Ramel grabbed my jaw and turned me to face him. His eyes flashed, and he smiled as though he almost hoped I would give him a reason to punish me.
“If you’re bad, the plug stays in, and you go to breakfast naked, on a leash,” he purred, and I felt the blood drain from my face.
“You’re amonster,”I hissed, horrified that even he was fucked enough to think of something so twisted.
He smiled and gave me a tender kiss on the lips.
“Quite literally,” he murmured against me. He hovered there for a moment, his lips gently brushing against mine. Without warning, his entire demeanor changed, and he was suddenly fisting my hair and snarling. “So what’s it going to be, deathtrap? Are you going to be a good girl for us?”
I closed my eyes and beat back the anger brewing in my chest. I needed to get through this. I needed them to start trusting me so I could make a plan. I knew he would follow through on his threat if I didn’t comply, and I did not want to spend the day on a fucking leash with a plug in my ass.
I nodded. “Yes,” I whispered, “I’ll be good.”
Ramel smiled before running his flat, wet tongue firmly across my lips. He clapped his hand on the side of my face twice before pulling back.
“Such a good little deathtrap. Now, get on your hands and knees. Let me see how good you look with that plug in your ass.”
“And in the master’s chambers, they gathered for the feast. They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can’t kill the beast.”
—THE EAGLES, HOTEL CALIFORNIA
Shem slinked off after helping Ramel force me through multiple orgasms. He told us he would meet us in the dining room. Ramel scooped me up and carried me into the adjoining bathroom.
Post-sex Ramel was a completely different person. He was so gentle with me that I kept pinching myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.
The bathroom was massive and was what I imagined a haunted house’s master bath would look like if the Kardashians renovated it. The gleaming black marble floors reflected the soft glow of the green flames that burned in modern wall sconces. The frameless shower was massive and adorned with misting and rainfall fixtures. There was a large, oval tub carved from obsidian set in the center of the room, and floating his and hers sinks along the far wall.
“Wow,” I gasped, and Ramel smirked at me, clearly pleased with my reaction.
“This is all yours now,” he said, setting me down in the frameless shower and gesturing for me to turn around. I frowned but did as I was told. He was being so nice I didn’t want him to revert back to asshole Ramel. I squeaked as he gripped the plug and gently tugged it out of my ass, tossing it with a heavyclankinto one of thesinks. He pressed up behind me and gently kissed my shoulder, directly over one of the bruises that was forming from where he had aggressively bit me.
“I’ll get a healer to take care of these after breakfast,” he murmured before gesturing toward one of the benches built into the wall of the open-concept shower. “Have a seat; let’s get you cleaned up.”
He turned on the shower, and I couldn’t help but feel amazed at how it suddenly seemed like it was raining inside the entire room. He fished out a black loofah from under the sink and squeezed soap into it before getting on his knees before me.
“Do you have any questions?” he asked me as he lathered the soap into the loofah. Was he being serious? Of course I had fucking questions. “Now is the time to ask if you do,” he said softly. He ran the soapy sponge up my arm, and I shuddered.
“Why?” I finally asked.
“Why what?” he asked, his expression genuine. “Why did I stalk you and kill everyone you’ve ever known and loved? Or why did I pretend to be Reaver?”
“Both,” I whispered, and he pursed his lips.
“After breakfast, Hazai and I will be taking you to the library. I will be better equipped to answer your first question there,” he murmured, watching his own hand as he slowly cleaned my body. He began at my shoulders and slowly made his way downward.
“I pretended to be Reaver because I needed a way to communicate with you that didn’t give me away,” he explained, still not looking me in the eyes.
“You asked me how I killed people. You made it seem like I could confide in you and tell you my secrets, but you knew the whole time… why?” I whispered. His gorgeous hazel eyes shot up to meet mine, and his mouth twitched.
“I wanted to see if you would tell me. I wanted to hear what it felt like when I touched you from your own lips. I was hoping you would tell Reaver that I had stalked you your whole life. There’s just something about hearing how terrified I made you coming from your own mouth that would have been such a turn-on.”
I felt my stomach sink at the brutality of his honesty. Ramel was a monster; there was no denying that.
He lazily ran the soapy sponge over my abdomen. “Even more than that, I was hoping you would tell Reaver I had edged you all night and ask him to finish the job.” He grinned at me, the evil that I knew lurked just beneath the surface swimming across his gaze. “I would have fucked you right then if you had told me.”
“Ramel,” I whispered as he gently ran the loofa down my left leg. There was nothing sexual about his touches now. He was just… washing me. He frowned when he passed over the tops of my legs. He ran a finger over one of my scars, looking upset that they were there.
“Why do you do this to yourself?” he asked softly, and I felt my throat tighten. Was he seriously asking me that question?
