He was like staring into a vast ocean of evil.
My skin pebbled with trepidation. But I took ahold of my fear, like I had throughout my whole life, refusing to bow to it.
“Don’t just stand there staring, get me some water!” I bit out, fear and anger making my tongue loose.
My heart continued to hammer against my rib cage and I subconsciously squeezed my thighs together, suddenly terrified of what he might do. The ghost of his rough touch between my legs coming back to me. Yet I still refused to back down. Like a cat being stalked, my hackles were raised, and I was a hissing beast, ready to thrash and fight for my safety.
He still hadn’t spoken, but his cold eyes washed over me, making me feel naked and vulnerable. Like I was already open to him, ready for him to defile me. It felt like he could see all the way into my soul, brushing my walls and barriers to one side with a flip of his large hand just to see the frightened woman behind them all.
It felt like he knew me, but there was just no way, because I’d recognize those eyes anywhere.
I swallowed and dropped my head back to the pillow, though my gaze stayed on him as he stalked toward me. I set my jaw firm and glared harder as he came closer, his musky scent washing over me like a drug, making my pulse race.
His steps were deliberate, his fluid movements accentuated by his tight black T-shirt and blue denim jeans that clung to every bulging muscle in his body. The outline of his jaw was strong and prominent through the material; it could have been chiseled out of stone or carved from marble. His skin was flawless, dark lashes over black eyes. He was beautiful and terrifying all at the same time. He was the Devil personified.
He opened the bedside drawer and pulled out a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap, and waited for me to lift my head. My gaze moved from him to the bottle and back to him again.
“How do I know you haven’t poisoned it?” I asked, miraculously controlling my voice so it didn’t shake.
Something animalistic flared in his eyes before they fell dead and cold again. “You don’t,” he growled out, his deep baritone voice rumbling through my body and heading straight to my core.
Two words were all he spoke, but those two words carved themselves into my soul, branding me with every syllable. We stared at each other for a long moment, neither of our gazes wavering. Taunting each other with our stubbornness.
His expression had gone blank again, but that wasn’t to say there wasn’t life in his features. Despite the empty look on his face, there was so much there. Staring into his eyes was like staring into a never-ending abyss. You could see the whole damn universe in his eyes—stars light years away, the earth from above, the sea from below, the Milky Way and the Northern Lights. The whole universe was trapped in his eyes, as if he was a black hole sucking everything into him, never to escape.
He suddenly reached out and clamped a rough hand around the bottom of my jaw before squeezing until my mouth opened. I thrashed on the bed as he started to pour the water into my mouth, the warm liquid sliding down my throat and splashing over my chin and down my chest. I coughed and spluttered, writhing to get away from him, but he held me with one hand, pouring until the bottle was empty.
He stared down at me while I choked and gasped, spitting out water. “Are you insane!” I screamed in his face as he let go of my jaw and threw the bottle to one side. “You could have killed me.”
He bent low, one hand reaching out to slide along my bicep and up toward my hands. His fingers were callused and rough and they dragged against my smooth skin. He leaned in closer, his cold eyes holding me in place. When his hand reached my fingertips, they began their slow descent back down my arm, over my shoulder and across my collarbone, and down my side until his hand reached my hip.
“Darlin’, if I wanted you dead, you’d already have maggots feasting on you,” he drolled casually.
I was frozen to the bed, my body feeling ten times heavier as I tried to push myself into the mattress so I could disappear from his view and his wicked touch. His gaze left mine and moved to my mouth as his hand gripped my hip roughly, giving my body a little tug.
I refused to be scared of him.
To be terrorized by him.
To show fear in the eyes of a monster.
As he leaned over me, I gathered up the spit in my mouth and spat it in his face. It splattered across the bridge of his nose and the material that covered the lower part of his face. Keep your hands off of me,” I gritted out.
He reached up, his hand leaving a cold patch where it had been on my hip, and swiped away the spit from his face before dragging his palm down his jeans and standing up straight. He stared down at me unapologetically. Like I was nothing to him but a slab of meat he’d throw away when the time came.
“I’ve got orders to keep you alive, little girl,” he said, his voice low and deep, imprinting itself in my brain. “At least for now.”
My nostrils flared at his words, but the animal inside me wouldn’t be tamed. “Come closer and say that,” I taunted with a sneer. “I fucking dare you.” I shook my arms in their restraints and glared at him.
The cloth twitched and I imagined him smiling beneath the material. “You need to be tamed,” he growled.
“And you need to fuck off,” I snapped back, shaking my arms again and making the metal of the cuffs clang noisily on the bedframe. I was in no position to make demands or orders. Certainly, no position to threaten him, and yet here I was.
The material twitched again and a deep rumble of a laugh escaped him. His laughter held no humor and instead filled me with dread.
He bowed with a wave of his hand. “As you wish.”
He took a step away from the bed and turned on his heel before heading back across the room, his strides long and purposeful. He didn’t look back at me as he left the room, closing and locking the door behind him.
