Read For Adriano for Free Online Page B

tears to clear my vision, I look down my side and hysteria erupts at the sight of the blood trails running down my body. The man next to the table holds up a knife with my blood dripping from the tip and licks it off.
    I gag, but nothing comes up. Then I’m being lifted off the table like a china doll by my shoulders and knees and taken away.
    “No more,” I beg with my head hanging back.
    “Come on…” It’s Santino who took me away. “Stand on your feet.”
    We’re in the bathroom, and he’s placed me under the shower. Santino sets a first aid kit on the sink and waits until I’m done.
    I look at the thin red lines on my breasts and bend forward, vomiting. Agony and nausea dominate my current state. I need to get out of here because I refuse to live through that again.
    Turning away from Santino, I block him out. He takes a step back and allows me to wash my body but leaves the shower curtain open.
    The cuts on my skin prickle when the warm water cleans them, crimson streams down my stomach. I let the water splutter on my face, making me less dizzy and more aware.
    I don’t trust Santino, but he has helped me, and I’ve sensed him conceding more and more the last few weeks when he’s here. I need to use that now; he has an attraction to me.
    I’m trying to stay awake; however, I feel sleep pulling at me – it must be the effect of the pill, but I don’t know what I swallowed. After brushing my teeth in the shower for what seems like forever, I motion for him to join me to talk while the water runs, hoping it will drown out our conversation for the cameras in here.
    He reluctantly comes forward, and his gaze drops to my lips. I lick them and block out my circumstances.
    “You have to help me get out, Santino,” I dare to use his name.
    He slowly moves me backward.
    “Dead spot,” he whispers, and we move to the corner of the shower.
    “Santino,” I utter frantically because I don’t know how long I’ll have him alone, and this is my window. I clear all other thoughts out of my mind. “You have to help me.”
    He touches my cheek.
    “Help me.” And I press my lips to his. His hands tangle in my wet hair, and even though my body hurts, I play along.
    He pulls back, breathing hard. “I want to...”
    He’s so close, and I need to convince him, so I press my body against his.
    “...but I don’t know how,” he finishes.
    “Let me escape. You must know this place? There must be a way. I’m lucid enough to run now.” He keeps staring at me blankly. “Santino!” I prompt.
    “I need a plan.”
    “There’s no time for a plan. Anything you can come up with?!” My palms rest on his suit jacket that’s wet now too.
    I can see him contemplating his options. “The hostess has been asking about you. She’s the one that got you into the sex club, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Can she keep a secret?” he asks.
    I have no idea since she’s just an acquaintance, not a close friend, but I lie, “Yes.”
    “There are a lot of corridors here, and you’ll need to run alone,” he informs, raising his brow, thinking it might dissuade me.
    My shoulders straighten, and I almost can’t believe he’s going to help me. I think that kiss, along with his apparent guilt, convinced him to let me go. He told me before that he knew me from when I worked upstairs – I never noticed him, but I omitted that piece of information.
    “Fine.” I’ll agree to anything as long as I get a chance to escape, but I need shoes. “I need shoes and clothes.”
    “I’m going to cuff you to the bed as usual. I’ll be back as soon as I can. If someone comes, pretend you’re drugged out,” he says.
    I dry hurriedly and want to ask what he’s going to do, but from then on, everything happens so fast.
    Before I know it, he’s shackling my ankle and out the door. I’m hoping he also realizes that now is our window since Sal is still attending his psychotic ceremony.
    Minutes tick by, and I wait in the room with the door