However, I am nervous about being alone here. I have a deep, unabating need for Chains to come back to me. I only feel truly safe when he’s close by. But he’s gone for a while, much longer than I expect. The door at the other end of the room is closed, and I can only comfort myself by assuming that it’s locked, thereby keeping the other men away from me while I’m in this especially vulnerable state.
I have nothing to do but wait. I lie here in the bed, feeling the warmth of Chains’s body leaving the mattress bit by bit as time ticks on. I watch the trees swaying out the windows, just the canopy. We must be high enough up to be above some of the treeline. Beyond that, I don’t know where the hell we are.
I turn over on my side to continue gazing out the window. It’s really the only thing to look at besides the door. For a little while, rain begins to fall. I watch the fat droplets of water hit the window pane and roll down in streaks, collecting more drops as it falls. And then, to my surprise, the rain slowly fades out into a light flurry of white snow. It’s beautiful, peaceful in a lonely kind of way. I shiver at the brisk air of the bedroom, thankful to at least be under the bedsheets. I can only imagine how freezing cold that cell must be by now.
Even hours later, I realize that I can still feel Chains’s come sticky between my thighs. That realization makes me tingle all over.
I bite my lip, letting my free left hand trail slowly down my body under the blankets. I have never touched myself like this before, but I can’t resist. I close my eyes and lie back against the pillow, lips slightly parted as I breathe raggedly. In the movie reel of my mind, I picture Chains coming back into the room, climbing over top of me. I imagine his hands pushing my thighs open and his hard cock sliding deep inside my clenching pussy again.
As I imagine this, my fingers shape rhythmic circles around my clit, sending shockwaves of pleasure up through my body. I’m gasping and rolling my hips, perfectly wrapped up in the fantasy of Chains fucking me again, showing me the kind of pleasure I never thought even possible. I imagine his voice growling at my ear, demanding to know if I’ve been behaving like a good girl.
I murmur to myself, “Yes, sir. I’ve been so good.”
I pick up the pace, wanting more. I slip a finger inside my slick cunt while my thumb massages the tight bud of sensitive nerves at the hood of my sex. It doesn’t take long before I’m rocking my hips, thrusting up toward my own hand, all the while imagining that it’s Chains touching me, Chains giving me unspeakable pleasure.
Lost to the waves of bliss, I gasp and cry out as I come. “Chains! Oh my god!” The words burst from my throat as I moan and shudder around my own fingers, overwhelmed at what I’ve done. I’m still foggy-headed with pleasure when I hear Chains speaking for real, not just inside the arena of my mind.
“Oh, you have been a very, very good little slut while I’ve been away, haven’t you?” he growls. I open my eyes and gape at him, my hand coming up to cover my mouth with surprise. I had no clue he was back already. He must have been watching me the whole time.
“I-I couldn’t stop myself, I’m sorry,” I tell him hastily, scooting back on the bed and preparing for some kind of punishment. But instead, there’s a bright twinkle in his black eyes that puts me at ease. He looks… almost proud of me.
“No, no. Don’t apologize for that,” Chains chides gently, reaching out to cup my cheek. My eyes flutter shut as I lean into his touch hungrily, desperate for his warmth. I turn and softly plant a kiss on his palm, making him chuckle.
“So sweet,” he coos. “What a good girl. I knew I was right to get you such a special gift. You’ve certainly earned it.”
I open my eyes and look at him curiously. “A special gift?” I repeat breathlessly. “What is it? Where did you go today?”
Chains smiles at me, and it’s such a beautiful look on his handsome face that I almost forget to breathe. Then he reaches over to uncuff my right hand, bringing my wrist to his lips in a soft, healing kiss. “Come. We’ll go downstairs and I’ll show you what gifts I got for you,” he tells me, getting off the bed. I hesitantly move to the edge of the bed, waiting for instruction.
“So obedient. So good,” he praises me. He grabs the blindfold from around my neck and slides it carefully back up, fastening it more securely around my eyes. Then he scoops me up into his strong arms and carries me out of the room and down the stairs.
