We Were One Once Book 1 by Willow Madison

in
between them but only continue watching her. She shows no shame, no
shyness, no flinching at his obvious rage. There’s no attempt to
cover her nakedness. She’s clearly not afraid of him, so I decide
to hang back.
    I don’t move when he grabs
her arms and shakes her. “You fucked this guy?!”
    Her look remains the same,
even with the bobbling of her head. He finally stops but keeps his
hands on her. “You’re a fucking whore!” He spits this at
her.
    And she laughs, with her low
thick laugh, “I thought that was obvious!” So I was right the first time; she
did fuck him too.
    He pulls back and slaps
her, with the back of his right hand, straight across her mouth. I
watch this, still not moving. I’ll put a stop to it in a minute,
but for now, I want to see what she does. It’s a rare opportunity
to see another man hit her, to see how she reacts to such an
obvious attempt to dominate her physically.
    She slowly brings her face
back up to his and licks her lip. No fear, no anger, no pain—it’s
almost her impassive look. We’re both watching her closely. “That
will be the last time you get to do that to me, Josh. Hope you
enjoyed it.”
    I’ve had enough of this
fuck touching what’s mine. I flush the toilet. Josh turns to me,
and Grace quickly springs out of his reach. I only smile, waiting
to see if this idiot will actually make a move on me. He seems to
decide that, even in my undressed state, he shouldn’t try it. I’m
quite a lot bigger, in height and build. He turns his head to Grace
instead. “Get rid of him and come right back here.”
    I laugh but wait for Grace
to reply, just to see how she reacts to his lame attempt again. She
only shakes her head, a small smile on her face. She really is
beautiful—a cat ready to pounce, a girl ready to laugh, a woman of
infinite possibilities, all breathtaking.
    “I think you should go, Josh.” I say this
quietly, only a little hint at a warning, an even smaller hint at a
laugh. I lock eyes with Grace and smile at her as he turns his head
back to me. I don’t flex. I don’t even tighten my hands into fists.
It’s best to stay relaxed and open until your opponent makes a
first move.
    He does, but it’s only to
turn to the door and throw one more look at Grace. “Then get your
shit and get the fuck out of here. Before my brother gets
home.”
    We stay looking at each
other, her look blanking, until we hear the front door slam. She
breaks the stare first, moving back in front of the mirror and
looking at her face. I walk out to the front and put my pants back
on but return to the bedroom quickly. Grabbing the bag from the
corner, I throw her clothes inside; most everything fits. I grab a
gym bag from the closet and empty the contents onto the bed, making
room for the rest of her shit.
    She hasn’t moved from the
mirror, applying a little makeup to the side of her mouth slowly. I
have her clothes from the front and throw these at her when she
turns to me. “Get whatever you want from here. We’re leaving.” I
expect her to say something, put up a pretense that she’s not going
anywhere, but she only nods and slowly puts her things into a
bag.
    She’s a strange girl. I
can’t get a read on her again. She’s not showing remorse, no shame
or guilt. She’s not even sad, just doing it. Just doing as she’s
told? No. It can’t be that simple. She didn’t respond to the
brother with any sort of submissiveness, even though it was obvious
he thought she would when he tried to order her around. So
she was submissive
with him before but not now.
    I chose her last year
because she was so withdrawn, so sheltered. She was so broken as to
be a challenge. Could I take a broken girl and break her again,
remake her into what I wanted, not what she already was. She was definitely submissive then, to
everyone and everything, like she didn’t want her existence to
leave any impression at all.
    But the girl I’ve seen
since has been the opposite. Mostly.