Carter only had to breathe the beginning of her name, and I knew what I needed to do. He knew about my beautiful Summer, and he would do anything to make me suffer. It became his new favorite game, sending me all the ways he’d torture her, each so heinous it made me physically ill to imagine.
I don’t care if Summer never understands why I did what I did, because she’s safe here with me.
Carter is hunting us, though.
And he will die before he touches her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SUMMER
Slap.
My palm connects with Kage’s forearm for the fifteenth time since we started showering. Why the brute thinks he needs to be right next to me and not spectating at a safe distance is…well, kind of obvious, but he’s shown me his intent isn’t to murder me. Not on purpose, at least. The weapon he wields between his thighs would surely do me in, though. It’s sort of hard not to notice it as it bobs happily around, pointing directly at me the entire time.
“I don’t need your help, thanks,” I growl. I think I hear him laugh roughly, the sound making a zap of pity electrocute my heart, but I ignore him and press a palm to the wall to stand on one foot and scrub between my toes. He’s allowing a much longer shower session than usual, and I’m taking full advantage of it.
His touches a few minutes ago felt concerned, which made my hackles raise. After swatting him so many times, now it feels like he’s teasing me.
“Thought I graduated middle school eight years ago,” I grumble to myself. His shadow falls over me from my left, and I glare at him. Shoulder leaned against the wall, he crosses hisarms and turns into the Greek god, Adonis. With his mask damp, it slips lower than he’s ever let it, and my mind’s eye tries to fill in the rest of him. It’s infuriating, his beauty, his strength, and not being able to see the full, devastating depth of it.
For the first time in a long,longtime, I feel less-than. Although my job gave me constant criticism, it also gave me just as much validation. My confidence was through the roof when it came to men before Kage kidnapped me. I knew I could have just about anyone I wanted, but the issue was, I didn’t want anyone.
Something about commitment freaks me out. It’s death to your youth. To your independence. Doesn’t matter now, I suppose.
My eyes flick to the bar of soap in my hands before they slowly creep up his intimidating frame. That stupid adage is true; big feet, big dick. Everything about Kage is perfectly proportioned, his muscled calves supporting thick thighs that would look amazing tattooed. My cheeks heat, and a flash of desire flares through my core, remembering our encounter months ago. His dick is long, thick, the veins pulsing hotly with brutal desire, a small bead of clear pre-cum leaking from the slit on the large, purplish head. It had felt like silk against me. Silk, and then a battering ram when he tried to force it in. Curiosity often gets the better of me, and I wonder if I’d like taking someone so big. How would it feel? Would I be able to adjust to that girth and the depth he’d give, or would it hurt the entire time?Would he care?
By the time my brain registers that I’ve been staring at his cock for far too long, I feel faint with embarrassment. But I can’t stop my exploration of him right now. He’s not going to hurt me. Maybe he’s just lonely. A hot, lonely guy who can’t speak. Is that why he took me? Does he get turned down because of that?
If so, that level of shallowness makes my heart ache for him. If I knew Kage under different circumstances, something likethat wouldn’t matter to me. When he’s like this…I almost feel like we could be friends. Biting my lip, my eyes travel the line of hair up to his navel. Each ab is perfectly sculpted, dripping with beaded droplets of water. Then his pecs, partially covered by those forearms and biceps he uses to subdue me.
What if he subdued me and made me feel that way again?The devil on my shoulder whispers into my ear. When my eyes meet his, I realize how heavy my breaths are, how alight with fire my body is at these intrusive, sick fantasies I’m beginning to have for the man keeping me chained in his basement. He quirks a brow, and I just know he’s wearing a cocky smirk under that stupid mask.
“What?” I bark.
He shakes his head and pushes off the wall, walking a few feet away to the notebook and his pen. The floor is littered with prescription bottles, grocery store bags, torn off pages, and writing implements. If I wasn’t free-bleeding into a grate in the floor, I may find it comical.
He jots something down and flips it for me to read.
See something you like?
I scoff, but my stomach tumbles unpleasantly at being caught red-handed. “Keep dreaming, weirdo. Haven’t you heard not to fuck with a woman on her period?”
He writes something else, his prose messy in his haste.
I hear orgasms help with the pain.
Fury has my teeth gritting at his sheer audacity.
“If you touch me, I’ll find a way to strangle you with those chains.”
He casts the notebook aside with a resounding thump and saunters over to me. With nowhere to go, I back under the stream until I hit the wall, trapped as he prowls near. He steps boldly under the shower head, allowing the water to douse his hair and run in dozens of rivers down his soft curls. Palm resting on either side of my skull, his broad shoulders eclipse the spray, the water bouncing off his skin and creating a sort of mist behind him.
Blinking up at him, I hold his gaze and try to steady the way my heart is galloping away like a stallion races toward the horizon. His hand reaches toward my face, and when I flinch, he pauses, a darkness entering his whiskey eyes. Lips parting, I wait for him to continue.
Gently, reverently, he cups my face, thumb hovering just above my mouth. The desire to fully see him overcomes me, and I reach for his mask, jumping as his other hand snaps up and traps my wrist. I glance from his grip on me to his face, frightened at what I see there. It’s something so sinister and murderous that it makes my gut roil with nausea again.
“I’m…I might puke…” I squeak, needing to flee this situation, because letting my guard down around Kage is going to end up getting me killed, in the end. That’s always how these stories go. Doesn’t matter how nice he is to me; at the end of the day, he ripped me from my life, assaulted me, and locked me away.
