HELLO HELLO HELLO EVERYONE! I'M BACK WITH ANOTHER CHAPTER!!!
I am SO SO SO SO sorry for taking so long to post this update! I've had family stuff going on, and then I've been struggling to write these past few weeks, but I think I've gotten back into the groove and out of my rut!!!
Anyways, I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far!
Please let me know if you see any grammar or editing mistakes!
I love seeing what you guys think about the story, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE COMMENT, VOTE, AND FOLLOW!!!
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I stayed in the closet the whole night, not sleeping. Even when I started to nod off, the fear of Deacon coming for me kept me awake, forcing my eyes to stay open.
When I heard my alarm clock sound the next morning, I blinked several times, trying to bring some moisture back into my eyes. The muscles in my legs were tense as I crept forward. I looked through the small crack between the two doors and listened carefully. I didn't see or hear anything besides the beeping of the alarm, so I slowly poked my head through to see if I was missing anything. Even then, there was nothing. I crept out of my hiding spot, careful to step quietly on my toes so that I wouldn't be heard.
Quickly, I hit the button to silence the alarm. I shuffled around my room until I found a clean pair of jeans and an oversized sweater. Just before I walked out of my room, I paused. Before I could double think it, I backtracked, took off my sweater to slip on Silas's shirt, before putting my sweater back on. I quickly grabbed my school bag before making my way out of my room.
As I stepped out into the kitchen, I saw Jonah leaning up against the counter drinking out of his coffee mug. I gingerly slid the backpack onto my shoulder before coming to a stop a few feet away from him. I kept my head down, eyes pointed towards the tile. I didn't say anything as I waited for Jonah to finish his drink and then drive me to school, shuffling back and forth on my two feet.
"Go put your book bag away." I stopped my movement. He took another sip of his coffee before continuing. "Go put your bag away; you're not going to school today."
I managed to spit out, "How come?"
"Deacon said you weren't going to school today." He rolled his eyes. "I guess when Deacon called to cancel all of his clients this week, that Marshall guy said he still wanted to see you, earlier and for longer too. And he said that he wanted you to get waxed and get your hair cut and nails done before he sees you. He even gave us extra cash to pay for it all."
I frowned, not understanding what was happening. "What?"
Jonah grunted, clearly not pleased. "I'm supposed to take you to the nail salon and the hair place." He grumbled under his breath, "Although I don't know why he would care what you look like. It's not like he even has to look at you to do what he wants."
I felt my face grow hot as I let my eyes drop to my shoes.
"Did you hear me, or are you deaf? You have two minutes to go put your book bag away and be in the car before I leave you and pocket the cash," he growled.
I immediately dashed back to my room to drop my school bag before practically sprinting to Jonah's car. I tried not to seem too eager, but it was hard to contain my excitement. Deacon rarely let me leave the house unless I was going to school or somewhere with him and a hoard of his men, so this felt like a whole new experience.
I sat silently on the way to our first destination, my hands folded in my lap as I tried not to fidget in my seat. Midway through the drive, Jonah grunted before reaching into his pocket for a cigarette. He fumbled around to find his lighter before switching on the flame and igniting the end of the white roll. I stopped myself from covering my nose when he started blowing out smoke; I hated the smell.
After a few minutes, we reached our first stop: the waxing place. I could feel my heart drop to my stomach. While I was looking forward to most of this experience, I was not overjoyed about this part. Jonah barked at me to get out. I complied as he got out of the driver's seat. He led the way in, me following dutifully behind him. Just like I had been taught, I kept my eyes slanted towards the ground, not looking anyone in the eyes.
The lady at the front desk asked a question, but I barely heard her. I was too focused on the ripping sounds coming from the back part of the shop. They had curtains up do I couldn't see what was going on but based on the continuous gasps of breath combined with the ripping sounds, I began to worry even more about what was going go happen to me.
"She'll have the Brazilian, eyebrows, everything." Jonah's deep voice cut through my thinking, and I frowned, confused. He wasn't even looking up; he just stood there typing something on his phone.
"Of course! Brittany will be ready for you in a few minutes. I'd you'll just have a seat over there, she'll be right with you." The women gestured towards a few plastic seats over in the corner. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jonah nod before practically shoving me towards the waiting area.
As we waited, Jonah continued to type away on his phone. My anxiety over the whole thing continued to spike as the seconds ticked by, my time coming.
I heard footsteps coming towards the front of the store. Trying to be discreet, I leaned a little the right. I saw two women, one had clearly just gotten her eyebrows, so I assumed she was a customer; I figured the other had to be the woman named Brittany. She had her long chocolate-colored hair pulled back into a ponytail, and despite her minimal makeup, her face looked flawless. I felt insecure just looking at her. I swallowed air, my dry mouth not producing anything to coat my throat.
As soon as the customer went up to the front desk, Brittany turned to us. I immediately flicked my eyes back to the floor, hoping she hadn't caught me looking at her.
"Emerson?" I nodded. "Come with me, please!"
I glanced over at Jonah for permission, but he ignored me in favor of his phone. Without waiting for him to pay attention, I hesitantly got up and followed her to one of the private little rooms. She pulled the curtain across the front so that no one could see us. I stood frozen one step into the room, staring at the dentist-like chair bench and the bowl of weird yellow stuff that looked a little like taffy.
