled the line. Hazel began to trail kisses down his chest, her touch a confusing mix of soft and bruising. James's breath hitched, a traitorous moan escaping his throat as the adrenaline and pain blurred into a dark, forced intimacy.
"Mmm... James," Hazel whispered loudly, making sure her voice carried directly into the microphone. She bit his shoulder, and James let out a low, shaky groan that sounded far too much like pleasure to anyone listening.
"No... stop..." James gasped, but his voice was weak, broken by the sheer intensity of Hazel's assault.
On the other end of the line, the sound of Ashley's breathing became ragged, a sob of pure, boiling rage catching in her throat. She could hear everything the wet slide of skin on skin,
Hazel's lips didn't just meet James's; they conquered them. She pressed the phone into the rug beside his ear, ensuring every sound was captured with crystalline clarity.
"James? Why aren't you saying anything?" Ashley's voice was a frantic staccato through the speaker. "James, please!"
Hazel's response was a low, deliberate moan as she ground her weight against him. She slid her hand beneath his shirt, her cold fingers tracing the line of his ribs until James's breath hitched in a sharp, audible gasp.
"Oh, James," Hazel whispered, her voice a sultry, jagged edge that she directed toward the microphone. "You're so warm. Is your heart beating this fast just for me?"
James squeezed his eyes shut, his bound wrists straining against the cord. He felt the traitorous heat of his own body responding to the friction, a primal reaction he couldn't switch off despite the terror. A low, guttural sound escaped his throat a mixture of a sob and a moan that made Ashley scream on the other end.
"Stop it! Hazel, I know you're there! James, get away from her!" Ashley's voice was cracking, her jealousy blooming into a toxic, suffocating rage.
Hazel ignored the screaming phone. She moved her mouth to James's ear, her teeth grazing the lobe. "She's listening, baby," Hazel hissed. "Tell her how good it feels. Or should I let her hear it for herself?"
Hazel shifted, her hands moving lower, making James arch his back off the floor. His head thrashed to the side, and a loud, broken moan tore from his lips one that was deep, shaky, and undeniably filled with a dark, forced pleasure.
"James, no! Don't you dare!" Ashley shrieked, the sound of things shattering in the background of her room echoing through the line.
"Look at you," Hazel purred, her eyes locked onto James's flushed face as she felt the tension in his muscles. "You're so hard, James. Even after everything I've done... your body knows exactly who you belong to, doesn't it?"
James couldn't answer. His breathing was a series of ragged, wet hitches. The sensation of Hazel's possessive touch combined with the shame of Ashley listening created a sensory overload that broke his last bit of resolve. He cried out, a long, helpless sound of surrender that lasted several seconds.
"He's mine, Ashley," Hazel said, her voice dropping to a chilling, triumphant whisper as she leaned over the phone. "Listen to him. He doesn't want your 'help.' He wants this. He wants me."
On the other end of the line, there was a sickeningly quiet sob from Ashley before the line went dead.
Hazel didn't stop. She looked down at James, whose eyes were glazed and filled with tears of absolute humiliation. She smiled a real, terrifying smile and leaned down to finish what she had started, the silence of the room now filled only with the sound of his forced, heavy breathing.