by Ella Miles
No—he didn’t tell the truth.
When he is speaking the truth, he is passionate about what he says, and his voice is husky and intoxicating. My body would follow any command he’d give. I could listen to Zeke talk all damn day.
His voice was still deep and sexy, but it was slightly different. If he spoke a command in that voice, I wouldn’t have had to listen to his order unless I wanted to.
His body was more tense than still.
His eyes glazed over just a little, trying to hide the truth.
“You lied,” I say.
“How did you know?”
I shake my head with a light smile. “I’m not telling you my secrets.”
He narrows his eyes in a scowl, which only brightens my smile.
“Fine, don’t tell me what my tells are. But you trust that you will be able to tell when I’m lying?”
“Yes.”
“And if either of us is caught lying to the other, then he, or she, gets to commit the ultimate sin.”
I swallow the lump down. I don’t have to ask what he means by ‘ultimate sin.’ There is one universal sin that all people, animals, and culture believe is the worst—murder. If I lie, and he catches me, then he will kill me. If he lies, I kill him.
These are the ultimate stakes. The highest bet either of us can put on the table. But we both want each other’s secrets.
Zeke wants to know about my relationship with Julian, while I need Zeke’s secrets to use against him and free myself.
We are both willing to risk everything for the truth.
I nod, silently agreeing to his terms.
Most men would want to hear my words, not Zeke. All forms of communication are equal in his book.
“We can only play max once a day,” Zeke says.
I agree. I don’t like endless prodding and questions about my life.
“Follow up questions have to be asked the next day.”
I nod.
“And you don’t have to reveal anything other than the basic answer to the question. Elaboration happens with further questions.”
Again I nod, agreeing. I will have to be careful with how I ask my questions to get the most answers from Zeke, while trying to keep my big mouth shut. Zeke is clearly used to keeping his answers simple, so I doubt I’ll get more than one sentence. He might even try to answer me with a single word if I’m not careful.
“You first,” I say, assuming he will ask me about Julian, and I’m not sure if I’ll answer or choose sin. I don’t want to talk about Julian, but I don’t want to let Zeke commit a sin against me. He could choose anything from kissing to raping me—anything but killing me.
And I have no idea what question I’ll ask him.
Zeke licks his lips, and my eyes are glued to his sensual mouth and rough five o’clock shadow darkening his square jaw.
“Do you find me attractive?” Zeke asks.
“What?” I gape.
He reaches up to his head, and pulls the scrunchie from his head and puts it on his wrist. His hair falls down, making him look like the human prince from Beauty and the Beast.
I can’t blink, I can’t breathe, I can’t speak. My body is beyond attracted to him. He already knows that. I may hate how my body reacts to his, but it’s not something he has to ask me to know it to be true. If this is the question he’s asking me, it’s a waste of a question.
He waits, patiently, still kneeling in front of me. “What will it be? Answer the question truthfully, or do I get to commit a sin against you?”
“The sinning part—can be anything you choose?”
He nods, his eyes like fire ready to burn me the second I refuse to answer the question. “Anything except murder.”
I nod. I was right in my understanding of what a sin could be. And I can’t believe I fell for his twisted game. He likes torturing me before he beats and rapes me. It’s more fun to think it’s my fault he’s hurting me than to just fucking do it himself—fucking coward.
This is the easiest question, but also the hardest to admit. We both already know the truth, but I know nodding won’t be enough this time. He wants me to verbalize my feelings. Whether I answer or not, he wins. He either gets me to admit my attraction, which he will use against me, or he gets to rape me.
I grit my teeth in anger at his ridiculous question. He doesn’t care about Julian or getting honest answers from me. He just enjoys the slow torture. I won’t let him win. He doesn’t get to hurt me tonight. I won’t let him. I’ll answer him. Words and teasing won’t hurt me.
“Yes,” I answer, refusing to give Zeke more than a single syllable answer. Luckily, it’s enough to please him.
His face darkens, and I can tell he’s thinking about all the dirty things he wants to do to me.
“Your turn,” he says.
I think for a moment through my red, angry cheeks and grinding teeth. I’m not going to waste my question like Zeke did. Although, from the amount of rage I’m now experiencing, he didn’t waste his question. He got me riled up and unfocused.
“Do you enjoy taking women as your slave?” I spit out in anger. Yes, my question sucks and doesn’t get me any real answers. But I’m pissed. I want him to admit he’s a monster, just like I had to admit I find him attractive.
I tap my fingers hard against the soft fabric of the armrests, wishing my nails could make an annoying tapping sound to unnerve him. I glare at Zeke, demanding an answer. A simple yes will satisfy me, just as I answered him.
“Sin.”
I blink rapidly. Wait…what?
“I won’t answer your question. I choose sin.”
I’m speechless. I gave him an easy question, and rather than answer me truthfully, he’d rather let me commit a sin against him. I search his eyes to see if he set a trap, but I don’t find any there.
