“Avery—don’t.”
But I was already moving. I backed off the bed quickly, grabbed my phone, and threw on a jacket. There was no plan, but I knew I couldn’t stay.
Not like this.
Rowen was yanking furiously at the cuffs, and I knew there was a chance he would break away from the wooden headboard it was attached to if he tried hard enough.
I had to move fast.
“Avery!” his voice roared behind me as I reached our bedroom door. “You run from me, and I swear to fucking God, the second I catch you—”
I paused in the doorway and turned to look at him.
His chest was heaving, eyes feral. His arms stretched against the restraints, the veins bulging in his arms. “—I will fuck you so hard, you’ll break for me.”
I smiled—just a little.
Because that was what I really wanted.
I wanted it so bad it scared me.
But he’d have to earn that.
“Good,” I said and slammed the door behind me.
As I ran down the stairs, I could still hear him screaming.
Let him.
Because when I came back—and I would, when I was ready—I wanted him starving for me.
Some unhinged, fucked up part of me needed to watch him fall apart, knowing,hopinghe’d destroy me all over again.
I was a wreck by the time I reached the garage. Tears streamed down my face, and I was sobbing so hard, I couldn’t take a full breath. I felt like if I stopped moving, my body might refuse to keep going.
Grabbing the keys was hard, sliding into the driver's seat and starting the car harder, but pulling out onto the driveway was nearly impossible. My heart and body begged me to turn around, begged me to go back upstairs and throw myself at the only man I’d ever wanted, ever loved.
But my brain told me to run, to get as far away from my stepbrother as I could, because that was the only way I could have a clear head to think about what I really wanted.
My mind raced as I drove down the dirt road.
What the fuck are you doing, Avery? What’s the plan?
I knew the name of the nearest town, but I’d only been twice with Rowen—grocery shopping both times. The last time, we also stopped at the farmer’s market, but when a man at a stall flirted with me while I looked at his vegetables, Rowen started getting the food delivered to the house, and we didn’t leave again.
His jealousy and possessiveness knew no bounds. If he didn’t like something, he would take care of it—his way. I was coming to realize there was only ever room for Rowen’s way of things, and I had to accept that willingly or let him force me to submit to his will.
Because you know there’s no escape.
I typed the town name into my phone and waited for the app to load the directions. We lived out in the middle of nowhere, and now that I was away from the Wi-Fi, my service was slow as fuck.
“Come on…” I muttered, shaking my phone, as if that was going to make it work faster.
I was so focused on my phone, I nearly ran off the gravel road. The car bounced as I turned the steering wheel to get it back on track. Instead of risking running off the road and having to walk back to the house with my tail tucked, I pulled over and put the car in park to focus on getting directions.
The route finally loaded, but then, the car made a funny noise and turned off.
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!
