Voyeur

by Candace Wondrak

  He literally wanted to spend as much time with me as he could, like he could never get enough, and I loved it.

  If I wasn’t careful, I’d fall for him as fast and as hard as I fell for Roman’s dominance and Carter’s abrasiveness. Hah, judging from the men I liked, I liked a bit of everything. Hot and cold, soft and rough, kind and wild. Give it all to me. Variety was the spice of life, you know? And I was trying to live the life my parents would’ve never let me, had I stayed with them.

  But, for whatever reason, Lake wasn’t in the hall, ready to walk me out. I debated on going to his door and knocking; maybe he was in the bathroom or something? Or maybe he just forgot. He knew I worked Tuesday and Thursday nights.

  Still didn’t know I worked at the Dollhouse, though. When he’d asked me what I did, I told him I worked overnight at some local store for cleaning. Eventually I’d have to tell him. Or, perhaps I’d grow the balls to quit the Dollhouse and sever the last connection I had with Roman, and it could stay a secret.

  It wasn’t like I cared much, whether or not Lake knew. I just… I didn’t know if he’d think of me differently. I didn’t know how he’d react, so I’d rather just not let it get to that point.

  I decided knocking on his door would seem a little needy, a little too much, so I simply went to the elevator and hit the down button, waiting by myself for the doors to slide open. It’s okay. Everything was fine. I’d probably see Lake tomorrow, and he’d apologize half a dozen times for not being here to walk me out.

  Eh, I was a big girl. I could handle the walk by myself. It was just nice to have him there, to talk with him more and see those dimples as much as I could.

  We hadn’t had sex again; Lake was right when he said we should take things slow. That night on our first date, I’d needed it, though. I’d needed the release, needed to know that he wanted me like that. Call me selfish, call me petty, whatever. After being with Roman and Carter, I needed a not-so-vanilla sex life.

  The elevator arrived, and I got on, lost in my own thoughts as it took me to the ground floor. My mind was too busy thinking about why Lake wasn’t there to walk me out as I left the building, heading across the parking lot. His car was still here, so he had to be up in that apartment.

  I would talk with him tomorrow and see what was up. For now, I had to go to work and make that money.

  The sun had already set; the air growing a bit chillier at night. Summer was over. Soon enough I’d have to wear pants on the walks to work, provided I still worked at the Dollhouse then. Granted, I didn’t want to. I didn’t see myself working there for longer than I absolutely had to—but if that was the case, why hadn’t I looked up any other jobs in the nearby area? Why hadn’t I applied to any other places and tried to get myself out of that club as soon as possible?

  I wasn’t stupid. I knew why I was waiting.

  Fucking Roman. Fucking Carter. A part of me still hoped they’d come back, make their triumphant return, apologize to me for going MIA.

  Yeah, okay, maybe I was a little stupid, hoping for something like that.

  My chin was tucked against my collarbone as I walked along, my gaze firmly on the concrete sidewalk. I passed a car parked on the side of the road, thinking nothing of it since cars could parallel park on certain parts of this street. A big, black vehicle, its windows tinted. Again, not shocking, since a lot of cars around here were the same.

  This city was not the sparkling white, crime-free place Hillcrest pretended it was.

  Oh, Hillcrest had crime. Murder, serial killers, all that good stuff. No place in America didn’t have crime. No matter where you stepped, odds were the ground beneath your feet was stained with red at one point or another.

  I neglected to hear something behind me: the car door opening, footsteps on the pavement. My bad, and I was about to pay for being so oblivious, too.

  Before I knew what was happening, a thick black sack was shoved over my head, strong, leather-clad hands gripping my arms and forcing them behind my back as a zip tie was hurriedly clasped around my wrists, keeping my hands together behind my back. I was quite literally pulled off the sidewalk and shoved into what I assume was the backseat of that same damned car.

  I tried my wrists to no avail; they were stuck, bound tightly by that zip tie. Whoever had nabbed me got in the car beside me, slamming the door shut as someone else began to drive. I could not see anything out of the sack on my head, my world completely black, even as I whipped my head back and forth. Inside my chest, my heart raced.

