𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 | jason todd

ix. burn the insides

CHAPTER NINE
( burn the insides )

❛ he fuelled the fire in her veins ❜

ASSHOLE. HE WAS AN ABSOLUTE, fucking, rotting, disgusting, fowl, incomprehensible asshole. Did he take her for a fool? An idiot easily swayed by his false charm and beautifully broken words? Fuck. Him. The more she thought about the man outside, the more she felt the burning of bile in her throat. God, how could she have been so reckless? So incompetent to have to rely on someone as big-headed as he was?

          Athena ripped the remaining clothes off her body, clawing at them as she tried to shed his phantoms hand off her body. The audacity he had to even think about touching her—she couldn't stomach it. She ripped her shirt. Trying to pull it off her in such fury that when it was reluctant to move, she pulled out her dagger and sliced it from underneath in a messy rage. Her shirt fell to the ground in a bundle of threads and cotton. She'd burn it. Burn it all.

           She'd burn herself if she could.

She ripped the hair tie from the end of her braid, ignoring the stinging on her scalp as her hands furiously ran through her hair, untangling the knots. She could feel her face burning, her whole body on fire. It wasn't embarrassment that sourced the heat, but white hot rage.

          She was stupid, that's what she was. She should have known the drink was spiked. Only fools take a drink from a stranger. But when she smelt it—and she had smelt it— it didn't smell of ... anything. Like the drug was nothing more than another crushed grape within wine. Bruce would be ashamed. He had trained her to be cautious of all types of things. He'd lined up chalice after chalice, told her to choose which one was the uncontaminated cup. Told her to taste it. So, she did. Little did she know that he'd spiked them all. She was a fool, he had said. She wasn't good enough and was an embarrassment to the guild. Bruce could be an asshole sometimes, and this was him in his prime time. She'd spent the next few days bedridden, her stomach in an unbearable twist and her head spun and spun and spun. Bruce told the entire guild not to help her with anything. That is was her own damn fault. She got herself into this mess, now she has to deal with it. She vaguely remembered Stephanie loitering at the door, chewing her lip, reluctant to knock. Jason had seen her and told her to piss off, and then proceeded to come into the room and mock her.

           Cold water spurted from the shower tap. She stepped in and closed her eyes.

• † •

She didn't dare go out there in only a towel. There was no fucking way she was going to let him see her like that. Not again. Not ever. So, she opted with putting on the half torn shirt bundled on the floor. She threw it over her head and frowned at the large gash in the front. She regretted ripping it. Only because her stomach was now partially on display where the tight fabric should have covered and the ugly scar that stretched from her abdomen to her pelvis was clearly visible.