by J. L. Beck
Staring down into a pair of crystal blues, it’s as if I can see right through her. See her fears, her pains. She’s like glass, and I’m the proverbial hammer that’s going to shatter her.
“It’s just a shower. Relax, you have nothing to be afraid of,” I assure her, even though I don’t have to.
Her pink lips turn down at the sides, forming a frown. “You. You told me to be scared of you and what you are going to do with me,” she repeats my own words back at me.
I shake my head. “Yes, but not now. I’m not going to fuck or hurt you right now.”
Fuck me. I sound like a complete bastard.
Fear flicks across her face. “No, but you will later. You already told me I don’t matter, that my feelings don’t matter.”
I did, and I wasn’t lying. Her feelings don’t matter, she doesn’t matter, not in the sense that she thinks she does.
“I’m many things, but I’m not a liar. I’m not going to pretend I care about you when I don’t, and when I say I won’t hurt you, I mean, I won’t hurt you physically. Like I said before, I didn’t buy you because I wanted a girlfriend. If that were the case, I could have anyone. I bought you because I want to fuck you continuously until I’ve had my fill.” It’s not a lie, but it feels like one. It also makes me feel like a complete asshole for saying it.
“So, I’m basically a live-in whore who doesn’t get paid?”
The way she spits the words back at me only makes me feel worse. Anger eats away at my resolve. She isn’t in control. I am. She doesn’t make the rules. I do.
“You’re whatever I want you to be.” My voice booms through the small space. “Would it make you feel better if I pay you? Or would that make it worse?”
Her eyebrows furrow, and she opens her mouth as if she’s going to respond, but clearly thinks better of it and closes her mouth a moment later.
Obviously, my response is sufficient since she has nothing more she wants to say. The conversation fizzles to the back of my mind. Continuing, I wash her entire body, cleaning every crevice and inch before easing her beneath the spray of water to rinse away the soap.
The water cascades over her skin, and the droplets shimmer like diamonds. Beauty. She is beauty, and I’m the bastard that’s taken her and placed her in a cell of steel. A cell that she will never break free from, so long as I live.
“Turn around, so I can wash your hair.”
Squirting shampoo onto my palm, I move on to washing her hair and massage the soap into her scalp. I love watching how she melts beneath my fingertips. Taking a step back, she collides with my chest. This time, she doesn’t shriek or even tense up.
Progress.
Fear in this situation is required to some degree, but I’m starting to realize that I want her to trust me. I want her to seek my body for protection, for warmth. I want her to want me.
“That feels so good,” she murmurs.
Leaning forward, my lips brush against her ear. “That’s the point.”
“I didn’t think you could be gentle,” she confesses.
“I can be a lot of things under certain circumstances.” I rinse my hands and grab her by the hips to turn her around, so I can rinse the soap out of her hair.
Steam fills the bathroom, making it feel like a sauna. Fallon lets me rinse her hair without resistance, and when I’m finished, I wash myself quickly.
I can feel her eyes on me, watching my movements. It doesn’t bother me she stares. In fact, it’s fascinating, especially since I know mentally, she doesn’t want me. It only shows me that regardless of what she says, some part of her is interested in me.
Once we’re both clean, I shut the water off, and together we step out onto the bathmat. I dry her from head to toe and then help dry her golden locks.
I head out into the bedroom, making a beeline for the closet. Looking through the clothing, I find some clothes and bring them out to her. She stands there for a long moment, staring at the clothes in my outstretched hand.
Then she looks up at me. “You really don’t… you don’t want sex?”
I pull on a pair of sweats and meet her gaze. “Not right now.”
“Not today, you mean?”
“Not right now,” I repeat sternly. “Now, put on your fucking clothes. I don’t have time to argue with you. I’ve got shit to do.”
Her eyelids flutter against her cheeks, and she looks as if she’s trying to hide her shocked expression from me through them. Of course, she doesn’t believe me. I hardly believe myself. Every time I think I’m going to keep myself in line and be strong, I feel a piece of my hard-exterior break free. I don’t want to admit it, but she has a special hold on me, and it’s more than her looking like Victoria.
If I’m honest, I have hardly thought of Victoria since I laid eyes on Fallon. I expected her to be a constant reminder; maybe that’s why I wanted her so badly. I subconsciously wanted to punish myself. But now that she is here, I only see her, only Fallon.
Taking the T-shirt I handed her, she pulls it over her head, her perfect body disappears beneath the cotton. I watch her pull on panties and leggings while I get myself dressed.
“What is it you have to do today?” she asks when we are both dressed.
“I’m going to find out how someone could track us here, and you are going to help me.”
11
Fallon
Breakfast consists of oatmeal and canned fruit. Markus doesn’t eat as usual but pours himself a cup of coffee, so I don’t feel as if I’m the only one doing something.
As I shovel food into my mouth, I think about the kindness he showed me this morning. How he washed my hair and body without asking for anything in return.
Everything told me it was a trap, but as I finish my breakfast, and he doesn’t jump across the table to take me like a savage beast, the thought fades. I find myself squirming in my chair as he stares at me across the table. Beneath his gaze, it feels like I’m under a magnifying glass, each move and word spoken, always given a second look.
