Page 89 of The Puppet Master
Arrogant,pompous?—
“So what did you and Thorne talk about?” Sawyer asks. “He tell you how much he benches?” A chuckle leaps from Sawyer’s mouth, but the smile he rests into is strained. There’s something in his voice that I almost peg as jealousy, but that doesn’t remotely make sense.
“He was just checking on me.”
“Because he’ssosweet.”
A sarcastic smile blooms as his body stretches, his shoes grazing my white dress. I look down. Glare.
Crack.
“He is, isn’t he?”
When Sawyer’s smile falls, it’s like it catches on something in my chest. I feel a tug, a flick on my heart, a tingle in my ear. A warning ingrained—don’t provoke.
Another God forsaken reflex that wasn’t there three weeks ago.
“I mean, he’s exactly the type of person you told me to watch out for. Sympathetic. Kind. If I can get him to fall in love, I’ll be able to get him to do almost anything, right?”
Sawyer sits up. “Not him, Luna. Trust me. That lunatic was born here. Their delusions run deep, and he might seem nice and sympathetic to your situation, but he’s in love with the Head Keeper. You’d be wasting your time.”
Like I’ve been wasting my time with you?
“Well, it shouldn’t be hard to find another sympathizer. You’re doing a great job earning me sympathy with the videos you took.” My voice holds heat that I’m glad he hears. For the first time in days, I don’t feel pathetic as I speak to him.
Note to self: kindness is not the way to Sawyer’s delusional heart.
“Can you imagine how many times he’s jerked it to those?”
My eyes slowly widen as my blood boils, fiery pressure building in my chest. Building, building, building...
“You’redisgusting.”
Sawyer’s lips flatten as humor leaves those sky blue eyes. “It was a joke, Luna.”
“He only watched one for the first time when Aurelius ordered him to give you a new recorder. He wanted to know exactly what it was he was bringing it for, and that…” I stab a finger at the broken pieces of plastic scattered on the floor. “Was his response.”
Sawyer flexes his wrist. “Okay.”
“Not all men are as turned on by sadistic games as you are.”
He blows out a breath while running a finger up the bridge of his nose. He looks ready to leave already.
“Okay, Luna.” He drops his hand and plants his palms on the quilt at his sides. “You’re right… Thorne’s probably a better man than I am. You think you can press his empathy button enough for him to let you out of here, go ahead and give it a shot. Maybe it’ll work out.” He shrugs too forcefully, his frustration making his movements jerky.
“Maybe I will.”
“Or…” His hands grip the quilt as he leans forward. “Maybe his butch-ass girlfriend will skin you the fuck alive.Maybespeaking to Thorne at all is a terrible fucking idea, let alone stroking his fractured ego. You want to hear some stories?”
I laugh as I lift a shoulder. “Why not?”
“For starters, the last girl who looked at Thorne a little too long had her eyes plucked out in front of the entire cult for the crime of ‘gluttony.’ The girl before that mysteriously drowned in the river.”
My lips fall.
“The girl before that?—”
“How could you even know this?” I interrupt. “You got here the same time I did.”