  Was I being kidnapped? Did someone realize I was from Hillcrest and decided maybe they should try for a ransom or something? And, of course, I wondered: did this have something to do with Roman?

  “Who are you?” I asked through my sack, getting nothing as a response. Not even a one-word answer to satisfy my curiosity. The car was silent, save for my hard breathing, nothing but the bumps in the road as the car drove on. No radio, nothing. “I said—”

  I couldn’t get out the question again, for a strong hand grabbed the back of my neck so hard the rest of the words died in the back of my throat when he squeezed me, his fingers digging in through the sack roughly—and it wasn’t a soft sack, either. It was rough, the very opposite of satiny or smooth, like burlap. My skin would not be happy once it was free.

  Although, I thought bleakly, maybe none of me would be happy. Maybe I’d die here. Maybe these guys would kill me, harvest my organs for the black market or something. That was real, right? Maybe I’d seen too much TV lately…

  When I said nothing, the man sluggishly let me go. The back of my neck felt bruised already. Talk about a hard grip.

  I shifted in my seat, trying not to lean back because of the awkward placement of my hands. I tried to tell which way the car was turning—that’s what they said to do, right? Try to track your own movements even if you couldn’t see where you were going, but that had to be more if you were on foot, since I had no clue how fast the driver was going.

  Well, whatever came of tonight, whatever happened after this, it wasn’t like I could stop it now. I was already taken and in an unfamiliar vehicle; going to a secondary location was pretty much a death sentence. All girls knew that. That’s where they’d rape you and then kill you, maybe not even in that order.

  Hey, there were some freaky, gross, despicable people out there. This was America. Land of the not-so-great most of the time.

  Oh, excuse me. That’s just my cynicism seeping through. I mean, I’d felt dead inside for a while after seeing my boyfriend and my sister going at it like rabid animals, so why not just end it all? It would be easier and save me a lifetime of disappointment.

  I had no idea how long it was until the car rolled to a stop, had no fucking idea where the hell I was as the man beside me pushed open the car door and dragged me out. I stumbled when I got to my feet, nearly tripped as the man lugged me up what felt like stairs. We must’ve gone into a building, for the air around me suddenly felt different. Less humid, less natural, more cool and dry.

  It was hard to walk sideways, but that’s how I had to do it, considering the man held onto my right arm as he dragged me along, paying no heed to the fact that my arms were tied with a zip tie behind my back. Eventually, my phone and my keys were dug out of my pocket, taken away from me.

  What sounded like a door opened before us, and I was shoved inside the room, hearing nothing but the slamming of the same door behind me. The sack still rested on my head, and I felt so discombobulated I could hardly do anything for a few moments.

  My ears heard nothing, no sounds around. “Hello?” I asked. When I got no answer back, I walked. Didn’t take too long to ram the side of my hip against a sharp corner of something, and I winced.

  Ow.

  Okay, clearly walking around with a sack over my head was not something I was good at.

  I backed away from the sharp thing, stepping back to where I was before. I was so turned around, it was ridiculous, not knowing where the hell I was or why I was here.
Since I got no answer, I figured I was alone, so I lowered myself to the ground, feeling it was carpet. I kicked off my sneakers.

  It was a damned good thing I was so skinny, not to mention the flexibility I’d gained after working at the Dollhouse and practicing my dancing. My hips moved more than they ever had, which was the only reason I was able to bring my knees to my chest, roll backward onto my upper back, and inch my restrained hands around the curve of my ass.

  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but I managed. I did it, and once my hands were no longer behind me, once I brought them around my legs and my feet, I was able to tear off the sack on my head. I looked around the room.

  I… I was in a bedroom?

  A bedroom that was a hell of a lot nicer than the one I had back in Hillcrest, and that was saying something. A large bed with a sheer canopy on top, complete with two matching dressers made of dark mahogany. The thing I’d rammed my hip on was a small table, tucked against the wall, near a bookcase.

