I shivered as we drove. My teeth gnashed and chattering until I clenched my jaw even tighter. The drug still lingered, and tasted like metal on the back of my tongue. God, I’d felt sick in that room, so sick I’d been afraid I was going to…tell them everything. My thoughts had been hazy, my words were a blur. But now they were sharpening, bringing to light what had happened in that room.
Has London fucked you?
Oh shit…
Oh…shit.
Fear took hold, cold, dark, and swallowed me down. What had I said? What the fuck had I said? I wanted to glance at London. I wanted to see the truth in his eyes, but in the wake of the dread came something else…something that tasted like jealousy and anger.
That bitch…that fucking bitch…
She was the one he’d dressed up for, right? She was the one he’d fucked. I closed my eyes as he drove into the garage and parked. She was the one he’d given the necklace to…and she’d wanted me to know it as she fingered the chain and ran the diamond pendant across her collarbone.
Revulsion burned inside me. It wasn’t even that the woman was fucking hideous. On the outside she may have been stunning, but inside…inside she was festering and foul. She’d triggered something inside me, something that was terrifying, something that filled me with fear, just like the storm from last night.
She’s quite pretty in a street rat kind of way…I can see why you’re keen to get your dick wet with this one…
Dick wet…
Dick…wet…
“Viv—”
I didn’t give him a chance, just climbed out of the car and slammed the door as hard as I fucking could. The BANG resounded in the garage and in my ears, and I didn’t fucking care. I’d have slammed it harder if I could’ve. No, I’d tear it from its hinges and hurl it across the garage.
From the corner of my eye, London stormed around the front of the car and bore down on me like an avalanche.
“VIVIENNE!” he roared, but I didn’t wait.
I ran for the house, my steps frantic. Whatever had been building between us from the first encounter at The Order was now unleashing with terrifying consequences. The arid tang of the drug welled in the back of my throat and brought tears to my eyes. But they weren’t of anguish or pain…because I didn’t care.
I wasn’t bought for three goddamn million dollars to care. I was bought so he could get his dick wet.
A wounded sound tore from the back of my throat as I kept running. I couldn’t think…couldn’t breathe. All I could feel was the consuming agony in my chest and the aching throb between my thighs. Because the truth was, I wanted him so much it fucking hurt and that was the cruelest thing of all.
I tore past the kitchen, with London close behind. Guild was there, and looked up as we passed. His lip was still swollen and raw from London’s rage yesterday as he tore his gaze from me to his employer. “Mr. St. James…”
“GET THE FUCK OUT!” London bellowed. “NOW!”
I spun, my heart hammering with the sound, and stumbled backwards. Lethal hunger rolled from my captor as he narrowed his gaze in on me. The red mark from my hand was evident now, blazing and a bit swollen, but he didn’t touch it, he didn’t act like he felt it at all. Guild didn’t speak again, just went to the door and left as silently as possible.
Because there was a shark hunting….
And he was fixed on my blood.
“Do not react, not until the drug is completely out of your system,” he snarled as he stalked closer. “Before we do or say something we’ll later regret.”
“You mean something like fuck you, why don’t you go back to that whore at The Order you seem to like so much…lover?”
He flinched as though I’d slapped him. For a second, I saw him pale before he steeled himself. “Vivienne…do not push this.”
He used me like a whore, then he wanted to treat me like a child? “Fuck. You. You. Piece. Of. Shit.”
He froze and his brow furrowed, then his top lip curled just before he lunged. His cruel hand went around my throat and his fingers gripped under my jaw as he pulled me close. Here was the monster I knew, the vile bastard who used and controlled and played everyone…including me.
“You think I’m a piece of shit?”
“No,” I didn’t look away. “I know it.”
He lowered his head and pulled me against his chest. Through his shirt I could feel the racing of his heart as he murmured. “You’re right, I am a vile piece of goddamn shit. I’m a murderer, a betrayer, and many, many things that would make your blood run cold. And I don’t care that you know the real me. Do you want to know why? Because we’re far beyond that now, Vivienne. We’re well past the point of no return.” He stopped for a second and drew in a deep breath, his words more dangerous than ever before. “I tried to do the right thing here, tried to give you a way out of my desires. But I see it’s too late for that now. It’s far too fucking late. You’re under my skin, wildcat. You’re so far under my fucking skin I can’t do a damn thing without thinking about you. So I don’t want you to push me here. It’ll be better for the both of us if you don’t fight. I want you to go to the basement…and I want you to go there now.”