Watching him murder that man without blinking made me see him in a new light. I was sure I couldn’t hate him anymore, that I couldn’t become anymore frightened of him, and then he did that. My body and brain were confused by him, pulled in two different directions by his whiplash behavior. I didn’t know if he was going to be kind or use me, and that left me on edge.
Now he’s worried we are being tracked, and I am too. How did that man find us? Why did he have a camera?
“Let’s go.” Markus interrupts my thoughts, and I look up from my bowl and discover that he’s finished his coffee. I peer down into my bowl and see I still have a little left to eat.
Looking back up, my lips part. I’m ready to tell him I still have some to eat when I find his features hard as stone. He’s on a mission today, and I’m along for the ride.
“Okay,” I murmur and shove out of my chair, making it scrape loudly against the floor.
Markus walks around the table and grabs me by the wrist. His hold is firm, his fingers branded into my skin, and even though I’m tempted to pull away, I know better than to try.
“You don’t have to hold onto me. I’m not going to run.”
He drags me to the door and releases me, giving me half a second to put my shoes on. “I know you won’t. Not if you value your life, but one can never be sure enough.”
If I was here for anything else, I would probably run—run until my lungs burned, and there was enough distance between us—But I can’t run. I can’t even consider escaping because doing so would defeat the purpose of me being here.
As soon as my shoes are on, Markus is dragging me behind him and out to the car. He acts like the vehicle is going to disappear before we can reach it.
I stop myself from saying something stupid.
He releases me again and takes a step back. “We’re going to search for a tracker. The outside first, then the inside. I need your little hands to reach into spaces I can’t since I don’t feel like taki
ng the entire car apart.”
I almost miss his instructions, becoming entranced by the sun shining high in the sky. Warmth envelopes me, and it’s like being hugged by the sun.
“Are you done wasting time?” Markus grunts.
My brows pinch together. This man reminds me of a grizzly bear more and more. Majestic and awe-like from a distance, but vicious and violent up close. There’s a reason they tell you to play dead when captured by a bear.
“I was just admiring the shining sun. It’s so nice outside.” I place a hand above my eyes to block the sun out of my eyes and crane my head back to examine his face.
He could use some sun too. Maybe then he wouldn’t be such an asshole?
Markus doesn’t even blink. There is no emotion whatsoever on his face, and I don’t understand how he can turn it on and off so easily.
“Start searching the car, or I’m taking you inside and putting you in the basement and doing it myself.”
The thought of the basement makes me spring into action and start inspecting the outside with him. He points out multiple spots for me to reach while he gets onto the ground and searches underneath.
After a good ten minutes of searching, he tells me to start on the inside. I open the car door and get to work looking through the vehicle.
Starting in the front seats, I find nothing and quickly move onto the backseat. I stick my hand between seats, under seats, and everywhere else my hands will fit but come up completely empty. We must be at it for a good thirty minutes when Markus finally gives up.
When I step out of the car, I find Markus standing there, arms folded across his chest, making him seem even more mean and menacing. I’m not surprised by his demeanor.
“I didn’t find anything,” I tell him. The heat in his stare is enough to burn me to the ground. He’s looking at me like I’m the villain here.
“Did you bring anything with you?” he accuses. I blink, and this time I’m surprised.
“Did I bring anything with me?” I snap, seriously wondering if he is all there in the head or if he just sees red and reacts later. “Are you kidding me? I was basically naked. Where could I have hidden anything?”
A light bulb must go off in his head because the harsh contours of his face soften a bit. He grabs my hand and starts pulling me back inside the house.
For a moment, I’m scared he is taking me back to the basement, but instead, we are heading up the stairs and into the bedroom.
He releases me, leaving me standing in the center of the room.
“Don’t move,” he orders before disappearing into the walk-in closet.
The sound of the chains rattling makes me cringe, and he appears a moment later with them in his hand. Suddenly, I’m reminded of that day all over again. I’m reminded of what it felt like to be weighed down by those things.
It doesn’t hit me what he’s doing until he starts looking over the chains.
The tracker could be on them, but why? Who put it there?
When he doesn’t find what he’s looking for, he moves onto the collar.
He feels the inside of the cheap leather, running his fingers over the inside. Shaking his head, he flips it inside out and shows it to me.
“Right here in the collar is the tracker. I should’ve known,” he growls angrily as he tosses the collar to the floor along with the chains. An aurora of distraught surrounds him, his fingers slice through his hair in frustration, and his face turns dark.
Fear nags at the back of my mind. “Maybe we should leave since the people from the auction know where we are. If they sent that man, who is to say they won’t send someone else?”
I’m afraid of someone else showing up here, but more than that, I’m afraid of seeing Markus as crazy as he was the night he killed that man in the kitchen. I don’t know if I can handle something like that happening again. I don’t want to witness any more people dying. Plus, if I can convince him to go to his place, then I’ll be one step closer to finding what I need.
