Free Delivered (The Monster Trilogy Book 3) by Marissa Farrar Page A

wasn’t quite able to bring herself to do so, so her fingers hovered, mid-air, instead.
    “Are you all right?” she asked in the end.
    The crying stopped and Jess’ body went rigid.
    Lily held her breath, waiting for a new outpouring of sorrow, but instead, Jess sat up and faced her.
    “No, I’m not all right! What a stupid fucking question. Would you be all right if you’d just been exposed and spanked in front of a group of strange men?”
    Lily reared back and shook her head. “No, of course not.”
    “Well, then, what makes you think I’m going to be?”
    “Nothing. It was a stupid thing to say. I just wanted to …”
    Make sure you were okay.
    She couldn’t think of anything else to say. Jess was right. Of course she wasn’t okay. They’d been taken and were going to be used as slaves to entertain power-hungry, abusive men. Neither of them should be okay.
    And yet Lily felt stronger—far stronger than she’d been after Monster had taken her. Fear no longer held her its captive. She knew what she was capable of now, and that was far more than she’d ever given herself credit for.
    A knock came at the door.
    Lily frowned. Who would bother to knock?
    She exchanged a glance with Jess, and then got to her feet and crossed the room. “Yes?” she called out.
    The lock clicked open, and one of the women who’d been working in the kitchen opened the door. She carried a tray which held two identical bowls, plastic cups of water and spoons. The woman didn’t make eye contact with them, but did a little dip, as though she were of servitude to them.
    “Master told me to bring your meals to you,” she said in a quiet voice, thick with an accent. “I must bring back the tray.”
    “Yes, of course,” Lily said, trying to give the other woman a smile while she lifted the bowls and cups of water off the tray and placed them on the dresser. “Thank you.”
    But the woman had already backed out of the room and locked the door behind her.
    Lily checked out the food and wrinkled her nose. “Not exactly filet steak,” she said out loud, but not to anyone in particular. The meal appeared to be a watery porridge. She lifted one of the plastic spoons and took a mouthful, trying not to grimace. Yes, watery porridge was exactly what the food was. No sugar or cream to add flavor. The meal was as plain as you could get.
    Even so, her stomach growled with hunger. Holding back on her own desire to shovel food into her mouth, she lifted the other bowl and spoon, and carried them over to Jess, who still sat on the bed.
    “Here,” she said, setting them down on the bedside table. “Eat. It’ll make you feel stronger.”
    Jess pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”
    “Don’t be stupid. You need to eat.” She lowered her voice. “If an opportunity arises where we can get out of here, how are you going to feel if you’re too weak to run?”
    “We’re not getting out of here,” she said, resolutely. “I wish you’d stop saying that.”
    “I have someone on the outside. He’ll be looking for me, I’m sure of it.”
    But was she sure? What if Monster decided this was too big a problem to get involved with? Though she didn’t want to doubt him, she couldn’t help but worry. She hoped Monster would come for her, but she wasn’t going to rely on him. She would need to save herself, and Jess, too, if things came down to it.
    “He might be dead,” Jess said suddenly.
    Lily’s head snapped around. “What?”
    “He was shot. I saw he was hurt. He might be dead.”
    A flood of hot, followed by cold, rushed over her. “No, he’s not dead. I’d know somehow. I’d feel it inside me.” But those were stupid, romantic notions. How would she know he was dead? Wasn’t the truth simply that she was lying to herself?
    “Just eat the food,” she said, walking back to where she’d left her own meal. She picked up the bowl and glass, and carried them back to her room. She couldn’t stand