The woman, Brittany, moved to stand by the taffy substance and gave me a wide smile. "Alright honey, you ready?"
Feeling uncomfortable, I realized that I didn't even know if I could have one right now since it was my time of the month.
"Um, I d-don't know..." I started.
She tilted her head and looked at me curiously. "You don't think what, sweetheart?"
"I don't k-know if I c-can do t-this," I said quietly.
"How come?" She raised her eyebrows in confusion.
"B-because I-I am on m-my period."
Brittany threw her head back and laughed, and I could feel my cheeks grow hot in embarrassment.
"Of course you can, honey, as long as you're wearing a tampon. You've got one in, right?" I nodded my head. Deacon always made me wear tampons; he thought pads were too bulky. "Then there shouldn't be an issue!" She nodded towards the bed. "If you wanna go ahead and lay down on there, we'll get started!"
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Forty-five minutes later, I walked out of the curtained room with over half of my body filled with a tingling sensation. My eyes were watering as I walked back to where Jonah sat, tapping away at the keys on his phone.
I cleared my throat to get his attention. His head darted up, his eyes narrowing when the realized I had made the noise. My face grew hot as I stared at the ground.
Jonah stood up, pocketing his device, and walked over to the desk to pay. Brittany sauntered over to the lady who sat out front, handing her the ticket saying what she had done on me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that she turned back to us.
"Have a wonderful day!" she said, before going back to her little room. I couldn't help but envy her. Her confidence, her carefree attitude, her joy.
Her freedom.
The sound of the lady checking us out snapped me back to reality. She tore off the receipt and handed it to Jonah.
"Come back again." The woman smiled at me, but I left my face blank and emotionless. Just like I had been taught.
Jonah did a backhanded wave at her before shoving me towards the door, hand pressing at the still-sore wounds. I clenched my teeth together and willed myself to stay silent.
As soon as we both got back in the car, he grabbed my jaw and yanked me to face him. I immediately averted my eyes.
"Look at me," he growled. I knew, whether I looked at him or I didn't, that I would receive a punishment. Hoping the one for listening was lesser, I let my eyes meet his.
"Don't you ever do that again," he seethed. "You know you're not supposed to make a sound when you go somewhere. How dare you." His eyes blazed with anger as he squeezed my jaw tighter. His grip was so strong that I was afraid he would break it.
But instead of more punishment like I was expecting, Jonah shoved my face away from him. He proceeded to turn on the ignition and put the car in reverse to head to the next stop. I was so in shock that he didn't do anything else that I sat there completely still.
Put of habit, he reached for another cigarette and lit it. My body still tingled a little from the wax, but I was more excited for the next two stops. I hadn't gotten a hair cut in a few years, and I had never been to a nail salon. I rarely even painted my nails.
Another few minutes passed before we pulled up at the hair place. I reached for the door handle, but just as I pushed the door open, Jonah reached across and slammed it shut.
"You didn't think you'd get away that easily, did you?" He smiled maliciously, and my heart dropped to my stomach. I watched as he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, blew out a puff of smoke, and nodded towards my shirt. "Pull it up."
With shaking fingers, I grabbed the hem of my sweater and slowly revealed my stomach to him. He took another hit off his cigarette. Then, before I could blink, he grabbed it out of his mouth and pressed it against the soft skin of my stomach.
I gasped in shock and pain. My skin burned, and my whole body grew hot. Tears built up in my eyes, but I worked hard to keep them from falling, from him seeing weakness. My heart pounded in my chest as he held it there. He finally pulled it away after what felt like an eternity.
"That ought to teach you about talking out of place."
I knew he was right. I wasn't supposed to talk without being asked a question, especially in public. Even though I hadn't actually said anything, I knew I deserved the punishment; I was so stupid and needed to be taught a lesson. I pushed my sweater back down to cover my new punishment, feeling sick to my stomach.
I tried again to open the door, but Jonah stopped me.
"Tell me."
I bit my lip, feeling my face heat up, and started.
"I am nothing. I am worthless. No one wants me, and no one cares about me. I am nothing." I got quieter the more I talked until the last sentence was barely a whisper.
"And don't you forget it."
An hour and a half later, we were heading back to the house, my hair freshly cut and my nails painted with a nude color. My stomach still burned from earlier, but I tried not to pay attention to it. I starred at my hands sitting on my lap and thought about how strange it was to look down and have the nails painted.
Quicker than I would have liked, Jonah pulled the truck into the driveway of Deacon's house. My heartbeat immediately sped up as I spotted an unknown motorcycle parked in front of the house.
Another one of Deacon's men, Ben, rushed out of the house and headed straight for the car. Jonah hopped out of his seat as I worked to unbuckle my seatbelt. Ben said something to Jonah, low enough that I couldn't hear. I gingerly pushed my door open and stepped out onto the driveway. I saw Ben rush back inside the house. My breath came out in short gasps as I shuffled my way over to where Jonah was. He grabbed my bicep and dragged me towards the house.
"Hurry up, girl. Mr. Marshall is already here and waiting for you."
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Hope you guys enjoyed!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU COMMENT, VOTE, AND FOLLOW!!! Again, I love hearing what you guys have to say about the story, what you think so far, what you think's going to happen, etc.
Thanks for reading! See you guys in the next update!!!!