Bent (The Gifted Series) Read Free Page B

loneliness was beginning to take its toll.  Not to mention the assignments that Patrice Landon forced upon her. Again she quickly shook off the memories of all the pain she’d inflicted and all that she’d suffered: humiliation, debasement, agony, and the list went on. 
                  Just continue to pull away from their hold , she reminded herself, you’re gaining ground and getting mentally stronger .  She didn’t risk saying the words aloud because for the first six months, Joss’ cell was monitored, but once they’d bent her, they pulled the video cam out. And thankfully she knew Patrice’s readers couldn’t break her screens.  Gaels had freakish blocking abilities, and she was glad of it.  
                  On a sigh, she sauntered over to the shower in the corner.  Although they gave her a frosted plexiglass privacy wall around the toilet, the shower was exposed for all to see, not even a curtain.  The perverts. 
                  She snickered at how modest she was when she’d first been captured and forced into this living hell.  But within weeks modesty was nonexistent.  She didn’t give a rat’s arse if Patrice’s cronies got their jollies while watching her shower.  Even though Patrice claimed that she was no longer being visually observed and the camera had been physically removed, she wasn’t about to put faith into the words of the devil.  Instead, she remained visually emotionless whenever the lights where on, while constantly reminding herself that somehow, someway retribution would be served on a very bloody platter.
                  She turned on the water and quickly stripped out of the thin white tank top and gray yoga pants. She then yanked the rubber band from the messy bun at her nape.  Her white-blonde hair fell in a twisted heap to her waist.  This was the longest it had ever been, but that’s what happens when you're denied hair cuts for almost two years.  Off hand, she chuckled at the moronic thought that surfaced: about a year before her capture—as a twenty-second birthday gift—she’d splurged and had electrolysis done under her arms and her privies. She always hated the nuisance of shaving and waxing. 
                  “It matters not,” she mumbled as she soaped up.  Her body was no longer her own anyway.  It now belonged to Patrice, and regardless of how sick and twisted the acts were, Patrice did whatever she desired with all of them. 
                  Joss glanced down, noticing what remained of the fading spray tan.  Last week Patrice sent her to Maui on a vengeance mission—at least Joss believed the location to be Maui.  Regardless, it was tropical, hot, humid, and Joss was forced to be further waxed, sprayed, and beautified in order to lure a Landon associate into a trap. 
                  The mission went smoothly.  No sexual acts were involved, which was always a plus, and in all honesty, Joss had no moral qualms with offing this particular bloke.  Especially after he so rudely thrust his unwelcomed claws into the knickers of her string bikini. 
                  On the hypnotics command, she’d let her gift roar and sent a five foot bamboo bedpost through the flagin’ man’s chest.  Of course, once the task was complete, Joss was placed in her usual trance and transported back to … well, she wasn’t quite sure of her location.  Definitely the United States as she recalled American accents whenever out of her cell.
                  She continued to scrub, washing away the sweat and wishing she could wash away the gift that landed her here in the first place.  “This bloody gifted world,” she mumbled.  All she ever desired was normalcy: marriage, children, a peaceful home filled with laughter.  Such simple expectations.
                  “Shut it!” she muttered, cutting off her thoughts.  They’d only depress, and