The whole time, I breathe in his familiar, comforting scent and soak up his bodily warmth, feeling strangely at home. Like his mere presence is enough to turn captivity into coziness. I’m completely naked, and I know I should be ashamed of it, but I’m not. As long as Chains has me, I’m fine. No matter what.
I can smell the holding cell before we even step inside it, and I stiffen up a little, clinging to Chains. I don’t want to be back here. I hate this cell. But he gently sets me down. I can hear what sounds like strange, quick breathing. Too quick to belong to a human. I frown, wishing he would take the blindfold off so I could figure out what the hell is going on. But I stand here patiently as Chains dresses me in a clean bra, sweater, panties, and skirt. The sweater and the skirt smell familiar, like my bedroom, but the lingerie is new. I can tell. I feel a little thrill of excitement at the idea of Chains picking out brand new lingerie for me to wear.
The strange, rapid breathing I hear from across the room makes me uneasy, and finally I ask Chains, “What is that sound?”
“It’s a very, very special gift for you,” he replies, and I feel him reach to slide the blindfold off of my head. “Something you’ve earned by being a good girl. I hope it will help your time here pass more quickly and… will give you some comfort.”
It’s just as the blindfold slips off my head that I hear a familiar, heart-warming sound.
A curt little bark.
No. It can’t be.
I whip around, eyes wide and brimming with tears, and I see that in the corner of the cell is a little pet carrier. Inside it, I see the warm brown eyes of my dog, Henry. I let out a gasp of elation and rush over to open the carrier. Henry bounds out of the cage and into my arms, frantically licking my face and whimpering. I cradle him to my chest, burying my face in his fur, letting my tears fall openly as I cuddle my precious, sweet companion.
I look over at Chains in complete disbelief, shaking my head. “How? How did you get him? Oh my god,” I cry.
“I have my ways,” he replies with a beatific smile. “Are you happy?”
“Yes! Thank you, thank you,” I gush. “I missed my boy so much, didn’t I? Oh, my sweet Henry! I’m so happy to see you, baby boy!”
Henry’s whole body is wiggling as he wags his tail, clearly overjoyed to be reunited with me. “It’s nice to see you smile,” Chains says suddenly. “You’re even more beautiful.”
I can’t help but grin at him as happy tears roll down my cheeks.
“That’s not all, by the way,” he adds, gesturing to a neatly-wrapped box in the other back corner of the cell. “I’ve brought you some new clothes, too. Hopefully they will fit you. I’m sure you’ll look fantastic in them.”
“You—you’re so kind to me,” I tell him, almost in shock. “Why?”
Chains only smiles at me warmly and shrugs. “You deserve it,” he says simply.
Chains
Since I can’t take Lila outdoors, I have to find a way to improvise a little reunion time with her best friend.
I don’t exactly have dog toys on hand, but ripping the spare sheets up and using a little clever rope-tying tricks lets me whip up a serviceable toy shaped like a dumbbell with two cloth knots on each end. Lila must spoil the dog, because as soon as she held it in her hand, he got excited and started spinning in little circles. The room is big enough that I can let her play a little fetch, and I watch the two of them go at it like they were never separated.
I’ve seen Lila happy, but never this cheerful and energetic. Part of that is probably just pent-up energy from being locked up for so long. Laughing while her dog does a little half-ru
n half-hop after her, she tosses the toy across the room, and the little terrier bolts after it like a dart.
My old instincts are still uneasy about letting her run around without her restraints, and I know the guys would be questioning me if I didn’t have their absolute loyalty. But this situation is becoming more complicated and more infuriating by the second, and Lila certainly isn’t the one making me furious.
When she first told me I’d be better off torching her dad’s mansion, I took it as a dark joke— nothing more than a grim thought coming from the feeling that she’s been abandoned or because she’s been so alone for so long. Never for a second did I ever think she was serious. I assumed there was some complication on his end, or maybe he had gone on a business trip unexpectedly right around the time I took Lila.