  I got to my feet, not bothering to put my shoes back on since this room looked to be untouched by anyone. Not a single window in the room, though I did notice there was an adjoined bathroom with a whole lot of marble. Marble countertop, marble floor, marble shower tile… all very fancy. Very clean, too.

  Where the hell was I?

  Emerging from the bathroom, my eyebrows came together. This was just too weird, wasn’t it? My feet drew me to one of the dressers, and I tugged on one of the drawers, finding new clothes were folded up, tucked neatly inside. Women’s clothes.

  For me?

  I repeat: where the hell was I?

  Just for kicks, I wandered to the door and tried the handle. Locked from the outside, of course. Didn’t know why I half-expected anything different.

  I’d literally been kidnapped off the street, right before my shift, and taken to a room that looked like a princess should live in it? A princess who was often locked away in her room, but still a princess.

  Autumn was not going to be happy when she realized I was a no-call, no-show. That alone would be reason to fire me. Would she? Hmm. That was debatable, since Roman still technically owned the Dollhouse and she knew I was his chosen girl.

  Roman. My mind zeroed in on him. Was this because of him? Was I in his house, in another part of it I hadn’t seen before? Was he trying to come back in my life and doing it by having one of his men kidnap me?

  I shouldn’t let my anger take over, but at the mere thought of the possibility, I grew pissed. How dare that man do this, if it was true. How dare he do any of this.

  A cushioned chair sat beside the small table, and I meandered to it, sitting myself down as I waited. There was hardly anything else to do around here, with my wrists tied so tightly together. They’d probably hurt tomorrow, but that was assuming I’d even see tomorrow. Who knew? Maybe this wasn’t Roman. Maybe this was something worse, but with my luck, I figured Roman’s involvement. And, by extension, Carter’s, too.

  God. Those stupid men. They’d left my life for weeks, and yet they thought they could just come back and everything would be as they left it? No. Fuck that. I was a living person, and I wouldn’t just wait while I heard nothing from the man who was supposed to, in his words, own me.

  My fury blinded me, and I couldn’t tell how much time passed before I heard the lock in the door click open. The minute a man walked in, my suspicions were confirmed.

  Carter stood before me, wearing all black and looking just as sexy as ever, his green eyes the color of jade. His brown hair was a bit longer than I remembered, an inch or so too long. When I frowned at him, he muttered, “Should’ve figured you’d get out of it.”

  “What the fuck is going on?” I hissed, getting to my feet when he stepped inside the room, shutting the door behind him. The lock mustn’t be automatic then; you must have to manually lock it every time you leave the room.

  He stopped when he stood before me, towering over me like he always had. I fought to push away my body’s reaction to him, to ignore the heat that crept up in my cheeks when I angled my head back to stare up at him. Easily over six feet tall, mean and glowering. You either fell under Carter’s spell, or you tried your best to steer clear of him. There was no hating him, no in between.

  Plus, that man could work wonders with his dick. Not that his dick skill was enough to overcome the last few weeks of silence and abandonment, but… well, you know what I meant.

  Carter reached into his pocket, pulling out something small and black. With a flick of his wrist, I realized it was a knife, and I gulped in spite of myself. “I was going to cut you loose, but if you’d rather stay tied up, I can leave you as you are,” he whispered, glaring down at me as if he hated me.

  And, hell, maybe he did. Maybe he was bitter about how much had changed since I came into his and Roman’s life. Maybe he hated me because he didn’t have much variety lately.

  Or maybe that wasn’t hate in his eyes, and I was too blinded by my own rage to realize it.

  Saying nothing, I offered him my wrists, and he cut through the zip tie with a single yank of his arm. I’d forgotten just how strong he was, how thick those biceps were, how wide his chest was and how you could easily lose yourself in his muscles for days without taking a breather.

  “Thanks,” I spoke with a frown.

  Carter shoved the cut zip tie and the switchblade back into his pocket after closing it. He said nothing else, taking a step away from me, going to leave the room without so much as an explanation.

