74. Cohen

74

COHEN

T he rage was simmering beneath the surface, reaching its tipping point and quickly boiling over as my arm shot out and closed around Emily's throat. I didn't remember putting it there. I barely registered my fingers as they clamped down on her pressure points, and I watched her struggle for her next breath of air. Her hands flailing out and her nails clawing at my knuckles. If she broke skin, I didn't feel it. I couldn't feel anything beyond the compulsion to destroy. Her and everything that came with her.

Including the things she made me do at every turn. Things like lose my cool. Things like almost kill her without meaning to. Things like this.

When I noticed the color start to drain from her face, her fight waning along with it, I tossed her motionless body over one shoulder. Scanned my thumb over the keypad to the door and took a sharp left. Stalking down the darkened hallway without bothering to flick on the lights. Truth was I didn't need them. Everything was mapped out in my brain like an extension of myself.

I didn't know where I was headed. But I had no doubt I'd figure it out when I got there.

I stopped short when I caught sight of the large metal tub pressed up against the far wall in one of my various surgical rooms. I liked to use it to keep body parts on ice before shipping them off for disposal or prepping them for a secondary buyer. But right now, I had a better idea.

I leaned forward and flipped Emily onto the metal surgical table. Her ass wasn't moving anytime soon so I didn't bother tying her down as I tugged open the freezer door and grabbed a few fresh bags of ice before tipping them into the tub. Repeating the process until it was filled to the brim. Then I dumped in a few buckets of water, giving the whole thing a quick stir with my arm. The chill penetrating through several layers of skin down to the bone. Exactly how I wanted it.

If she were already pregnant, I couldn't risk the safety of the fetus. But seeing as that wasn't an issue right now, I had free rein. Could do with her what I wanted and then patch her up again. Like my own fucked-up little rag doll. A fact that had me scooping her into my arms and tossing her into the ice bath without much thought as to the consequences.

The moment her head went under, I reached in and tugged Emily back to the surface by her hair, watching as she sputtered out a mouthful of water and gulped in a lungful of air. Frozen droplets splashing out and dripping onto the tiled flooring. I leaned over the edge of the tub, grinning wider as her lips turned that familiar shade of blue that told me she was well on her way to hypothermia.

Blue always did suit her best.

"Ya ever heard of hydrotherapy, pet?" I didn't wait for her to answer before continuing with today's history lesson. "The thought behind it was that the cold water constricted blood vessels, reducing inflammation and congestion while redirecting the blood from the brain towards the internal organs."

I lifted a hand to brush the damp hair out of her eyes and Emily snapped her teeth at me. Her expression screaming rabid dog while mine was more the cat who ate the canary.

"It's why you look so pale right now. They also thought it'd reduce agitation caused by increased brain activity—clearly that theory has been proven incorrect.Then again, some people believe it was all a bunch of snake oil, more about control rather than offering any real therapeutic value. What d'you think, babe?"

Her teeth chattered in her jaw, her muscles expanding and contracting and her body trembling in an attempt to produce energy and warm itself up. "F-f-f-f-fuck y-y-y-y-you," she hissed, and I counted to ten in my head before finally reaching back into the tub and tugging her out.

Any longer than that and I would be fucking a corpse tonight. Which, believe it or not, wasn't my thing.

Emily didn't fight me as I threw her over a shoulder again and made my way back to the bedroom. Though something told me it had more to do with a lack of ability than a lack of will.

I threw a hand up and smacked her across one ass cheek, listening as she cursed me under her breath. "Next I'll tell you all about what they thought an orgasm could do for female hysteria."