by Stella Hart
“Answer me.”
“I… I…” I gasped for breath as I attempted to arrange my thoughts into something coherent. It wasn’t easy with the searing pain in my left leg and the jolting agony in my chest. “I just assumed I was sleepwalking. It was probably your fault.”
Nate chuckled and shook his head. “Holy fuck, you really are crazy. Blaming your psycho shit on me.”
I swallowed hard. “I just meant… it was probably the chocolates. They made me have crazy nightmares whenever I slept, and they made me hallucinate while I was awake. So they probably made me sleepwalk too. I swear, I have no memory of it at all.”
Nate sneered and carved another straight line into my thigh, making me howl again. “You’ve really lost your mind, haven’t you?” he said. “Fucking chocolate? What the hell are you even talking about?”
“You gave the box to me,” I choked out. “They were drugged. You… you wanted me to think I was going crazy so I’d leave the island.”
He narrowed his eyes and cocked his head. “I didn’t give you any chocolate.”
I stared at him through blurry, tear-filled eyes. “You did. With the bouquet.”
He shook his head. “I only gave you those flowers. I put them next to a box of chocolates that was already at your door that day,” he said. “They were from your mother, according to the note. I figured you’d think the flowers were just part of the gift.”
Confusion whirled in my mind. “But my mom didn’t give them to me. I asked her.”
“Then you probably sent the chocolates to yourself in one of your crazy-bitch sleepwalking episodes,” he said with a mocking sneer. “Anyway, is that still your answer? You were sleepwalking that night when my camera caught you covered in blood?”
“Yes. I swear, I don’t remember anything.” I cried out as he started digging into my leg with the knife again. “Stop! Stop! Stop!”
He didn’t stop. Not until the letters K, I and L were carved deeply into my pale flesh. “Halfway there,” he muttered. “You know, I thought about branding this onto you, but then I decided that would be too fast. I want to stretch this out. Really make you feel it.”
“Please,” I begged, even though I knew it wouldn’t get me anywhere. “Stop.”
He started carving another letter, and I screamed until my throat felt as if it had been scraped raw with a razor blade.
“Did the girls beg you like this?” Nate asked. “Scream? Cry? Promise you anything you wanted if you just stopped hurting them for five minutes?”
“I didn’t hurt them!” I shrieked as the knife came down again and again.
“I bet Emilie begged your dad,” he said, face twisting in a hateful expression. “Like all his other victims. Bet you fucking love the thought of that, don’t you?”
“It wasn’t… he didn’t…” My words trailed away into nothing as my eyes drifted shut. I was on the verge of passing out. That was good, though. It meant the pain would end, at least for a while.
“I wish I knew who killed that fucking bastard,” Nate said, jaw clenched. “Just so I could ask if they made it slow and painful for him, the same way I’m going to do for you.”
Tears leaked out of my eyelids and streamed down my cheeks. I didn’t bother thrashing around or trying to beg anymore. All I could do was wait.
Nate kept talking, but I didn’t register anything he said. I was in another place now, drifting far, far away in my mind.
The battery finally went off, and Nate untied my hands and pulled them back down to my sides. “Looks like you’ve already had enough. Weak little bitch.”
I mumbled something unintelligible as he pulled the clips off my chest. Sharp pain shot through me again, and my eyes flew open as a strangled gasp slipped out of my mouth.
Nate grinned at the sight of my agonized face. “That’s the blood-flow returning to your nipples.”
I winced and held my breasts in my hands, willing the pain to disappear. It felt like a million red-hot needles were sticking into my flesh.
“Stay still,” Nate said, picking up some of the antiseptic wipes that he left on the table earlier. He wiped them over my bloody leg, revealing the word he’d sliced into me. KILLER.
When the wound was cleaned up, he grabbed a large bandage and covered it. Then he started tending to the grazes on my shins and knees with more antiseptic wipes, cleaning them slowly and carefully.
“Why are you doing this?” I whispered, confused by the sudden tenderness of his actions.
