“You signed up to be kidnapped.”
“Yeah?” Her eyes are twin razors slicing straight from my solar plexus to my balls.
“Maybe we should, uh…” Grace takes a step back, Max with her. Blade is long gone.
“Listen to me. That woman? The one from the video? I thought—”
“Do we really need to do this right now?” She turns, looking for her friends, who wait a few feet closer to the dungeon door, giving us space, but unwilling to desert her entirely. The fucking sparkly necklace shirt flies around her like iridescent snakes, giving me the full bounce of breasts I now know the taste of. Breasts I need to taste again, soon.
Focus, asshole. This is important.
“I thought she was you,” I say, desperate for her to know the truth.
Her brows lift high. Otherwise, she doesn’t move at all, just waits, impatient or annoyed. The hell-top twinkles at me like it’s laughing.
“For maybe a minute, I thought you’d gotten out of your meeting and shown up at the gallery.” Everything’s weirdly quiet out here, as if not just Twyla’s listening, but the entire world, hushed and waiting, breath held. Even the noises from the hangar are somehow muted, waiting. “And I was so damn happy.” I feel a leftover scrap of that moment even now and I hate how weak it makes me. “But it was her and she must have known about this.” I put my hands out to show the camp around us, and then bring them back in, rub my face to clear out my brain.
“Why didn’t you just go home?”
“I wish I had.”
“Yeah, butwhy didn’t you?”
“Because I was…Dammit.” I lean in and hiss into her ear. “What we did in front of the TV? The night before? It scared the shit out of me. I never did that before.”
“What?”
“You know, vanilla stuff. Just…” I will her to understand so I can stop pouring this shit out into the night air. “Just messin’ around because youlikea person? No scene, no pain, norules.”
Her “Wow” is so quiet, it’s just a shape on her lips. “You could have stopped, though. At any time.” She doesn’t mean our make-out session. She means the video woman.
“I thought it would get you out from under my skin. You were athorn. A constant itch or ache or something and she was a…”
“Distraction?”
“A painkiller.”
She blinks.
“I wasn’t myself that night. I was a zombie.” I hold her gaze. “When it came time to do the deed, I shut my eyes and pretended it was you.”
Shock takes over her features, making her mouth tiny and her eyes huge. In any other circumstances, I’d take pleasure in that expression, hell, I’d chase it.
“I’m so sorry, Twyla. I’ve never regretted anything this much. If I could…” I shut my eyes, unwilling to spout some bullshit about turning back time or taking it all back, because if I could do that, my entire fucking life would be a do-over, from when I lost my mom, hell, even before then.
“I don’t know what to say to you, Zion. You bring this up now?”
I nod. She’s right. It’s a terrible time to bring it up, but fuck, everything’s bubbling under the surface. I’m a volcano, so close to blowing I’m not sure how to keep it down any more.
“Don’t do the kidnapping. It’s a terrible idea.”
“I told you I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”
“I saw your kidnapping intake form.” My voice is harsh. “You’re askin’ for trouble.”
Those lips tilt up at the corners. I stare at them, picturing the things I want to do to that mouth. The things I’ll never stop wanting.
She moves closer to me again and every part of me sings. “What makes you think…” I see the moment she gets control of herself again. “The thing is,Zed,” she says, all the emphasis on my camp name. “It turns out you’re not the only one who takes their fun with a side of trouble.”
