Kasi tilts her head back against the headrest, exposing the long line of her throat. “We’re playing cops and robbers tonight. He’s the big, bad detective…” She looks up at me through her lashes. “And I’m the naughty criminal who needs to be…interrogated.”
The way she’s looking at me, the way her voice wraps around those words, I can’t tell if she’s acting or if there’s something real underneath the performance.
I chuckle. “She’s got quite the imagination.”
“Mmm.” Kasi’s eyes never leave mine as she addresses the stranger. “You look like you could use some excitement in your life, honey. There’s definitely room for one more in our bed tonight.”
“The more the merrier,” I add.
The woman’s face goes through several shades of red before settling on horrified. “I’m fine! Perfectly fine! You just…you carry on with whatever this is.” She backs away rapidly, shaking her head. “Dear Lord. The world has gone wild.” She hurries to her car, muttering about the decline of civilization and what happened to good Christian values.
When her taillights disappear, I turn to Kasi. “You sure are a good actress.”
“Wouldn’t you like to know if that was real?”
I let out a chuckle. “Nice try, Kasimira, but you can’t fool me.”
I slam the door harder than necessary, even though I do want to be fooled.
Seven hours. Seven hours alone in a car with this woman who just made me harder than I’ve been in months with nothing but her slutty words and a look.
8
KASI
The tasteof those lies is still bitter in my mouth.
Minutes ago, I was purring about how much I love being tied up, suggesting a threesome with a total stranger, and putting on the performance of my life to keep that woman from calling the police.
Now, as we drive along the dark roads, I can’t stop thinking about how real some of those words felt when they left my lips.
Alaric’s jaw is set in a hard line, like he’s fighting some internal battle, and tension is radiating off him in waves that fill the entire car.
Good. I hope he’s as uncomfortable as I am.
He’s wearing a white button-down shirt that’s rolled up at the sleeves, and I can see the corded muscles in his forearms flex every time he shifts gears.
The restraints on me allow me enough movement to shift in my seat, to cross my legs, to lean forward if I want to. The chains are long enough that I’m not completely immobilized, just…contained. Like a dangerous animal that might bite if given too much freedom.
The silence in the car is suffocating. Twenty minutes of nothing but road noise and the weight of what happened in that parking lot.
I can’t stand it anymore.
“You’re pathetic, you know that?”
His eyes flick to me briefly before returning to the road. “What did you say?”
“I said you’re pathetic. Kidnapping women, chaining them up, pretending you’re some kind of hero.” I rattle the cuffs for emphasis. “At least your son was honest about being a piece of shit.”
His jaw tightens. “Watch your mouth.”
“Or what? You’ll shut me up?” I laugh bitterly. “I’m not scared of you.”
“You should be.”
“Why? Because you’re big and strong and have a gun?” I lean toward him as much as the chains allow. “I know what you really are underneath all that control.”
“And what’s that?”
