WHO DID THIS TO YOU?!
CHAPTER NINE
SUMMER
I’ve never seenKage’s eyes so wild before, the molten gold alight with fury and fear, his body trembling, shoulders rising and falling with harsh breaths. Shocked, he doesn’t give me a moment to collect my thoughts and answer his confusing question, just grabs my wrist and yanks me back to him in a completely savage, possessive manner, one arm holding me firmly to his side while his narrowed eyes scan the desolate basement.
When I feel his cock prodding at the soft swell of fat beneath my belly button, I cringe and shove away from him, about to speak when he discards me and marches naked to the laundry room, leaving a trail of wet footprints and the view of his perfectly sculpted ass and thick thighs. He returns a second later with an even larger wrench than the one he toted upstairs earlier, about to leave me and search for my phantom attacker, but the stupid side of me stops him.
“It’s…I’m not hurt, no one hurt me! No one’s here but you,” I say, and he whirls, his wild eyes finding mine, the dangerous wrench dangling from his hand, and his still-hard cock bobbing proudly between his legs.
It’s just as monstrous as I envisioned it would be, and I can still taste him on my tongue from earlier.Why the fuck did you stop him, dipshit?I say to myself as I realize I’ve just squandered a chance for escape. Something about the way he’s looking at me—calming down breath by breath, his eyes terrorized by the thought that someone else was here and had hurt me…it shouldn’t make me feel anything but disgust.
Instead, it makes my heart start to thaw.
Brow furrowing, he steps toward me and tosses the wrench to the floor, the metallic clang reverberating through the basement over the cacophony of the water. Freezing, I take a step back toward that warmth, luring him back to the shower, my curiosity piqued. Kage pushes his limits with me, always to the edge but never over. Like fingering me, groping my boob, or trying to fuck my throat. I don’t feel the need to test those limits…but I am starting to realize I can trust that he won’t cross completely into the darkness.
It’s a dangerous thing, when you begin to sympathize with your captor, but it’s a basic human need, to find common ground, to attach oneself to whatever is available in order to survive. Right now, I know what I need to feel better, but I’m still afraid to ask for it. The worst he can do is say no. The discomfort will be temporary, the mess an annoyance, but I can survive that.
So I step beneath the stream and release a shaky breath, his eyes watching me intently as he stands just a step away.
“I started my period,” I begin, and his brows scrunch as he tips his head to the side slightly, like a dog trying to understand what their master is saying. Another arrow pierces my heart. I’ve spent so much time missing my family and lying despondent on the mattress and never once tried to figure out why Kage is the way he is. Why is he silent? Why does he want me so bad? Why does he seem kind of behind the times, especially where women are concerned? “No…no one’s here. Just us.”
His shoulders visibly droop as he relaxes, and I stow that reaction away to scrutinize later. Bending lithely, he swipes the notebook from the floor and searches for the pen, bringing both up and writing hastily before he turns the dampened pages to me.
What do you mean?
My eyes flick to his, finding the sad truth there; I don’t think this guy knows what a period is. Honestly, he probably doesn’t know a whole lot about women in general, which is why he keeps assaulting me and stopping. Who created such an innocent monster?
Twisting my hands together under the pleasantly hot water, I take a deep breath and glance down. The cramps are about to become debilitating as they usually do once the flow begins. A thick trail of bright blood coats the shimmery skin of my inner thighs, and my cheeks flame. I could lie to him. Tell him I’m dying, that I need a doctor…but when I look back up at him, at the way his eyes are overflowing with worry and fear, I can’t. He was about to hunt someone down with a fucking wrench at the merechanceI’d been hurt.
Not a single one of my so-called friends would have ever been that protective of me.
At the club a few weeks before I was kidnapped by Kage, some loser had been hitting on me all night, buying me drinks, touching me, following me around even when I begged for him to stop. I’d told one of my guy friends in the hopes he’d tell the dude to fuck off and move along, but all he’d done was roll his eyes at me and say, “Gee, Summer, what a terrible problem to have. You’re drinking for free, quit acting so spoiled.”
One thing I know with absolute certainty, now? If I told Kage the same thing, the man would no longer be breathing.
He takes another step forward, nearly dousing himself and the notebook in the spray, snapping me out of my thoughts. I glance up at him, realizing again how immense he is. Being average height and build, I usually feel tall next to some of my friends, but in the shadow of Kage, I’m nothing but an ant.
“Erm…” I say, cheeks flushing hotly. “It…girls bleed…every month. A period. They fucking suck. It hurts. I just want some chocolate and strong ass pain killers and a ton of greasy food and to sleep, okay? I’m no…hey, dickhead, I’m explaining something important to you!”
He discards the notebook again and kneels before me, gaze directed between my thighs. I’m too shocked to move at first, but the second he raises his hand toward my pelvis, I twist my hips away and swat at the air between us in warning. “Look, if you can get me some stuff to get through this hellish week, then…”
God, what am I doing, making a deal with this monster? And what do I have to offer but my body?Summer, you idiot!
His eyes are trained on mine, and from this angle, the planes of his face are even more beautiful, enough so that my heart does this weird aching thing. I wish he’d show me his face, but I’m not about to push my luck. If I can con him into fast food alongside some feminine hygiene products, I’ll consider it a win.
“…then I’ll…” I hesitate. I know he wants access to my body, but there has to be something else I can give that isn’t necessarily physical. Heart pounding, I rack my brain as quickly as possible, the water beginning to cool as it pounds off my shoulders and creates a dewy mist that swirls between us.
Slowly, he stands, cutting off my train of thought as he stares stoically down at me, his aura unreadable and chilled. He reaches for the notebook and pen, tenderly flipping to a page not carved through by his earlier question. When he’s done, he turns it toward me, and the blood from my heart runs between his fingers as he squeezes the last beats out of it.
Write me a list, Summer. You will never owe me anything.
CHAPTER TEN
KAGE
The thingabout running from your past is having to find the perfect town to settle down and hide in once you’re in the clear. A place where the other inhabitants keep to themselves and eye the authorities with suspicion and a hint of malice. Humboldt County in Northern California has been my refuge for three of the five years I’ve been free. Although I’ve found myself in plenty of trouble here before, it’s never with the police or the sick society my father and brother are part of.