  “Wait,” I called out.

  He had the door open, his large body half in, half out. He hesitated, like a part of him wanted to leave, but he somehow managed to stay anyway, to hear what I had to say.

  “What happened?” I asked. “Where were you guys?” I could feel my heart beating in my neck, my pulse racing as Carter stared back at me, silent for the longest time. I didn’t think I could live like this, kidnapping aside. A life where Roman and Carter went MIA for weeks on end without even warning me of it… that was no life. I didn’t want to spend my entire life waiting—and that’s precisely why I didn’t wait these last few weeks. And then, because he still made me weak, I added in a hushed whisper, “I was worried.”

  Carter rolled his shoulders, though it looked like one of his arms was stiffer than the other. “There was an out of town job, one that required finesse. Roman will tell you more, if he wants to.” His jaw tensed, clamping shut, and I knew that was all I would get from him.

  I watched him as he left, listened to the lock bolting and knew I was stuck here for God knew how long. It was late already. What if Roman didn’t want to see me tonight and made me wait until tomorrow? Or, shit, what if he made me wait days? What if I was a literal prisoner here while I waited for Roman to make time for me?

  Ugh. Fuck. I knew agreeing to be Roman’s would come with conditions I wouldn’t like. At first, it’d been nothing but a fun time, a way to feel alive, but then feelings had gotten involved, and things became different. At least for me. A man like Roman, I doubted he ever let himself feel something for the girls he ordered around; same with Carter.

  Meaning nothing to them… it hurt, and that’s precisely why I hadn’t waited around like a lonely maiden when they were gone. I tried to move on, faced my feelings for Lake. I’d tried to do what I could to go forward with my life.

  Waiting around for Roman and Carter to make their appearance? That was no life, even if I craved being with them more than anything else in the world.

  I didn’t move to the mattress. I didn’t try to sleep. Why bother when I knew the moment I got comfortable in this room, Roman would have me dragged out and thrown before him? Roman obviously had command of more than just Carter; he had to be involved in some kind of organized criminal empire. The man killed people for a living, so I didn’t know why I expected any different.

  I sat at the table, rubbing my wrists absentmindedly, waiting to hear something at the door again, waiting to hear Carter. At this
point, I didn’t know what I should prepare myself for, what hell awaited me.

  Did Roman know I went out with Lake? Did he know I slept with him? I would fight like hell to make sure Roman didn’t lay a finger on Lake. Lake was a good guy; he didn’t deserve to be thrown into this world, all because he’d decided he liked me.

  And I liked him, but that was beside the point. Clearly, my feelings were not singled out on one guy. I had the most confusing feelings for Lake, Roman, and even grumpy Carter. It was like my body was trying to make up for spending those few years being loyal to Bryan, for never even looking at another guy and thinking he was cute. I’d literally kept myself in a bubble while I was dating that jerk-off, so I’d dug myself into this hole on accident.

  It was official, though it’d been official for a while now: I was an idiot. A great, big idiot, and I doubted I’d ever learn my lesson. All three of them would be better off if I wasn’t in their lives, probably.

  I slumped at the table, resting my head on top of the smooth, wooden surface. My mind was too frantic to shut off, and time seemed to crawl by. I had no idea how much time had passed until I heard the door opening again, since there wasn’t a frigging clock in the room. They’d taken my cell phone too, though I supposed that was to avoid me calling 9-1-1 or something.

  Ugh, as if. Now that I knew this was because of Roman, calling the cops was the last thing I’d do.

  I was on my feet the moment Carter entered the room, my breath catching in the back of my throat in spite of myself. Try as I might to not let Carter affect me, he always did. He didn’t radiate the same level of danger Roman did, but I knew he was. I knew he could be just as deadly, if not more so, since he literally did anything Roman ever told him.

  Carter said nothing, moving to my side. He gripped my upper left arm tightly, so hard it would be impossible to escape him, dragging me out of the room. The door was left open as he walked us through the impressive house.