I ball my hand into a fist, giving him my only warning.
Say your damn safe word, and let’s end this.
He closes his eyes.
I sigh; that will just make his fear worse. His body won’t be prepared for the hit.
I swing with everything I have, aiming for the hinge of his jaw. I hear it crack. He falls back, blood spills from his mouth, and he lands hard on his ass.
I know how painful it is. I’ve broken my jaw before. It was a pain to reset and heal. The best way to do that is to stitch it shut for weeks at a time, not something I was willing to do. I assume that’s why my smile is more crooked than it ever was before.
I wait for him to move, for him to get back up so I can knock him down again. That will mess with his head and soul. That will defeat him quicker than any pain will.
But he doesn’t get back up.
I walk over to him and lean down, putting a finger to his neck.
There’s a pulse, but it’s weak. His breathing is shallow.
His eyes don’t open.
He’s unconscious.
I stand up and look around the room.
The card said to continue until he breaks. Until he uses his safe word.
The sucker is definitely broken, but he won’t be saying his safe word any time soon.
I’m the devil, but I’m not so monstrous that I’ll hit a man when he’s unconscious, especially a man whose sins I don’t know.
I take a deep breath. I’m barely breaking a sweat even though I’m still wearing a suit and living my nightmare.
“Mr. Pearce, you have a five-minute break. You can clear the room while we tend to Mr. Newman. Then we will continue,” the vile motherfucker’s voice says again.
The smoke fills my lungs and burns my eyes as I walk to the door at the back. Even though I can’t see, I walk straight to the door.
It unlocks as I push on it, and then I’m in the hallway, able to truly breathe for the first time.
I only have five minutes. I don’t know where to go or what to do with that time. But I decide to climb, to get fresh air, to look out at the sea—the place that saves everyone in my group when we need it the most—Kai, Enzo, Zeke, Siren. It’s saved all of them at different times. Now it’s time it saves me.
I cling to the railing as I stare out at the ocean. For a split second, I consider jumping. But I don’t. I just hold on, preparing myself for what comes next.
“I’m sorry,” her soft sweet voice comes next to me.
I don’t know if she’s real or a hallucination.
“I shouldn’t have come back here. I forgot how bad it can get. This is only the beginning. It can get so much worse,” she says.
“How do we survive?” I ask the same question I asked before.
“We don’t. Only one of us does, and that person will be haunted forever. Let that person be me. You don’t deserve this pain.”
Liesel’s words mean I have to win even more.
She’ll never tell me the truth of what this place is or what happens when you win, but I have to know. I need to know.
I enter the room once more, still not completely sure if Liesel showing up was real or a hallucination I formed to help me deal with this traumatic cruise.
Once I’m back in the room, though, any thoughts of Liesel disappear.
In here, the only way to win is to stay focused.
The room is still filled with smoke when I re-enter. I blink, trying to keep the smoke from my eyes. My nose immediately fills with the haze, making it hard to breathe.
Messing with our senses is meant to strike fear, but my fear is gone.
I walk further into the center of the room, where I once again find the table with the index card. I pick it up. It has more detailed instructions for the second half of the challenge.
Take a beating. Endure any pain given to you. This round ends when you come or say your safe word.
I glance around the room, but I don’t find anyone. Mr. Newman is gone. I’m guessing he’s still unconscious, and hopefully, a doctor is attending to him.
Who will be giving me my lashing?
I don’t see the belt I used before, but I’m guessing it’s somewhere. I also don’t see the bed.
“I hope you are ready for this round, Mr. Pearce. This will be your biggest challenge yet. The games begin, now,” the voice comes over the speakers again.
I want to flip him off, run through the ship to find him and kill him. But I’d never get to him before he killed me. He’s too secure where he is. The only way I find the voice at the other end of the speaker is to win.
Let’s get this over with.
People run into the room in a flurry. Between the smoke, rush of people, and now lights flashing in my face, it takes me a moment to count how many people are in the room.
Four.
Two men.
Two women.
Jesus, this isn’t just a man whipping me like I did to Newman.
Before I can fully process what’s happening, the two women are removing my coat jacket, then one is unbuttoning my shirt, while the other works on my pants.
It’s not the women I’m worried about. I can overpower them easily. It’s the men.
I was told to endure and come, but no one said anything about not fighting back.
Within seconds, I’m stripped of my clothes, and then the women are gone. I think they are still in the room, but they are no longer touching me now that my clothes are off.
I focus in on the guys. They are boxing me in on each side. I could take the two of them.
No.
Let them come.
Let them hurt me.
That’s what has to happen