My wheels turn, trying to come up with the perfect sin to inflict upon him. After a few moments, I grin slyly when I find the right one. Now to figure out if Zeke will keep to his word and take my wrath.
14
Zeke
Why didn’t I ask her about Julian? Why didn’t I ask the most important question?
I know why. Once I get an answer, this will end. She will go free. She will no longer be mine. Our time together will be over.
I don’t know how I know exactly, but I know. The question is too important. The truth she is hiding is too big. I can see it in her surprised eyes when I didn’t ask the obvious question. By not asking, I got more information about how important the answer is than if I had asked. Sure, I might have gotten to commit a sin if she wasn’t ready to share the answer with me. But once I start committing sins, I won’t be able to stop—not with Siren.
Why did I choose sin instead of answering her question?
Because I had no choice—I either lie or tell her the truth. And even though she thought her question was an easy one, it wasn’t. I’m not the man she thinks I am. I didn’t want to buy her like I would a car, but I had no choice.
Just like I have no choice but to choose sin instead of truth. I can’t tell her the truth, and she would know if I lied—so sin it is.
“What is your sin?” I ask, still kneeling between her legs, staring eye to eye with her. When I first knelt in front of her, it was to get her to trust me; now, it’s tempting me in ways I never imagined. Being so close to her and not being able to touch her, not being able to rip her sweatpants off and devour her sweet pussy—kneeling was definitely a mistake.
“Hmm,” her lips purse as she contemplates her decision. I know she is going to push my limits even further. She knows she is my weakness, and for some reason, I’m not letting myself have her. The lie I told was that I’m going to sell her to make a profit as long as she is untouched. But I’m not sure she bought that lie.
Siren thinks I’m ruthless and cruel, but I’ll protect her with my life. I’ve already moved her into the very limited circle of people who I would defend no matter the cost.
Her eyes dark
en as they go back in forth in search of finding something in my eyes. But I’m as blank as a sheet of paper. I won’t yield any truths outside the game.
“I’m going to need some real clothes,” she says.
“No, that’s not part of the deal. You get what I decide to give you.”
She frowns and folds her arms over her chest, lifting her legs up into the seat, trying to get as far away from me as possible.
“I knew you were a liar and would go back on our deal.”
“I’m not going back on our deal. You can commit any sin you want. I just don’t have to fund it or supply you with clothes or anything you need to commit the sin.”
She shakes her head. “I have nothing. I own nothing. You’ve given me nothing! How am I supposed to commit a sin when I have nothing to work with?”
I shrug. “That’s not my problem.”
She pouts for a second, then says, “I can use anything I find? Anything I own or lay claim to in order to commit my sin?”
I narrow my eyes and lean forward, not sure where she is going with this. “Yes.”
She hops over the side of the armrest and then starts running through the house.
She’s going to be the death of me; I can feel it.
A second later, I chase after her. I’m fast, but due to my height and weight, I’m not as nimble as she is. She can hop over and dart around the various pieces of broken glass and furniture before I even see them.
She’s out the front door before I get to the foyer. But I’m out the door in two giant leaps. She’s running for my truck—the driver’s side. My keys are still in my pocket; she can’t start the truck. Right? But I don’t stop to recall if the keys are still in my pocket or if I accidentally left them in the truck.
I run to the passenger side.
Siren is sitting on the driver’s side. Her hands are on the wheel, and her seatbelt is already fastened.
“And where do you think you are going without the keys?” I smirk.
She bites her lip, trying to hide her mischievous grin. “I’m not going anywhere without the keys. Thanks for bringing them.”
And with that, she starts the truck and puts her foot on the gas, flooring it.
Damn it, I’m a fucking idiot!
I’m used to older trucks, the kind where you have to put the key into the ignition to start it. But even though this truck has already been beaten to death by the previous owner, it has a key fob. You don’t need to put it into the ignition, but I usually do out of habit. I consider jumping out of the truck, so the key is no longer in the vehicle. But I’m not sure removing the key fob from the car at this point will even shut the truck off. She could drive anywhere. She could get free.
It could be a good thing…unless Julian finds her.
I grab for my seatbelt instead and buckle myself in as she drives dangerously fast through Julian’s compound.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
She smirks. “This is my choice—my sin. And I’m not telling yet. You’ll just have to wait and see.”
I silently punish myself for coming up with this game. I thought it would get Siren to trust me enough to spill her secrets. And it might over time, but right now, all I’ve accomplished is cursing her and myself to hell.
Siren takes a hard left turn off Julian’s property onto the main gravel and sand road. My body gets thrown into the window as she turns.
“Slow the fuck down,” I curse under my breath.
“Fucking hypocrite,” she chuckles back.
“What did you just say?”
She turns toward me, her eyes no longer on the road as she drives faster. “You heard me.”
I growl and sit back in my seat, my hand instinctively grabbing the door handle as she takes another sharp turn too fast. She’s right; I’m a hypocrite. I drove fast just to get her under my control. She’s just doing the same thing.
But one way or another, I’m going to be the one driving the truck home. Whether her ass is in it or not.
