“Because it’s my birthday,” I smiled.
He laughed and shook his head, offering his hand to help me up. I started to fold up the blanket, but he dropped the cooler in the center of it and told me to leave it.
“One of the grounds keepers will pick it up.”
“Handy,”
Kirk raised his eyebrows and hummed, leading me toward a small worn path that circled the lake.
“Did I earn my answer?” I asked.
“Actually, I had hoped that you forgot about the question.” A twig snapped under his foot as he lifted a branch for me to pass underneath. “I came here because I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I was working on the street—”
I gasped.
“Not that kind of working on the street. Moving drugs, dabbling in gambling—whatever I could to earn a roof over my head and a meal. I lost a bet and ended up owing a lot of money, so I went into hiding and came to this town. Someone mistook me for someone else, and I got in on a deal, and the strange thing is, once Miles found out my con, he asked me to work for him.”
“You don’t talk or act like someone who grew up on the streets.”
“I’m a quick learner,” he said.
“Yeah, but—”
“I started college when I was sixteen,” He said with a groan, “Pre-law.”
“Shit,” I dropped my bottle of water and it rolled into the bushes. I scurried to pick it up, but was startled when something moved under the leaves next to it. I jumped back, and Kirk caught me before I stumbled and fell into the lake.
“Not a country girl,” he said with a smirk.
“I visited my uncle’s farm… once. He had a bull and it followed me around everywhere I went. Pretty freaky, if you ask me.”
He reached into the bush and plucked up the bottle, dusting it off before handing it back to me.
“Thank you,” I said as he took me by the waist and led me down the path. I leaned into him, resting my head against his shoulder. “Do you think I’m pathetic?”
“Uh,” his pace slowed, “One, why would you care what I think? And two, why would I think you’re pathetic?”
“Because you’re the only person I can ask who might give me an honest answer, and I….” I shook my head.
“I think you’re stubborn and motivated by wanting to survive and eventually find a way past this.”
I shivered in the cool shade as the breeze fluttered by, picking up twigs and dead leaves left over from the previous year. “But….” I couldn’t manage to find the right words—the ones that would help me focus on how I was feeling without pissing Kirk off. “I feel like I shouldn’t be enjoying it, or enjoying you. By doing that I’m….”
“You’re surviving. We want human interaction; we seek pleasure—if we didn’t, this place wouldn’t exist.”
“I’d be okay with that.” The soreness between my legs hinted otherwise. I may not have wanted to be a slave—on any level—but that orgasm made me want more.
“So, you enjoy sex.”
I scoffed and shook my head.
“You don’t enjoy sex?” he asked slowly, tipping his head to watch my face as I considered my answer.
“Well,” my tongue tripped awkwardly against my teeth. “It’s never exactly felt like that before. Never even remotely close.”
I rubbed my face and started walking faster, hoping he’d just drop the conversation, and knowing that there was no way in hell that he would.
“You’ve had an orgasm before?”
“Yes,” I said forcefully. Although, since the two experiences couldn’t compare—sex with my exes and out-of-my-mind sex with Kirk, I actually began to doubt myself. And I certainly didn’t want to admit that to Kirk. Then, I really would be pathetic. I somehow convinced myself that keeping that to myself made me less pathetic and needy. “Why don’t you like playing with the other slaves?”
Kirk growled. “I’ve already told you, I don’t like sharing.”
“But you could have found one of the others and claimed her so you wouldn’t have to.”
“Honestly, they all want attention, but very few of them want attention from only one person.”
“More people to buy them things?”
He nodded and laced his fingers through mine as we rounded the back side of the lake.
“It’s more than that, though,” I said, knowing that I bordered on pushing him again. “You don’t like being forceful with the girls.”
“You think I’d have to be forceful to get any one of them in my bed?”
“Well, no, but maybe to keep them there and to keep them from getting out of hand.”
“Believe me, Silver, you’re the most out of hand girl in here—aside from Kat, but she’s never been a problem before.”
“Maybe that’s because she’s been a problem all along.”
Kirk gave me a sideways glance, and I chose to bite my tongue before pushing the issue any further.
“You think she’s the head of the drug ring?”
“You think there’s a drug ring? I thought it was just one guy selling to a few of the girls.”
Kirk stopped, crossed his arms, and glared down at me.
I scraped my thumbnail against the rivets of the bottle cap in my hand. One minute, his eyes could make me want to jump him, and the next they made me want to run away and find a snake hole to hide in.
Finally, he shook his head and took my hand again. “I’d tell you not to say anything to anyone else, but—”
“You’re the only one who gets the brunt of my verbal diarrhea.”
Kirk snorted, “Why do I have the feeling you’re going to get us both in trouble?”
“If you really thought that, you’d kill me now.” I knew I had to stop making snide remarks at everything he said, but as long as he wasn’t completely blowing up about it, it was cathartic.
And for whatever reason—and whatever result—I was relieved that he had loosened up and wasn’t threatening to beat or get rid of me at every opportunity.
Good Day to Die
The soreness between my legs had doubled overnight, and I thought about staying in bed. I heard the roar of the shower running on the other side of the wall, which meant that it wasn’t quite time for breakfast.