Nate glanced up at me. “You know I want to keep you for a long time,” he said. “I can’t have you dying from an infection within a week, can I?”
I slumped back down on the table. Of course.
I couldn’t let myself build up any hope. When he was touching me like this, so gently and sweetly, it was easy to forget he was a bad guy. A monster. But he wasn’t really being kind to me right now. He wasn’t even capable of kindness. Everything he did served his wicked endgame.
“Time to go,” he finally said, pulling me to my feet. “I’ll let you walk this time. But only if you thank me for it.”
I swallowed hard. “Thank you,” I muttered, cheeks flushing hot with humiliation.
With a satisfied gleam in his eyes, he turned back to the table to start packing things away. I eyed the black knife roll as he cleaned my blood off his chosen blade and slipped it back into its pocket. If only I could grab one of those knives…
A sudden sound in the tunnel outside made Nate whip his head around to face the door. Probably a rat skittering through the darkness.
I tried to take the opportunity to edge sideways and grab one of the knives from his torture kit, but he looked back around again too fast.
Shit.
Nate rolled up the black fabric and held it in one arm along with the bag. “Come on. Let’s go.”
His free hand went to my left arm, and I hobbled out the door beside him, wincing at the throbbing pain in my leg and chest.
As he pulled me through the dark warren of passages, the pain started to fade. My mind had returned to the knife roll, blotting out everything else.
I had to figure out a way to get one of the knives, because they were my best option for escape. But how? Nate saw me as a deranged killer who could snap at any second, so he always had his guard up around me.
A dark seed planted itself in my brain a moment later. There was one weakness Nate had that I could exploit. It was a weakness most men had.
Sex.
I could try to seduce him as a distraction technique. All I needed was a few seconds in the dim cell to grab one of those weapons from the kit, and I could easily get those few seconds if Nate was panting for breath as he busied himself with his pants after an orgasm.
In normal circumstances, I’d rather eat rusty nails than have sex with a despicable asshole like him, but right now I had to push aside my hatred for the sake of the greater good. It was the same thing that occurred to me earlier—once I was free, it wouldn’t matter what I did to make it happen. Not even if I fucked Nate fifty times.
I furrowed my brows, trying to figure out a way to carry out my new plan. It wouldn’t be easy, because I wasn’t exactly at my peak physical form right now. My body was covered in grime and my hair was so oily that I could probably use it to fry several pounds of bacon. Nothing about that screamed ‘sexy woman’. Especially to a guy like Nate, who could snag literally any woman on the planet.
There was also the fact that he would get suspicious if I made it too obvious. I had to make it seem as if it was happening organically. Like it was a totally inevitable occurrence.
When we were back at my cell, Nate shoved me hard in the lower back, sending me down to the mattress. “Maybe I should use the tube next time,” he mused, rubbing his jaw as he stared down at me. “You won’t even be able to scream then.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What’s the tube?”
“It’s an idea I had a while ago. Know what a gastroscope is?”
I shook my head. “Not really.”
“It’s a tube doctors put down the esophagus so they can view the stomach. Usually it would only cause a sore throat afterwards. But not if you pour acid down the tube or fit it with some sort of cauterizer that burns every inch on the way down.”
My stomach lurched with horror. Then an idea flashed in my mind. Strangely enough, this was actually a chance.
Take it, my mind screamed.
“Well, even if you do that, I guess I should consider myself lucky in one way,” I mumbled in a resigned tone, looking at the floor.
Nate frowned. “What?”
I raised my chin and met his eyes. “You’ve tortured me in so many ways already, but you haven’t forced me to have sex with you, and you haven’t alluded to it, either. So I’m lucky in that way.” I looked back down at the floor. “Unless I’m wrong, and you plan to do it at some point.”
“I don’t.”
I looked at him again. “Why?”
“Are you seriously asking that?” Nate’s eyes narrowed. “You should be fucking grateful, you stupid bitch.”
