“I never cheated on you.” I limp forward.
He looks at me over his shoulder in angered disbelief.
“I didn’t,” I repeat. “I never wanted Asher to touch me and…” How do I voice all the fucked up shit my parents did?
“And?” he says.
I close the door then run all the faucets. He stares at me with a crease between his brows as I hold my finger over my lips. Gently holding his wrist, I lead him into the shower, so we’re surrounded by the sound of the water to give him the same warnings he gave me.
“The room is bugged, remember? They can see and hear everything we do. Please don’t do this again. Don’t hate me when I know everything.”
“Well, I fucking saw it. I sawyou.”
“It’s not what you think.”
I know he’s seen the same clips I saw, because his family have an obsession with recording people, but they don’t show how wide my pupils are or the fact I have no memory of what happened.
He pushes me away. I try to hug him again, so I force the truth out through clenched teeth as I close my eyes, balling my fists.
“It was?—”
He abruptly turns, refusing to listen to me as he leaves the bathroom. I follow him, watching him do what everyone else has done. They never listened to me or treated me like a person. He’s worse. I expected him to stay, but instead he storms out.
10
KANE
I’m fucking weak, walking the fuck away so I don’t give into her. The alternative is getting sucked back into Delilah again, believing her lies, then being ruined. So I leave her before she can leave me.
The staircase rattles as I take the steps two at a time. There’s no one in the kitchen when I enter. All of Helene’s instructions have been for my benefit. In her own way, she’s been trying to make me see Delilah for what she is. It’s why she offered all the leashes, the punishments—everything.
I stop at the full-length cabinet housing the leashes as something metallic catches my eye on the other side of the array of metal and leather. I hook it to the side of my pants on one of the belt loops as Helene walks into the kitchen while I choose other leashes, collars, gags, and some rubber shit with too many straps for me to work out what it’s used for. She has a smile on her face until she turns, seeing the mask has been removed.
“Who allowed you to reduce your punishment?”
“I did.” I lay another leash over my forearm before I close the door to face her. “You’re the creator. I’m from you, so nothinghas power over me. As you suggested, I’ll teach my wife the error of her ways. Make sure we’re not disturbed.”
Delilah’s mother comes into the kitchen with her stupid fucking husband, so I leave the three of them to do whatever they want while I go back to my wife to make her regret ever looking at anyone else. Ever the dutiful fucking wife, she’s sitting on the end of the bed when I go back into the room. Her eyes light up at the sight of me.
Fake. Fake emotions, fake care, fake excitement.
“Get on your fucking knees,” I snap, slamming the door behind me.
Those bright blue eyes dim a little as she slowly slips off the bed to kneel for me.
My body is going to be in agony once the anger is gone. I can already feel the ache settling in as I walk towards her, dropping the leashes and collars on the bed. The noise has her attention, but I grab her hair at her crown to stop her from turning her head.
As soon as those deceitful lips part, I spit down in a line before she can utter a word. “The only time your mouth opens from now on is to take my dick.”
She blinks, bewildered, slowly shaking her head.
“How many have you fucked?” I grip her hair tighter. Another blink. I laugh. It’s bitter, filled with hurt. “Have you lost count?”
There’s no response or reaction, other than her eyes quickly darting to each corner of the room. She remains still, allowing me to control her.
It’s strange.
Why the fuck is that strange?
