The Assistant(119)

David positioned me in front of a chair before smiling stiffly.

“Take a seat, Emily.”

I did as I was told, but did not bother to acknowledge any of the men in the room.

“We have Ravioli on the menu today-” the chef began.

“I don’t like Ravioli,” I lied bluntly, looking over at David with a glare.

“Yes you do, I asked my little birdy.” David smiled.

I glared. “You can call her by her name now instead of disrespecting her by comparing her to an animal.”

David began to laugh. “Oh yes, how could I have forgotten? It’s Anna.”

The chef cleared his throat beside us, making us both turn to him. He faltered slightly before speaking up. “Uh… So Ravioli?” He began again.

“I’m allergic to pasta. How about you just give me a glass of water and we’ll call it a night?” I smiled up at him, before patting my sweats down.

“Ravioli,” David growled in confirmation, giving me an annoyed glare.

“Right away,” the chef announced, scurrying to the kitchen.


The dinner didn’t last long.

Partly because of the fact that I wasn’t actually eating, even though it smelled delicious, and partly because I wouldn’t speak to David whenever he’d try to make conversation.

Chef Victor looked like he was ready to jump out of small window in the kitchen from how thick the tension was in the room.

I cleared my throat after taking another sip of water and got out of my seat. “Well, I’d say this was fun but then I’d be lying. I’m going back to my room.”

“Emily. You’re not going anywhere.” David shot out of seat, spilling a little of his wine in the process.

“Actually, I am. Good night. Thank you for the food Victor, it was lovely.” I smiled politely, before turning to leave once again.

David caught hold of my wrist tightly before I could go any further, and I gasped in pain as a small crack sounded from the area he was currently grasping. “Victor, leave us.”

Victor was out of the hotel room faster than I was able to blink, and an eerie silence settled over the room once the door locked shut behind him. “We, my little ray of sunshine, are not done for the night.” David smiled once I turned my gaze back to him.

Something in his expression told me what he had in mind wasn’t good; and my neutral expression faltered. “W- What else is there to do?”

“Well, why else am I keeping you around?” David laughed, pulling me into him by my wrist.

“Let me go, please.”

David’s laughter increased. “Manners aren’t going to get you anywhere in this situation, sunshine.” He let go of my wrist – which began throbbing in pain – before both his hands gripped my upper arms in a way where I wasn’t able to move away from him.

“Please,” I whispered desperately, attempting to wriggle out of his grasp.

“Stop fighting me on this, Emily. I’m going to get my way whether you like it or not.” He began leaning in, and my struggling became more dominant as I tried moving away from his face.

His lips briefly brushed along the side of my own, and I kicked him in his knee out of reflex.

David instantly let go and groaned in pain as he clutched onto the place where I had kicked him, before his head snapped up to me with another angry glare. “You little bitch.” He spat, grabbing me by the wrist again.

I tried to pry his hand away with my own free one, which just annoyed him even more. He brought up his free hand and a loud slapping noise echoed the room as it made contact with my cheek.

Tears instantly sprung to my eyes as my skin began throbbing from his hit, and I looked down at my feet to cover up the fact that the hit hurt me as much as it did.

David sighed irritably before letting go of my wrist, which was also throbbing and beginning to form light purple blotches. “I didn’t want to get to that stage with you, sunshine. Go to your room, we’ll talk tomorrow.”

I blinked my tears away and looked back up at him, glaring as harshly as I could. “No we won’t.” I didn’t wait for him to respond as I made my way back to my room, slamming the door shut behind me.

I looked over at The Lovely Bones before shaking my head as stray tears escaped my eyelids as my cheek continued to tingle in pain. I locked the door of my room softly before slowly making my way to the bed; covering as much as myself as I could with the sheets and falling into another deep sleep.

***

I woke to the sound of my door being clicked shut softly.

My eyes snapped open and I shot out of my bed awake and alert for any movement that would occur in the room.

I looked around and found nothing out of place except for a new jacket added to the pile of clothes in the room. The book I was reading was also moved from the table beside my bed and was now sitting next to pile of clothing on the table across from me.

The sound of voices caught my attention. They mentioned my name, and I instantly threw the sheets off my body to find out what they were saying.

I began walking to the door just as the voices became audible.

“-Kidding me? She has a f*cking bruised cheek because of you!” Someone whispered angrily.

“It’s not my fault she was being so stubborn,” I faintly heard.

“I only agreed to play along with this because you promised you wouldn’t hurt her!” A feminine voice hissed.