I get hot and twisty from it.
Grim set the metal spoon against the bowl with a clank, and horror spread through my limbs.
I’d eaten anentirebowl of cereal.
Before I could dwell on it, Grim stood up, holding out his hand for me to take. I took it. Without words, Grim pulled me up the stairs and back into the room—hisroom. Blood roared like the ocean in my ears.
The look he was giving was too intense. Too not what we are. By now he should pull away, do something to get control. Instead he just stared, sending shivers down my spine.
So I tried to break it.
“So what am I?” I asked. “Your fucking captive now?”
“No,” he said simply. “You’re mine.”
Another excruciatingly long minute of eye contact, and then he turned as if to leave.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Business,” he said without turning around, nearly at the door.
“Are you going to lock me in here again?”
He turned around, arms folded. “Depends, you gonna leave?”
No.
Yes.
I have to go, I can’t stay here.
A vicious smile split his lips, as if he could see the words in my hand. “You know what? Go ahead, leave, Rich Girl. Wherever you go, I’ll find you and drag you back.”
My lips parted, mouth suddenly dry. His eyes dropped to that, hunger darkening the irises, but he only turned back around. He paused in the doorway. “Good girls who stay get rewarded, though.” He tapped the doorframe, and without another word, left.
I could leave.
I could walk right out.
Good girls who stay get rewarded.
I shook my head. I was alone, inGrim’sroom…and I wasn’t above snooping. That was the only reason I was staying.
His room was meticulous. I had cleaners morning and night, and even mine wasn’t this clean. The only thing messy was the bed. Shivers ran up my spine.
Fuck up my sheets.
I pulled out a dresser drawer and found clothes perfectly folded. Beyond me there was an open doorway that led to a walk-in. I headed over, then paused, a book on the nightstand catching my eyes.
What kind of reading was the Grim Reaper into?
Frankenstein?
The book was old and beat up. The insides had wordsscribbled in the margins. I was having a hard time picturingGrimannotatingFrankenstein?—
Wait.
I looked closer at the annotations, at a little purple heart drawn in the margin.
