Destroy Me by Laura Bailey

that his behaviour was unacceptable. He’s never forgotten it.”
“What did he do?”
“I can’t go into details; suffice it to say; and this is never to be repeated Tara, but he used excessive force on innocent people.”
    “My God. That’s terrible!”
“I know.”
    “Damien, you can’t take me back to my apartment. He knows where I live. He drove me home.”
“When? What are you talking about?”
    Damien’s brows knotted together, his eyes full of disbelief.
    “The night before, when you didn’t show at the Club. He came over when I was in the Bar waiting for you.”
    “And? ”
    He was clearly extremely angry with her, his eyes tearing into her.
    “I said I was waiting for someone. I told him I was spoken for. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. He ordered champagne.”
    “You drank champagne with him?”
    He laughed, but this time there was a horribly bitter tone to it.
    “I talked with him for less than five minutes then said I had to leave. He followed me out. He said he would give me a lift. I kept telling him no. In the end...”
“You just got into his car. A stranger. A man you picked up in my Club!”
    “I didn’t pick any one up, I was waiting for you; you didn’t even bother showing up, you didn’t even bother to reply to my txt. I thought you would show up at the Club.”
“Oh, so when I didn’t, you thought you’d found the perfect replacement. A fucking psychopathic killer. Great choice Tara.”
    “I didn’t fucking pick anyone up. He imposed himself on me.”
“I’m sure he did. How was it Tara?”
    The sarcasm in Damien’s voice was horrible.
“He didn’t touch me!”
Damien’s hands were gripping the steering wheel like he wanted to break it off.
    He pulled out his phone. “Todd, get a team to my house asap. I’ll explain later. As quick as you can ok?”
    He put the phone in his lap. The silence in the car became unbearable.
    For another ten minutes or so Damien concentrated on driving. The air between them could have been slashed with a knife.
    Finally, they arrived in a residential street of very large houses, widely set apart from each other with huge gardens. He pulled the car into a long drive and turned off the engine.
    “Get out.”
    Tara knew better than to speak right now. She followed him up the path as he walked ahead of her fast. Opening the front door, Tara followed him inside, into a large marble floored hallway, plainly and tastefully decorated in cream and black. They passed rooms on either side; a Library, a Study.
    He turned into the next doorway and entered a large day room, with dark leather sofas, fine art paintings on the walls, and deep wine coloured floor to ceiling curtains, setting a warm tone to the room. A huge mirror hung on one of the walls.
    “Stand in front of the mirror Tara. Take a look at yourself. Do you like the slut you see?”
    She turned sharply to him.
    “Why would you call me that?”
    “So quick to offer yourself to Marc Chambers.”
“I told you nothing happened!”
“Be quiet Tara.”
    She approached him and slapped him viciously across the face. He didn’t even flinch. In fact, it made him smile, amused by her feistiness. There was nothing worse to him than a woman who would not stand up to him.
    “We seem to get to this point each time. Now go back and stand against the mirror, facing it. Put your hands flat against it.”
    “No.”
    “Just do it Tara.”
    “For god’s sake Damien!”
    But she did as he said, knowing she was clearly unable to win this round. She watched him in the mirror. Slowly he removed his suit jacket and began to roll up the sleeves of his white fitted shirt until they were above his elbows, his forearms displayed.
    “I should keep you chained up; that seems to be the only way to keep you out of trouble.”
    He came up behind her, intimidating as she watched him in the mirror, but she wanted nothing more than his fierce touch on her right now; his reassurance that everything would be