Siren flicks on the radio to fill the silence. She bobs her head to the music and mouths the words along to the song. But she doesn’t sing. I haven’t heard her sing since the night she saved me. Maybe I imagined it? I don’t know how much of what I remember is real or made up. But after spending more time with Siren, I don’t think I will ever forget a single second of my time with her.
I wait for her to start singing along, but she doesn’t.
Finally, she stops in one of the local towns, parking the car illegally in front of one of the storefronts.
“What are you doing?” I ask, my heart still racing from the death-defying ride over here.
She unbuckles her seatbelt happily, like a teenager about to go shopping with their father’s credit card at the mall.
“Getting new clothes,” she says, before swinging her door open.
“With what money?” I ask as I jump out of the truck to go after her. It’s only then that I realize my wallet is missing.
How the hell did she pull that off?
I don’t have a clue. She must have been a thief in a previous life. I really need to ask questions that will give me some actual answers about who Siren is.
She skips up and down all bubbly as she heads into the first department store. I follow and corner her before she can use my money to buy some clothes. My body presence alone corners her between two racks of clothes.
“Give me back my wallet.”
She tosses it to me. And then darts under my arm.
Wait…that was too easy.
She struts across the store and starts talking to one of the employees. And then she flashes me one of her I’m going to kick your ass one day smiles and hands the woman my credit card.
I’m searing. I’m sure actual fumes are coming out of my ears. She thinks these games are going to protect her. Her strategy is to keep her secrets by torturing me so I’ll want to surrender to her. Think again. She has no idea who she is messing with. I’m going to wreck her.
After Siren’s little shopping spree that included buying half a dozen jeans, a couple of heels, and twenty designer shirts, she’s finished spending my money. We are back in the truck, this time with me in the driver’s seat and her in the passenger seat.
“Time to go home,” I say.
She shakes her head. “You think that was my sin?”
I frown. “Yes, you just spent thousands of dollars on clothes. I think that counts as a sin.”
She laughs. “Not even close.” She kicks her feet up on my dashboard. “We are going to the bar on seventh street. That is where I’ll complete my sin.”
I sigh. I’m tired, and I don’t feel like fighting her. I need her to trust me. And I need this night to be over. Tomorrow I have more important things to deal with—mainly Julian.
So that’s how I end up driving Siren to a bar.
She practically sprints out of the car the second I stop, assuming I’m going to try and stop her after I drove her all the way here—she has a lot to learn about me.
I take my time getting out of the truck, after making sure I have my wallet with all my credit cards.
I walk into the crowded bar, taking in its steely decorations, making it look more like a dance club than a bar. It feels like every tourist on the island is packed in this place.
I find Siren at the end of the bar already flirting with a man, clearly ordering her a drink.
I walk up behind her. I know she can feel me behind her because goosebumps have risen on her arms.
She’s wearing jeans, heels, and some black strapless shirt that makes her toned shoulders easy for my teeth to sink into. I’ve never been into biting during sex, but her shoulders taunt me in a way that makes me want to try sinking my teeth into her. Pleasurably watching tiny drops of blood drip off those sexy shoulders would ease the fury she boils inside me.
She doesn’t turn around, and I don’t need her to in order to get my message across.
I lean down close to her ne
ck. I don’t have to lean down much now that she is wearing heels—heels I’m secretly happy she bought because they are sexy as hell.
“If you ask anyone in here for help, if you try to run, if you tell anyone the truth…there will be consequences.”
She shivers at my throaty words.
“But I hope you do try to run, because I enjoy chasing. And I’ll enjoy inflicting the punishment even more.”
She stops breathing as my words sink in.
My threats are real. I don’t want her to run. Julian is too infatuated with her. He would find her, rape her, and sell her. Threatening and inflicting consequences is the only way to show how serious I am about protecting her.
I walk away to go order a drink and sit in one of the booths to wait for her sin. I’m already afraid I know what it’s going to be…and I’m not sure my restraint is prepared for what she’s about to do.
15
Siren
I’ve enjoyed teasing Zeke all night.
I didn’t think I’d enjoy driving Zeke’s big, worn-down truck, but I was wrong. I understand now the thrill of feeling power over the world when you drive it. The truck drives like it doesn’t give a fuck that it’s run-down and should be scrapped for metal. It drives like it owns the road, and anyone in its way needs to get the fuck out.
I get it; I’m the same as the truck. A little rough around the edges, but more powerful than anyone suspects at first glance. And I loved using that power to make Zeke regret ever buying me.
When I stole his wallet, the look of shock on his beautifully sculpted face will stay with me forever. I don’t know what he thought of the move—if I had practiced stealing before or if I got lucky. And I’ll never tell him the truth.
I’ve had a fun night—until Zeke breathed down my neck. Until his words held promises and threats of what would happen if I ran. He doesn’t know I have no intention of running. He may suspect I’m scared of Julian, but he doesn’t know why. He doesn’t know Julian would hunt me to the ends of the earth without Zeke’s protection.