The reports the guys are giving me says something very different. The longer this drags out, the more second thoughts I’m having about Edward Hawthorne and how much I assumed he cares about his daughter.
That’s what pisses me off.
I’ve handled everything to do with her house directly— Ryder has been my driver, and I’ve been the one to actually, physically enter the house and do more work as needed. The fact that it’s been so easy has been part of what clues me in that something’s off.
Normally there would be a police stakeout on her apartment by now. That, or if the mark was really careful, they’d hire a private eye to do that, or at least set up a camera on the premises. But I know what to look for when I go and do this shit, and I’m positive that apartment is untouched. If there were eyes on it, I would have noticed while I grabbed the dog.
Henry was a terrible guard dog, for the record. He was practically excited to see me for the fifth or sixth time when I climbed into the window. I may or may not have started carrying treats in my pocket.
I watch the dog run ahead of Lila while she threatens to throw the toy yet again. When she tosses it, he takes off like a blur, and he jumps to try to catch it mid-air, but he misses miserably and takes a tumble that sends him rolling for about a foot before he springs back up, apparently no worse for wear. He promptly trips again on his way to the toy, and I can’t help but chuckle a little. Lila is almost doubled over laughing by the time he actually gets to the toy and picks it up proudly. It’s almost as long as his whole body, and he looks so proud you’d think he just took down an elephant on his own.
While Henry trots over with his toy held high, I watch how animated Lila gets. She squats down and claps for him to come back to her, and the dog picks up the pace and hurries over. He runs in a triumphant little circle in front of her after delivering his ‘kill’, and Lila scoops him up to ruffle his ears and kiss him on the head. It’s so adorable that it almost hurts.
No way around it— the dog’s cute. Almost as cute as he and Lila are when they’re playing together. But I can’t let my heart swell forever at the sight of them. I need a new plan.
It’s easy to forget that when Lila looks so happy. After what’s happened the past couple days, I could almost ignore the fact that we’re by no means in good circumstances. This is still a kidnapping, and there’s still a ransom that needs to be paid.
But Lila throws the toy again, and when she stands up, alone and smiling in the sunlight, I can’t help but feel a pang of desire for something different. I run a hand over my face, shaking my head. Who the fuck put those thoughts in my head? I’m a guy who stands six and a half feet tall, has a beard thicker than most sweaters, and killed someone with my bare hands less than a week ago. I should not be sitting here watching a girl melt my heart and make me wish we met under different circumstances.
And yet, that’s exactly what I’m doing.
I wonder if things would have worked out, if we’d met in college. I pictured myself picking her up from her place on my bike, watching her excited face in the window of her apartment before hurrying down to jump on the back, wrapping her arms around me. Complete trust. That is something I don’t get to feel from a woman in that way, in my way of life.
I’m a criminal, the kidnapper, the bad guy. Lila is an angel on earth.
I want to drag her back to the bedroom and show her what kind of life I could give her. Hell, I don’t even have to wait that long. I want to take her anywhere I can find space, all over this complex, in the woods, hell, even in the abandoned amusement park.
Maybe not that one. I can’t tell if she’s the type who’d find haunted, abandoned venues romantic. Of course, she didn’t seem to have a problem with being chained up to my bed in what used to be an actual prison, so maybe there’s a darker side to this girl than I gave her credit for.
Shaking my head, I snap myself out of my train of thought. As much as I like Lila and crave the feeling of being between her thighs again, letting her give up all control to me and enjoying how much she’s learning she likes that kind of thing, I can’t lose sight of why I’m doing this.
Revenge.
Lila might be made of pure sunshine, but her father is an evil man who’s having an all too easy time right now, when I meant to hit him where it hurts. If the bad feeling in my gut is right, then he’s even more evil than I already knew. He’s a real piece of shit, and frankly, I’d love to get up close to him so I can knock his teeth out.