“I’m just saying, you want to hurt me, and that’s a way to hurt me really badly,” I murmured. “So I’m surprised. That’s all.”
Nate’s nostrils flared. “I have plenty of ideas for hurting you, and none of them include that,” he said, voice dripping with hatred. “I don’t want to put my cock anywhere near your disgusting body. You’re fucking trash.”
He thought he was degrading me with his nasty insults, but he was actually walking right into my trap.
“But… that’s not true, is it?” I said softly, lifting my brows.
“What?”
I slowly pushed myself to my feet and took a half-step toward him. “You’ve touched me before. Like in the gazebo that night.”
His jaw clenched. “That was different,” he muttered.
“No, it wasn’t.”
“It was.” A vein was visibly throbbing on his forehead now. “I fucking told you, I wouldn’t put my cock anywhere near you now. You’re a dirty, fucked up bitch.”
“Yeah, I guess I am dirty. But I think that’s exactly why you wanted me that night,” I said, lips curving into a ghost of a smile. “Deep down, you’re just as fucked up as me, aren’t you?”
Nate dropped the bag and knife roll on the floor with a loud clatter. Then he surged forward and grabbed me by the shoulders, shoving me backward until I hit the wall. “Shut the fuck up, you stupid bitch,” he hissed.
I ignored the searing pain in my back and shoulders. “Just admit it. You want to fuck me,” I said softly, tilting my chin slightly to one side. “So… why don’t you? There’s nothing stopping you. No one to hear me scream. You said it yourself the other day.”
He was going to think I was trying to seduce him to extend my lifespan or gain favors from him. That was okay. He could think that all he wanted.
I knew the truth.
“You’re crazy.” Nate pulled back and spat at my feet.
“I’m not,” I said. I paused for a beat to lick my dry lips, staring straight into his eyes. “I can see it. You want me. It’s the same way that part of me wanted you after the stoplight party, even though I hated you. Even though I wanted to kill you.”
“I told you to shut the fuck up.”
“You know I’m right, Nate,” I whispered, arching my body toward his. He was so close now that I could feel his hot breath on my face. “Even though I’m disgusting and filthy and you think I’m a fucking killer, you still want me.”
“Don’t,” he said thickly, eyebrows gathering in. I could feel a bulge in the front of his pants.
It was working.
“Don’t what?” I tilted my chin upward and widened my eyes. “Don’t tell the truth?”
“It’s not the truth,” he said gruffly, trying to avert his eyes as I licked my lips again.
I reached down to touch the bulge between his legs. “It obviously is. You hate me, but you want me,” I said. “It’s that sick, twisted part of you that you can’t control. It’s screaming for me, isn’t it?”
I didn’t need to provoke him any further. With a savage growl, he shoved me back against the wall, eliciting a shocked gasp from my lips. One hand tore at my panties, roughly yanking them aside to expose my pussy, and the other reached for the front of his pants.
My own hands quickly went to his chest. “I want to see you,” I said in a frantic whisper, tugging at the hem of his shirt.
He grunted impatiently, pulled it off, and tossed it to the floor. Then he unzipped his pants and picked me up, forcing me to wrap my legs around his hips.
Before I could take another breath, his cock was at my entrance, and with a single thrust and a guttural groan, he was inside me.
Moans and whimpers ripped themselves from my lips as the violent intrusion made my core stretch and burn. Nate’s groin bumped against my clit with every hard, jerking movement, and the pain began to fade as I grew wetter and wetter to accommodate him.
I hated myself for it, but I couldn’t deny the stark truth between my legs. Right now, I wanted this just as much as Nate wanted it. We were both as fucked up as each other.
I cried out every time he drove himself into me, hips smashing against mine as my nails dug crescents into his back. “You’re fucking sick in the head,” he growled against my ear, fingertips digging into my ass as his strong arms held me up against the rough stone wall.
“I know.” I raked my nails over his bare back even harder and leaned down to bite his left shoulder.
“Look at you,” he grunted, fucking me harder and harder. “You’re fucking soaked for me.”