The basement?
The basement?
Because he wanted me on that machine, right? He wanted me splayed open and exposed for him. My face burned, and I couldn’t swallow. I shoved against his chest as I met that predatory stare. “Make. Me.”
He froze for a second and his hold eased, just enough for me to slide out. Sounds came from above. The thud of footsteps moved down the stairs and stopped on the landing as they listened. They knew this was…bad.
“Vivienne…” London started, staring at the floor.
The way he said my name sent chills down my spine. I swallowed hard and took a step backwards, suddenly rethinking and cursing my temper. The movement drew his gaze. Those dark, malevolent eyes seized me before he said. “Get back here…now.”
Get back here? No…no…no.
The way he looked at me with that dark, ravening glare told me to do the opposite. So, I did the only thing I could…I turned…and ran.
I hurled myself toward the stairs. My steps were slow because my knees still trembled, but I gave it all I had left. The pounding of my steps was soon drowned out by the thunder of his.
Panic filled me as I gripped the banister and wrenched myself upwards.
“Get back here, Vivienne…I said…get—” he grabbed my shoulder but his fingers tangled in my hair, tugging the strands until I tore free with a cry and hurled myself upwards.
“Back…here…NOW!”
I didn’t know if he wanted to hurt me or fuck me. I wasn’t about to take the chance. My fight from seconds ago turned into flight. I threw myself onto the landing, turned to watch him, and stumbled backwards. He advanced slowly with harsh breaths and that steely, unflinching stare. His long legs closed the distance and forced me backwards.
“I did warn you.” He kept coming, that glare slowly taking in my body. “I tried to give you a way out of this, kitten…but you kept pushing me. You kept…”
Movement came behind me. A scream tore free as I turned and slammed into Colt. But the male didn’t protect me…not this time. He lifted those intense blue eyes to London as he advanced, and something passed between them. I realized that this had always been inevitable for me. Then the quiet son stepped back and stood against the wall.
What the fuck?
The action spoke volumes. I was on my own here. No one was going to help me. No one was going to save me. Not from the man who wanted me to call him daddy. I jerked my gaze back to London, my voice trembling. “You j-just stay the f-fuck away from me.”
“I think it’s a little too late for that, wildcat,” he snarled, those long legs eating the distance between us.
I tore my gaze from him to Carven, who was further down the hallway, his stark white hair a beacon in the gloom. Maybe he’d help. I stepped backwards and turned at the last moment, to see the son’s lips curl with a smirk. “No help here, female.”
“Ugh!” I snarled and spun around, then lifted my fists, ready to fight. “You want to do this, London? Then let’s fucking do—”
I didn’t get to finish as London unleashed a guttural growl and lunged toward me. I swung, which caused him to chuckle as he ducked the blow easily and grasped me around the waist.
“Put me down!” I thrashed in his arms.
“I warned you,” he snapped as he threw me over his shoulder and headed back along the hall. “I tried to keep you from this side of me…tried to keep you safe. But you pushed me, female. You pushed and pushed with your fucking eyes and your goddamn taste. You crawled under my skin and haunt my mind. You force me to want you. You force me to give into my fucking desires, so from this moment on, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself.”
“Blame? Blame for what?” I beat his back and tried to swing for the side of his head, then my body jolted as he stepped down the stairs. “Blame FOR WHAT?”
“For me taking you to the basement and fucking you with the machine.”
I froze with my heart in my throat until he stepped off the stairs. The foyer was a blur as we headed for the kitchen and stopped at the basement door.
“Wait.” I shoved his shoulder as I listened to the tiny beeps when he entered the code.
“I tried to warn you, Vivienne,” he muttered as he yanked open the basement door. “There’s no more waiting, not for this, not anymore.”