I laughed to myself and buried my face in the pillow. I was the slave, yet, aside from last night, Kirk was always the one waiting on me. I rolled onto my back, stretching all of my muscles, and finding the soreness to be surprisingly satisfying.
Trying to get back to sleep would be pointless, since my mind would just continue to race as it always did, especially when I thought too much about my circumstances. The more I let that happen, the more I wanted to complain even though, I rationalized, in the big scheme of things I didn’t have much to complain about.
I was taking on all of the traits in Alley that I swore I never would. I was finding reasons to enjoy my time here, to rationalize, and accept Kirk’s actions.
I decided I could accept how things were, or risk doing something to set him off and get beaten again.
I put on my robe and walked across the living room to grab my e-reader from Kirk’s desk, hoping that he remembered to download some new reading material after I had gone to bed. A small card under the computer caught my eye.
I told myself to leave it alone. There was nothing to be gained from snooping on Kirk that would be worth the punishment I’d get if he found out.
But the shower was still running.
I turned on the e-reader, hoping to distract myself long enough for the curiosity to fade, but my gaze wandered back to the small card. I slid it out from under the laptop and flipped it over.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, dropping the driver’s license to the floor.
My driver’s license.
The bastard not only knew who I was, but where I lived and probably much more, since he was usually the one digging into the background of clients to find out all of their darkest secrets.
I storme
d into the bathroom and pulled back the curtain.
“How long have you known who I am?”
Kirk shut off the water and stared down at me, water dripping and gleaming on his body. A scene that a few minutes ago would have sent me into a lust-fueled frenzy, now didn’t move me at all.
“You were snooping?”
“I picked up my e-reader off your desk. My driver’s license was laying there.”
He rubbed the water off his face and ran his fingers through his hair, squeezing out the excess water. His jaw twitched under the tension, and I thought I’d collapse from his snarled gaze alone before he spoke. “It was under my computer.”
“Not entirely.” My anger remained, by my conviction at confronting him was quickly fading. “How long have you known?”
“Since the beginning,” he said. “Hand me a towel.”
I huffed, grabbed a towel off the rack, and chucked it at his crotch. He caught it before it managed to hit anything, but that didn’t mean he was any less pissed.
I was momentarily glad for the tub wall between us, even though it was a minor obstacle.
“Silver.” He called my name as I stormed out of the room. I paced the living room until he emerged, mostly dry, from the bathroom, wearing the towel around his waist.
“Why?” I screamed.
“I had to make sure no one would come here looking for you.”
“So you’ve been spying on me so you could make sure and crush any efforts to rescue me.”
“You’re not getting out alive. We already discussed that, Silver.”
“Silver? You fucking—” I shook my head, looking for something else to throw at him, but he caught my arms and pinned them to my sides.
“Want me to call you by your real name?”
“No. You have no place in that life. I became Silver. I became what you wanted. But they’re separate, you’re not supposed to know anything about her. You said you didn’t even care what my name was.”
“Because I didn’t want to know.” His hands slowly slid away from my wrists, allowing me to step back. “Miles got your license from Gabe. He told me to check you out and make sure you wouldn’t be a danger to the organization.”
“What kind of danger would I be to this fortress? I’m just a regular girl.”
Kirk folded his arms over his chest and I backed up, but he caught my arm and pulled me closer. “I had to make sure you weren’t somehow involved with everything going on. Then, I had to make sure that Gabe hadn’t screwed up and left a trail for someone to find you here.”
“So, all along you knew my birthday was yesterday. And what, were you planning that all along? Just trying to play me? Find out more information?”
“No. Yesterday was exactly what you thought it was then. I wanted you to have a nice day. I wanted to get to know you because I want to trust you.”
“Don’t worry; I’m not here to bring down your fucking retreat.”
“I know. If I had any doubts about that I sure as hell wouldn’t have been giving you information yesterday. I wouldn’t have taken you to the security room. I wouldn’t be standing up for you.”
His grasp on my arms tightened as he drew me closer. I could smell his body wash, the soft woodsy scent that tugged at my gut. My body loosened and he held me tighter, locking his arms around my back.
“Are people looking for me?”
“Silver, don’t. You’ll drive yourself crazy. You’ll get yourself into trouble.”
I sucked back the tears, and let my body fall against his. He combed his fingers through my hair and kissed my temple. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, “I had to do my job.”
“And doing me is doing your job.”
“No, doing you is my new pastime. It’s much more enjoyable than the job.”
I smiled. The jackass had a way of lightening my mood, and whether I liked it or not, it made me hate him and the situation less.
“I have a meeting,” he said.
I started to push away, but he pulled me back, squeezing my chest against his.
“It’s off site and I’ll be gone for a few hours.”
“So you’re sending me downstairs?”
“Up to you.”
“You can’t leave me chained to a bed all day.”
His lip twitched. “I didn’t plan to, but that was before. You were here alone the other night.”
He took my face between his hands and pulled me to meet him.
“You’d leave me in the apartment for hours while you’re not even in the building? Free to walk around and everything? What if Gabe comes back?”
Kirk nodded. He squeezed my face between his palms and pushed my hair away from my face. “That’s why there’s a lock on the door.”
“There’s an extra key.” I pointed out. “Everything he’s already done, I don’t think it would be above him to go get it.”
“I’ll make sure he can’t. Are you okay staying here, or not?”
“I’m pissed, but I’m not going anywhere or doing anything. It’s not even like I could go back home now if I did escape. You probably know everything about me and my family.” I grabbed his forearms. “And don’t explain about how you had to do it. Can we just bury it so I don’t have to think about it again?”
“How about some breakfast and post-breakfast sex to take your mind off of it?”
“I don’t really get a choice in the matter, do I?”
“No,” he whispered with a smile that did all the wrong things to me. Ironically, the more I fought, the easier it was for him to break me and make me his.
I had Kirk’s apartment all to myself, and yet I chose to do the boring thing and curl up on the couch with a book. Just as I had sunk into a new chapter, someone knocked on the door. The e-reader fell into my lap, and I slumped into the couch, unsure of whether I should answer or just let whoever it was go away. I didn’t want anyone else to know I was up here alone.
The knock sounded again. “I know you’re in there, Silver.”
Recognizing the deep voice as Miles’, I let out the breath I’d been holding and pulled on my robe.
“Yes, Sir,” I called, not sure what the appropriate protocol for a slave answering the door.
“Why the delay?” he asked as I opened the door.
“I was afraid you were Gabe, Sir.” The awkwardness of the terms had vanished and they now rolled off my tongue as habit, especially when anyone aside from Kirk was around.
“He asked me to stop in on you before I started my shift downstairs.”
I bit my lip, wondering if he wanted more than to just see if I was okay. Was I supposed to let him in so he could see I wasn’t trying to burrow through a ninth story wall?
He brushed my cheek and I smiled at the soft gesture—further confirming that I’d lost my rational mind. “Good to see you staying out of trouble.”
“No kidding,” I mumbled, then clenched my teeth together.
“Maybe we should have kept you away from Alley,” he smirked and turned away, “be good, Silver.”
I closed and locked the door and returned to the couch. Sometime in the midst of reading a slow chapter, I fell asleep, and woke to another knock. This time, I jumped off the couch, hoping it was Kirk, but considering that it might also be Miles again.
I glanced at the clock; I couldn’t have been asleep for more than ten minutes, since it wasn’t even noon yet. I reached for the key, checking through the peep hole just to confirm who it was.
It was the same lanky black-haired man who had come to the door to let Kirk know that Ross was coming back early. I’d also seen him around, usually whispering with Ross and then disappearing, but I had no idea what his name was.
“Y-yes, Sir?” I said through the door. I didn’t know him well enough to simply open the door, and I wasn’t sure if Kirk would send him to check on me as well.
“Ross wants to see you.”
“About what, Sir?”
He banged on the door again and I jumped b
ack. “You don’t ask questions.”
I had no idea what his true role was in the organization, but it wouldn’t be the first time Ross had sent this guy to deliver a message. My heart raced with apprehension as I considered the possibilities. I had never seen him with Gabe, or any of his goons. But if Ross wanted to see me, I didn’t anticipate a positive outcome either way. “My Master told me to stay here.”
“And your Master’s boss told me otherwise. Ross sent me to get you—we need to talk about the drugs, and Kirk.”
What the hell? My hand shook over the key in the deadbolt. I wished there was someone I at least half-trusted that I could ask. A way I could call Kirk, or even Miles.
“I can tell Ross to come get you himself.”
Fucking hell. Ross wanted me dead in the first place, or at the very least miserable. Pissing him off, or even miffing him in the slightest, wasn’t a viable option. The scrawny man pulled out his cell phone and a set of keys.
Fucker had the master keys. It stood to reason that Ross would have his own set. That threw any possibility of holding up here until Kirk came back.
My wrist flicked, releasing the dead bolt, hoping I could avoid pissing him off any more. I pulled the key out and opened the door. He nodded toward the elevator, so I locked the door and followed. Inside the elevator, he pressed “7” and my stomach churned.
I opened my mouth—knowing that if it was legitimate and I argued I’d just get myself in more trouble, but I had a bad feeling. Before I could say anything a hand came over my mouth, blocking it and my nose. I struggled, trying to get him to break away just long enough to catch a breath, but for a scrawny man, he was damn strong and limber. By the time the elevator halted, I was already feeling dizzy. The doors slid open, and I stared into Gabe’s eyes once again.
I tried to scream, but there wasn’t enough air in my lungs, and what did escape further weakened me. He grabbed me and helped Black Hair pull me into the first door where two other men waited to join the fray. The hand over my mouth gave me enough room to inhale then blocked my airway again.
The cameras, what about the cameras? Surely someone saw them grab me and pull me in here. When they’d attacked Kirk, everyone was on the move within a few minutes. What did they hope to accomplish?
Irrevocable: A Sins of Ashville Abduction Dark Romance (Irrevocable Duet Book 1) Page 18