If ever. The words hung unsaid between us. I didn’t know if she would ever come back to this house, that was true, but I’m not sure if she would even want to when she found out that her uncle was planning to sell her.
“No. My purse and my bookbag with my computer are downstairs. That’s everything I will need.”
I nodded and reached for her. I pressed her smaller frame against me. The smell of lavender teased my senses, and I would give anything to finish what we started with that kiss earlier. That would have to wait, though.
It would have to wait until she trusted me. Until she realized I wasn’t the bad guy. I’ve done bad things, sure, but I wasn’t the bad guy. Zoey needed to realize sometimes the only way to fight the monsters of the world was to be one of them. It was a lesson I learned long ago.
Chapter 12
Zoey
Survive, Zoey. Survive,I thought to myself as he guided me down the back staircase and toward the kitchen where I had come up when I got here. The headache that was getting irritating when I came home was full-fledged painful now.
Stress amplified the pain to where it felt like I had ball bearings pummeling my skull from the inside. I wanted water, food, a bath, headache medicine, and for whatever this was to be over with. If I told them my uncle wouldn’t pay them for me, would they even believe me?
The man resented me and the only reason he kept me around was I would do everything his spoiled bitch of a daughter wouldn’t—cook and clean. I earned my keep, so to speak, but he wouldn’t help me. Instead of telling them that, though, I kept it to myself. That Uncle Matt might actually pay whatever money he owed these men could be the only thing keeping me alive.
I watched as he grabbed my purse and bookbag off the island in the kitchen where I’d left it earlier. If he had been any other guy, it would have looked funny for him to have a purple backpack and a purple plaid purse thrown on his shoulder, but it didn’t. Whomever this guy was, he exuded sexy confidence and danger, and that mixture appealed to me in a way it shouldn’t. I shouldn’t feel safe with him, but I did. It was confusing.
“Look at me, Zoey.” He gripped my upper arms tightly, but not so tight that it would leave a mark. Safe.
Our eyes met, and I felt the same funny feeling in the pit of my stomach that I did when he was seated in my section. It was annoying. Here he was kidnapping me from my home, and I wanted him. What was wrong with me?
“We are going to walk out to that car and get inside. You will not scream or try to draw any of the neighbor’s attention, Zoey. If you do, you could get hurt, or they could if they try to interfere. Do you understand me?”
I didn’t answer him, so his grip on my arms tightened a bit more to where it was actually painful. “Yes. Okay,” I gasped out. It was a lie. I was going to sing like a freaking canary once we were out in the open, but he didn’t need to know that.
“Just remember that I warned you.” He grunted and slipped his arm back around my waist as we walked out the back door. In the driveway, there was a black car that was very unassuming. There must be a million of these in the Houston area. I planned to make my move during the moment of time when we would be exposed to the neighbors from the other houses between the back of the house and the waiting car. I was going to scream as loud and hard as I could.
One. Two. Deep breath. Before I could even scream, I was whirled around and my lips were captured in another hard, unyielding kiss. He had an arm wrapped around my waist and another tangled in my hair as he backed us up to the waiting car. His lips took complete possession of mine. I raised my hand to his shoulders to push him away, but my strength was no match for his.
I felt the solid metal against the back of my hips and knew he had me backed up against the car. My front was plastered to his, and I could feel the hardness of his erection against my belly. I should have been disgusted and terrified by what this man was doing to me and what he was going to do to me. He was kidnapping me. He threatened me and the neighbors if I made any noises to get their attention, and the only noise I was making was a moan of approval when his hand grazed my nipple through my clothes.
The next thing I knew, he was maneuvering me again, this time into the back seat of the car. My backpack and purse were in the front, so he slid into the back beside me and shut the door.
I wanted to cry as his friend pulled out of the driveway. The man had just kissed me absolutely senseless and didn’t seem fazed, and I’d aided him in my kidnapping by getting caught up in it.
