Edge of Obsession (SKALS #3)

by Noir, Adriana

  She pitched a package of chicken in the cart and sighed. Shopping was a mistake. He wasn’t ready to be around other people, much less a busy crowd. Somebody was going to get hurt before the day was through.

  Feeling him press against her, she glanced over her shoulder with a twinge of hope. Maybe, given a little more time, he would come back around.

  “Grab one of those,” Sebastian directed, pointing to the section of duck. “The meat is rich and fatty. It will do you some good.”

  She couldn’t help feeling skeptical. Images of Easter ducklings flickered through her mind, and she scrunched her nose. If he was trying to spur her appetite, it wasn’t working. “I’ve never had duck before, let alone made it.”

  He shrugged. “It’s very good as long as you know how to cook it properly. I will show you how.”

  “Sebby,” she started, her tone pleading. She held her tongue as his expression hardened and his piercing stare trapped her in place.

  “Is everything going to be an argument with you today, Taylor?”

  “No, sir.”

  She flushed as an older gentleman caught wind of their conversation and paused. Shooting them both a look of question, he shuffled by. The heat searing her cheeks deepened as she turned her attention back to Sebastian. His glare continued to drill into her and she stilled an apprehensive shudder.

  “I am starting to think you are trying to bait my anger, