She bit her bottom lip, her gaze skating over my erection before swooping back to my face. “Then...I don’t understand. We had a deal. You said you wouldn’t kill me if—”
“A little chat is in order before any other favors are granted.”
She crossed her arms, protecting herself. “What chat?”
“Will others show up here?”
Her eyes flared. “Why? Have you seen someone?” She glanced at the ugly, bulky cell phone beside her. Hope blazed over her face, hinting that maybe it wasn’t a useless piece of technology, after all.
Stupid girl.
Darting forward, I scooped it off the ground and clutched it in my fist.
“No!” She launched to her feet, her nails digging into my fingers and trying to pry it free. “It’s pointless. It just has...sentimental value. I have photos and things—”
“Photos? On a phone? You think I’m some imbecile?”
“No, I...just let me put it away.” Her fingers heated until her touch burned me. She branded me better than any fire, any ember. And Christ, it made me thirst. Made me hiss and smoke with violence.
I raised my arm, making her body stretch and fingers cling. Her face lost its reluctant submission, flaring with vibrant hate.
I knew it.
I knew there was a fucking hellcat hidden beneath her reserves.
“Give it!” She scratched my forearm.
I groaned.
Her touch on my skin. Her fight and fury incinerating her act of demure and downtrodden. She wasn’t meek. She wasn’t accepting.
She was stupid and reckless and just as mad as me.
“I knew you’d give me a war if I pushed hard enough.”
Her eyes shot to mine. “I’ve given you my body. I refuse to give you anything else.”
I raised my arm even more, making her stretched-out form crash against mine. We both sucked in a desperate breath. “Are you so sure about that?” Our noses brushed as I looked down at her. I trembled with her closeness, drinking in the rage of a pissed-off girl who was no longer free.
“You’re a bastard.”
“That’s what you think I am?” I smiled icily. “That word is far too polite for the likes of me.”
She froze, hanging off my arm.
For a second, we were both trapped in a web of hatred and heat. An intoxicating curse that blurred every rule and erased every line.
My mouth watered to kiss her.
My cock begged to fuck her.
I couldn’t stand having her this close. Her very nearness set my mind on fucking fire and the walls I’d built shivered with fear.
Dropping my arm, I grabbed her wrist with my other hand. Ripping her hold off me, I held the device to the side as I jerked her against me, making her slam into my chest. “This isn’t just a phone, is it?”
She struggled and squirmed, her lips thin and angry. “Let me go.”
“What is it?”
“You’re hurting me.” She tried to pry my fingers off her wrist.
“I’ll hurt you worse if you keep lying to me.” I gripped her harder, not caring my nails punctured the paper-thin skin around her breakable bones. I shook her. “Is this how people will find you?”
She gritted her teeth, her eyes no longer gold-flecked hazel but heated with flames. “Fuck you.”
“Is that an invitation?”
“It will never be an invitation!”
“No?” I shoved her away from me and raised the unknown device above my head. “I think time will change your mind.”
“Wait! Don’t.” She threw herself at me, but it was too late.
I tossed the thing as hard as I could against the concrete, smiling coldly as it smashed into smithereens.
For a second, she stood in shock even as blood trickled through a slice in her legging where a chunk of plastic had ricocheted and cut her, then she dropped beside the wreckage, scrambling to pick up the fragments and shove them back into whatever they once had been.
“How could you?” she hissed under her breath. “God, I’m an idiot! I should never have—”
“Trespassed? Yes, my thoughts exactly.”
“Go to hell.”
“Already been.” I raked a hand through my long hair and looked around the cell for any other weapons or inconveniences. It was time she knew her place.
I’ve been too gentle on her.
Spying another device by the scratchy blanket she’d made into a nest, I stormed forward and stole yet another piece of her life.
“No!” She shot upright and once again tried to attack me. “Give that back! Please. It’s the only thing I have left!”
“You shouldn’t have brought it into my valley then, should you?” Holding it out of her reach, I permitted her to scratch at my naked chest, to kick at my knees, to believe she could overthrow me. Each strike and injury threatened to shove me deep, deep into my memories. Each punch against my scars, each scream into my ears covered me in the darkness that I’d done my best to crawl out of.
Don’t push me, girl.
You won’t like what’ll happen if you do.
Locking down the blackness threatening to burst through my heart, I stayed immobile and unmoved. I didn’t flinch when she struck. I didn’t retaliate when she hurt.
I let her use up valuable energy. To drain her so there was nothing left but obedience.
Only once her fury switched to raging tears and her hits lost their ferocity did I let go of my tightly reined self-control.
If I killed her, I would do it on my terms. Not because she’d driven me to it.
“Are you done?” I grabbed her by the throat and marched her into the wall. “My turn.”
Her spine hit with a thud. Her skull followed with a clunk. Her hands wrapped around my wrist while her face shone with despair. She acknowledged I was stronger, bigger, badder. Whatever violence she’d thrown my way, I could return tenfold. Whatever curses or threats she thought she could deliver, I would grant far worse consequences.
She didn’t speak as I held her captive.
Her pulse hammered against my fingers, out of control with grief and loathing.
Silence once again throbbed between us as I shoved her harder against the wall. With our eyes locked and that unbearable tension coiling from my chest to hers, I raised my fist and threw the device she’d fought so hard to protect on the floor.
It didn’t shatter like the last one.
The glass smashed and it went scattering into a puddle, but it might still be useable. Might still have some way of summoning people to find her. Those people would take away what was mine. They’d come for her and for me.
That can never happen.
My fingers twitched around her neck, squeezing the very same column of muscle that I’d bruised when we first met.
She winced. Endless hatred flashed in her stare. Her lips parted for breath, but she didn’t beg or plead. She just dug her nails into my forearm and waited. Waited for me to kill her. To command her. To prove that I was as dead inside as I appeared.
Or waited to prove that I wouldn’t do it.
That my threat over her life wasn’t worth fearing.
I’ll show you fear, girl.
“If no one has come for you by now, then no one will. This valley has been kept secret for generations.” Running my nose along her tear-wet cheekbone, I murmured, “Know what I think? I think you’re alone and always were. I think you were stupid enough to venture into my territory without telling anyone. I think you’re dead to everyone but me.”
“No, I—” She struggled all while I squeezed a little harder. Her stubborn strength flickered. “Wait, stop.”
She blinked; her eyes went fuzzy. Her nails dug deeper into my arms as instinct made her fight. She thrashed as my hand tightened. And tightened.
She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t speak.
I shook as her pulse turned into erratic spurts beneath my thumb.
Her mouth opened, gasping, her hands stru
ggling to stay on my arm as her oxygen levels depleted.
Finish it.
The repetitive urge to end this nightmare raced down my fingers.
I didn’t want to have to deal with this shit. Sex wasn’t worth it. I wasn’t strong enough to keep my past buried and believe I could fuck a girl who had no choice but to spread her legs for me.
Do it.
I squeezed.
She fought harder, kicking, gasping.
I squeezed.
Her eyes bugged with horror then reluctantly fluttered shut.
Her knees gave out.
She slithered down the wall as I let her go.
All that fight. All that passion.
Gone.
Fuck.
The pressure in my cock transferred to my heart. It smothered my insides. It cracked my ribs. It physically fucking hurt to see her crumple on the floor unconscious.
I backed up.
What the hell did I do?
She deserved it.
She can’t be here.
You can’t be around her.
I dug ten fingers into my hair, clutching at my skull where such misery lived.
In the short time she’d been here, her spirit had tainted this place. Fables wasn’t empty before. Now it was. It grew colder the longer she lay unmoving at my feet.
My stomach clenched.
I felt sick.
Come on, breathe.
Dropping my hands, I nudged her with my bare foot. I wasn’t ready to stop playing this game. I wasn’t ready to admit that whatever she’d done to me hadn’t ended when her heart did.
Come on...
Breathe!
For a few endless moments, she remained dead. Her soul teased with the idea of leaping free and escaping me. But as I turned to grab a cup of water from the tap, to splash her with ice, her mouth wrenched wide, and she gulped air.
She coughed.
Over and over, she gasped and choked.
Rolling onto her hands and knees, she retched. Her back arched with frantic breaths, and her hair cascaded around her, leaving her looking as wild as I felt.
Relief washed through me.
What the hell was that?
Why do I care if she lives or dies?
I backed up until my spine hit the opposite wall.
I stood in silence as her body slowly calmed and her lungs gulped their fill of oxygen. Only once she stopped coughing and the blue tinge from her lips receded did she drop to her ass and touch both hands to her tender throat.
With glossy, hate-filled eyes, she glowered at me across the room. “You said...” Cough. Followed by a painful wince. “That I’d live...another...day.”
Crossing my arms, I didn’t speak.
I didn’t give her what she wanted.
She could wait forever, but she’d never hear me apologize, explain, or promise never to hurt her again. They would be lies. Whatever minor weakness I’d just felt were gone. Dead. Over.
Unfortunately, her face was now even more stunning. Her skin ghostly white, her cheeks bright red, her eyes a slash of leaf and earth. She looked touched by death and slightly unhinged because of it.
She almost looked like me.
With gritted teeth and sluggish movements, she forced herself to her feet. Swaying a little, she clutched the wall behind her and tipped her chin with anger. “You destroyed my things.”
“You’re in my home. That makes them mine. It makes everything mine. Mine to use. Mine to destroy. Mine to kill.”
Get it?
She bared her teeth like a feral cat. “If you use me, you can’t kill me.”
“Says who?”
“Says our deal!”
“A deal I’m still debating if the trade-off is worth it.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“You’re a trespasser.”
She stiffened. “How long?”
I scowled. “How long what?”
“How long must I remain your plaything?”
“Until I tire of feeding you, talking to you, fucking you.”
“I want...” Cough. “To go home.”
I shrugged. “Not my problem you ventured somewhere you weren’t wanted.”
“If I’m not wanted, then let me go.”
“And risk you bringing more people to my door?” I pushed off from the wall. “No fucking chance.” Moving toward her, another bullet of desire exploded between my legs. Her fight was back. Her tenacity filled the basement. Her hatred heated my veins.
I might not like this girl but Christ she turned me on.
“What else are you hiding from me?” I dragged my gaze down her body. “Any other knives? Phones? Implements in which to kill me?”
Spreading her arms, she hissed, “My pockets are empty, you bastard. See for yourself.”
“I think I will.” I closed the distance between us.
She didn’t flinch at my closeness. Didn’t cower.
She stood taller and met me with strength, even as my hands landed on her shoulders, cupped her breasts, then curved their way along her hips to her thighs.
Desire made me tremble but practicality kept me sane. No other weapons or telecommunications hid in her pockets. Just pure, feminine flesh.
Her nostrils flared with pure hate. “Happy?”
“I was happy before you arrived and fucked everything up.”
Her breath hitched, and once again, that damn awareness prickled us. That heat. That current. That unexplainable connection.
She made me want to press her to the ground and sink inside her. Made it impossible to ignore the urge to switch her bravery to fear.
Her tone was as cold as mine as she pushed my hands off her body and snapped, “If I’m to stay here, the least you can do is let me use a proper bathroom.”
New mottling ringed her throat, bruises upon bruises. The shadows of muscles contracted as she swallowed again, doing her best to erase the pain I’d caused. “I need a bathroom.”
I cocked my head at the bucket in the corner. “There’s your bathroom.”
“I refuse to be treated like an animal.” No shame entered her eyes. No shyness existed as she barked, “I need the bathroom. Do you understand? I don’t know how long you’ve kept me here, but my body isn’t coping. I need sunlight. I need air. I need a toilet that flushes and a shower to wash away my filth and a blanket that doesn’t make me itch until I bleed.”
Her voice slipped to a black hiss. “If you want to fuck me, you need me clean. If you want to keep playing these sick little power games, you need me strong. You need my body working. If you keep me down here, I will die. And you won’t be a part of that ending. I’ll perish slowly, messily. You’ll be stuck cleaning up the stench and the decay. Is that what you want?”
“What I want is to be left the hell alone.”
“All you have to do is open the door, and I’ll be gone. You can be alone again.”
“Alone but not safe.”
“I won’t come back. You have my word.”
“Forgive me if your word is useless.”
She sighed heavily, her fight taking its toll. Closing her eyes for a second, she inhaled hard, fighting her bruises and a cough, struggling for composure. She battled with decisions—hurt me, decapitate me, try to escape, versus accepting she could never do those things. The only way to earn an inch of compassion was to do exactly what I said.
Her chin tipped down as her shoulders forced themselves to submit instead of stiffening with rage. “I don’t even know your name.”
I crossed my arms. “My name isn’t important.”
“If you’re going to keep me, then I need something to call you by.”
“Why? I have no intention of calling you Gemma.”
“Ah-ha!” Her eyebrows shot up. “So...you were listening.” She softened, her hair dancing over her dirty shoulder. “Gem. Call me Gem and—”
“I told you. I don’t care what your name is.”
She gritted her jaw and balle
d her hands, another dose of fire appearing on her gorgeous face. “You will care. I’ll make you care.”
I bared my teeth. “Bold claim.”
“Truth.” She rubbed her bruised throat. “You force me to stay here? You force me to sleep with you? You force us to spend time together? Well, be prepared for the consequences.”
I smiled blackly. “Consequences? Is that supposed to scare me?”
“Depends what scares you.”
I balled my hands, a threatening growl escaping. “Tread carefully, girl. I’m not afraid of anything.”
Her gaze locked on mine, defying me and ripping my lie to shreds. She knew. She could tell that I’d once been so fucking afraid I’d screamed for nine hours straight. I’d cried until I’d passed out. I’d begged until blood ran down my throat.
Shut up!
Shoving those nasty memories back behind the door where they belonged, I dug my toes into the concrete and glowered at her. I waited for her to push me just a little more.
To shove me into places where she’d undoubtedly end up broken by my feet. However, she seemed to sense I balanced on a blade that would slice deep if I fell off it, and murmured, “Humans weren’t meant to live alone.”
I blinked, unsettled by her odd sentence. “What?”
“You guessed correctly about me. I am here alone. And, until you smashed my PLB, I potentially had people coming to find me.” She shrugged. “But now, I’m truly alone. I probably shouldn’t confess that to you. I definitely shouldn’t have shown you how much my phone and PLB meant to me. That was an idiotic move on my part. Unbelievably moronic. But I’m slowly learning how to navigate this. You see, I’m not like you. I’m not used to ultimatums and such black and white. I’m used to decency and kindness. I’m used to being safe and come from a world where ‘NO’ is a shield that protects you.”
“That word doesn’t exist in my world.” Shadows gathered on my thoughts, swirling with memories of how many times I’d yelled no and been hurt anyway.
She continued as if I hadn’t spoken, blurting out more sentences in a few seconds than I’d heard in eleven years. “I know I should tell you that I have friends who, at this very moment, are searching for me. I should tell you that I have a brother who will turn the globe upside down to find me—which I do, by the way. He won’t stop. I know he won’t.”
Fable of Happiness Book One Page 11