Markus grins, but as always, it’s not a smile. It’s more like the devil smiling when he tells you that you’ve earned a lifetime of residence in hell.
“Let them come. I’ll slaughter them the same way I did the other. However, I doubt they will come here now. After tonight, they will know that I found the tracker and most likely piece together that I killed the other man. They won’t fuck with us again. I’m not afraid, and if I’m not, then you have no reason to be either. So long as you’re with me, I will kill anyone who tries to hurt you.” I’d believe him if he wasn’t the one holding all the power. If he wasn’t the one threatening me left and right.
“You mean you’ll protect me from anyone but yourself…” I whisper.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Fallon. I want to own you. Own your entire fucking body, make it so the only thing you can think about is me. The only thing you crave is me. Don’t get it twisted, though…” he steps into my space and pinches my chin between two fingers. His thumb brushes over my bottom lip, and he looks down at me hungrily, as if he could devour me right this second without thought.
“I will hurt you if I have to. I don’t want to, but that doesn’t mean I won’t. In life, you have to do things you might not want to do. Listen to me, and you will be fine. Fight me, and you’ll be in a world of hurt. The choice is yours.”
He releases my chin, and my skin burns where he touched me.
The choice is mine? I’ve never heard a bigger lie than that. I don’t have a choice in this, and I never have. The day they picked me up off that sidewalk, I was destined to be here. Destined to get the job done.
I can only hope Markus discovers my secret after I’m long gone.
12
Markus
You mean you’ll protect me from anyone but yourself…
All afternoon that sentence has played on repeat in my mind, a constant reminder of how selfish I am with her. I could easily release her and let her go back to her mediocre college life.
That would be the right thing to do, the good thing, but I never said I was good, and I certainly didn’t pay a million dollars just to let her go. If that were the case, I could’ve set the money on fire.
I’m going to get my fill of her, use her, and keep her until I see fit. Even then, the thought of letting her go doesn’t sit well with me. I try to distract myself from the thought of her leaving. It’s not happening, not for a while at least, if ever.
After burning the collar and the tracking device, we spend the afternoon outside. I cut wood while Fallon sits and watches me. She attempts to act like she isn’t staring at my shirtless chest, watching the rivulets of sweat drip down my body, but I catch her more than once with a lustful haze swirling in her blue eyes.
Afternoon gives way to evening, and we return inside for dinner. I let Fallon make a casserole, and she takes her time doing it. When she puts it in the oven, I stand, shoving my chair across the tiled floor.
Fallon turns and looks at me, her pink lips parted. Surprise at my sudden movement flickers in her eyes, but she doesn’t say anything.
“Come upstairs with me.”
It’s not a question. I’m not asking her to do it. I’m telling her she is doing it. She gets the point and walks over to me.
I gesture for her to walk ahead of me and watch her ass as it bounces as we make our way up the stairs. My cock, of course, hardens in my jeans, but I ignore it. I need to focus on the task at hand, seeing if she will follow my directions or disobey me.
At the top of the landing, she heads for the bedroom without further direction. I smirk, enjoying how easily she bends to my will, knowing exactly where to go.
Once inside the bedroom, she stops and whirls around on me, her arms now crossed over her chest. Her brows are pinched together, and she seems confused.
“I made dinner. I thought you might want to eat that before…”
“Sex?” I answer.
She nods, and I smirk. “We aren’t having sex. I want you to sit on
the edge of the bed and remain there the entire time. I’m going to take a quick shower.”
Shock blossoms in her eyes, and she moves to do just as I instructed, looking up at me through her long lashes once seated. She’s damn beautiful, and maybe in another universe, she could be something else to me, but here, in the now, she is my very expensive fuck toy.
I unbutton my jeans and shove them down my legs. The afternoon sun felt great beating on my skin, and my muscles feel less tense after splitting wood. I can feel Fallon’s eyes on me as I walk into the bathroom and turn on the shower.
I don’t have to warn her what will happen if she’s not there when I get out. Reminding myself that this is a test and that if she fails, it’s her own fault, I step into the shower.
I wash my hair and body quickly, but also make sure I go slow enough so that if she is planning to do something, she has a little bit of time.
By the time I’m done in the shower, I’m prepared to have to chase Fallon down buck-ass naked, but I’m surprised to find her sitting on the edge of the bed, right where I left her. Her azure eyes move upward, drinking me in, and my cock twitches against my leg… She’s a siren, and I’m drawn into her compelling gaze.
She passed. She had the chance to run, and she didn’t. There is a small jolt of pleasure coursing through my body at that realization. I want her to trust me and for me to trust her. It’s stupid for me to want her trust, or for her to even trust me, but I want it, nonetheless.
I dry off and get dressed in some sweats.
“Let’s go eat dinner,” I declare, and like a toy soldier, she jumps to her feet.
“You acted like you expected me to run away,” Fallon whispers.
“That’s because I did.”
Fallon’s gaze falls. Maybe she thought I’d started to trust her, but I haven’t. If she is smart, she will run the first chance she gets because if I have it my way, she’ll never be free of me.
She climbs into the bed and extends her arms out to me.