But according to Tank’s work doing recon, Edward Hawthorne has gone into hiding. That’s obviously not what’s being advertised, but he has dropped off the map and left no clues as to where he might be. Business contacts are at a loss, his secretaries aren’t talking, and he hasn’t left a paper trail that we have the resources to latch onto.
It feels like he left us at a dead end and was perfectly willing to let his own daughter face the consequences of that action on his part. That would fit his profile, but it’s so cold that I have a hard time imagining any human being would be able to do that.
But men like him are different from the rest of us. They’re sociopaths with no conscience, no urge to help anyone but themselves and no remorse for things that don’t hurt them. They’d take a helping hand and fleece it, then pat themselves on the back for being a smart investor.
If I need a new plan, it has to be something that’ll take him by surprise.
I consider releasing Lila.
It would definitely be a shock, both to my men and to Lila’s father. He doesn’t have any of our identities or any way of tracking us— if he did, the asylum would definitely be under assault by more mercenary assassins by now. If we take Lila somewhere that she can’t follow us back and just release her back into the world, that might serve us well.
It would make Lila’s dad think he has won, which is a damn good thing. He’d think that we were just cutting our losses, that we never planned on backing up our threats, and that we were going to be out of sight and out of the area for good. That would flush him out and get him to let his guard down. Men who don’t do add anything to the world are always the ones most eager to show the world when they think they’ve won something.
It’s pathetic at best, dangerous at worst.
But there’s one big problem with that plan: Lila.
I’m close to feeling like I can trust Lila, and that’s dangerous of me. I can’t even trust my own body here. I’ve got it hard for Lila, and that means I’m not thinking rationally. I have to remember that if I were to let Lila go, it would be all too easy for her to go straight to the police. She knows my face intimately, and she’s seen enough of this complex now that she could probably point the feds in the right direction with a little guidance.
I can’t trust my body, and I can’t trust the girl I want. This is a tight spot, and I don’t like it.
But then I notice Lila coming my way, a spring in her step, and I feel my worries melt away like snow in the hot sun.
I stand up as she approaches me, raising her eyebrows and laughing as I smile at her.
“Maybe I overestimated how much exercise I can get after a few days in the same room,” she says playfully.
“Oh r
eally?” I say, approaching her. “We’ll just have to get you a little more used to moving around in other ways, then.”
Before she can answer, I take her by the hips and scoop her off her feet. She’s as light as a feather to my rippling arms, and the sound of her giggle when I lift her high makes my heart flutter. I spin her around and pin her against the wall gently, and I can see that familiar blush in her cheeks again that gets my blood running hot.
Her face is smiling and excited by the time I lean in and kiss her, and she moans into it softly. She wraps her legs around my waist as I hold her, tasting her, and her hands start to explore my sides.
Just then, I feel something small butt against the back of my knee, making us freeze in the middle of what was quickly steaming up. I look down to see Henry looking at me urgently, paws on my leg, toy in his mouth.
I can’t help but laugh good-naturedly at the little guy, and I flash a grin at Lila before setting her down gently and taking the other end of the dog toy. Henry growls ‘ferociously’ as he starts to play tug-of-war with me, jerking his head back and forth while I hold the little rag.
“Wow, Henry, way to be a cockblock,” Lila jokes, brushing her hair out of her eyes and stepping around us to watch with an amused expression.
Henry must weigh nothing more than ten pounds, but even so, I pretend that he’s completely overpowering me and tugging me along.
“He’s too strong, I can’t hold on!” I joke, pretending I’m using all my might to keep a hold on the rag, and Lila giggles as I finally yank it from Henry and toss it across the room for him.
I laugh, then look to Lila, who’s gazing at me thoughtfully. I arch an eyebrow at her as I stand back up to my full height.
“You look like you’re thinking about something.”
“Oh, nothing. I mean, I’m just kind of surprised.”
“Surprised?”
“When my dad got interrupted for anything, he’d fly into this…really scary fit of rage. I was just a little anxious when the little guy jumped up on you.”
Stealing Her Page 11