“Yes,” I gasped out. “Don’t stop. Please...”
He pulled back and grabbed my throat with one hand, wrapping his fingers around me until I couldn’t breathe. “Beg for it,” he said, eyes glimmering with hate. “Beg for my cum, filthy slut.”
“Please,” I choked out. “Please cum in me. I want it all inside me.”
He drove himself inside me again and again, relentlessly claiming my body like I was nothing more than a sex doll to be used for his pleasure. Just a warm hole for his cock. For some sick, strange reason, that only turned me on even more. Suddenly I was coming with a series of gasps, the orgasm ripping through me with a shocking combination of force and desire as stars exploded around me.
Nate didn’t stop. It was like he was determined to break me apart with his cock. His gaze was wild and intense, and every violent move he made robbed me of my breath. Another climax shook me a few seconds later, and this time I let out a choked scream, chest seizing as I tightened around him.
His face scrunched up in an expression akin to pain, and then his body went rigid. The sound that slipped out of his mouth was so achingly raw that I was suddenly desperate to come on his cock all over again. I could do this forever. Have him inside me forever. Never let him go. Never, ever stop…
But then it was over. Nate pulled himself out of me and dropped me back down to the floor, refusing to meet my eyes.
My plan rushed back to me, and I pointed a shaky finger to the roll of toilet paper on the other side of the cell. “Use that if you want,” I said.
He stepped over to it and grabbed a few wads. Then he looked down at his crotch, using the paper to wipe his cock dry.
While he was distracted with that, I quickly crouched down to the knife roll on the floor and grabbed a small blade from it.
“What are you doing?” Nate’s head suddenly whipped around, eyes narrowing in my direction.
“Just getting this for you,” I said, hiding the knife behind my back with my right hand as the left one grasped at the shirt on the floor. Luckily for me, he’d tossed it right near his other stuff.
“I can get it myself,” he said stiffly, leaning down to yank it out of my hand.
I skittered back to the mattress and slipped the pilfered knife beneath it as Nate slipped his shirt back on.
“Not even
going to clean yourself up?” he asked, lips curling with disgust as he looked down at me. His cum was leaking out of me, dripping down my thighs.
I ignored him and looked down at the floor with a sullen look on my face, acting as if I already regretted everything we’d just done.
Nate chuckled as he gathered up his things. “I know what you were trying to do just then,” he said. “You think you’re smart, but you’re totally transparent. It’s pathetic.”
I lifted my chin and watched him step outside and lock the cell again. “What do you think I was trying to do?” I asked, voice barely above a murmur. Surely he hadn’t noticed the missing knife already.
“You were trying to fuck me onto your side,” he replied. His lips twisted into a cruel smirk. “I bet you thought that tight little pussy of yours was going to change my mind about you, huh? Make me fall in love with you?”
I swallowed hard and affected a guilt-ridden expression. Nate smiled triumphantly.
“It didn’t work, Alexis,” he said in an ice-cold tone. “I’m still going to kill you.”
With that, he was gone. A slow smile spread across my face as my right hand found the small knife under the mattress, and I whispered into the darkness.
“Not if I kill you first...”
16
Nate
Regret sliced through me like an icy knife. My chest ached, and my limbs felt electrified. I had to move. Had to get the fuck out of this place.
What the fuck was I thinking?
I risked one more glance at Alexis before I turned and stalked away. She was still kneeling on the dirty mattress in the dark cell, eyes hard and face pinched in a regretful grimace as my cum dripped down her dirt-smeared legs. Her lips were bright red and swollen, and there were already bruises on her skin from where I forcefully grabbed her and shoved her up against the wall.
She looked fragile, broken-down… and hot as fucking hell.
She knew it, too. She wasn’t the weak, delicate little doll she pretended to be. Not even close. She’d used her feminine wiles and engineered this seduction in a transparent attempt to make me pity her, maybe even fall for her, so she could try to manipulate me into letting her go.
