I took the leash and started wrapping it around my fist. Her eyes flew to mine, getting wide as I propelled her forward toward me by pulling on the tether. Zoey tried to resist, but it was futile, and she knew it. I waited until she stopped fighting and started pulling her in again.
The need to control everything came from the fact that everything in my life from when I was a kid was so fucking out of control. My needs extended to the bedroom and beyond. It’s what made me a good businessman—a ruthless businessman. I never hurt women, though, not intentionally, and not beyond what they could handle.
There’s a difference in the type of pain I inflicted when I had a woman tied to my bed, her nipples clamped, legs spread, and pussy so fucking wet she was crying out because the pleasure was so intense it bordered on pain. She wanted it to stop and yet wanted more, so she gave me her trust and the control to know when enough was enough. She gave up the power, but took it all for herself because, with one word, it would all stop.
That was what I wanted with Zoey. I wanted to see her delirious with pleasure, and I wanted to see her come alive in my bed. That fire she banked so often. I wanted to watch it burn out of control as she came apart in my arms.
“You need to change,” I said gruffly when she was only two steps away from me.
“It will dry.”
I smirked. “You will not stay in those clothes for however long we are here, Zoey. You might as well change.”
“And you may as well go fly a fucking kite because it’s not happening. I will wallow in my stench before I use the bathroom in front of you, let alone shower in front of you, Killian.”
She took two steps toward me and brought her cuffed hands up between us. “I’m not a dog, and I’m not a plaything for your fucking amusement. If you really have no intention of hurting me, then let me help you figure out how to end this thing so I can get the hell out of here and away from you.”
Her breasts rose and fell with her breathing, and her eyes shot daggers at me. God, she was magnificent. She was the only person besides Donovan and Rowan to ever call me on my shit and put me in my place. Zoey was also the only person I would ever let talk to me like that, besides Donovan and Rowan.
“Why was there a deadbolt on your bedroom door?” I asked her the question I’d been intending to ask since we were at her house, but we had been busy and preoccupied until now. Plus, it also would throw her off and defuse her anger at me a bit to change the subject.
“What?” She shook her head and took a few steps back as far as the leash would allow.
“Your room. At your uncle’s house. There was a deadbolt on your bedroom door. I wanted to know why.”
“What does that have anything to do with what we were discussing?”
“That’s for me to decide. Now, why was there a deadbolt on an interior door, Zoey?”
“Because I installed it on my bedroom door.” She shrugged.
“You are being intentionally evasive and dodging the question. You know what I am asking.” I wrapped the leash around my fist tighter and took a step toward her, this time going to her instead of pulling her to me.
“My cousin.” She sighed. “She was always messing with my stuff and putting gum in my hair while I slept. I put the deadbolt on so she wouldn’t have a way to mess with my stuff or with me without breaking down the door. She wouldn’t do that because it would inconvenience my uncle to have it fixed.”
“So, the deadbolt had nothing to do with your uncle?” I gave her a pointed look, and she grimaced.
“Ew. No.”
“You act like it’s an unheard of story, Zoey. It’s not.”
“No. My uncle’s an asshole and a lot of things, but he’s not that.”
I didn’t contradict her, but we had a girl in another safe house that said otherwise. Zoey did not know who the man was living down the hall from her.
With a quick flick of the D-Link, I freed her wrists, so the leash was only attached to one of them. I let the leash drop from my fist, so I was only holding onto the end, and then I reached for her bag on the bed. I dug around until I found a long nightshirt and I handed it to her.
“Put this on. I’ll turn my back, but if you try to remove the leash, the cuffs, run, or escape, Zoey, this is the last bit of privacy you will have from me. Do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
While she pulled on the nightshirt, I grabbed the gray sweatpants from my bag and pulled them on under the towel. I’d pushed her enough for one day. Normally I slept naked, but that was out of the question.
My phone pinged, letting me know I had a message. I reached for it. Donovan was letting me know he was less than five minutes away.
“A little help here,” Zoey grumbled. She still had her jeans on, and the nightshirt was mostly on, except one arm was hung up because I held the end of the leash.
I dropped it and let her slide her arm through the hole before taking the end of it again. “Dinner’s almost here.” I unhooked the leash completely and tossed it on the bed, then led her back to the living room.
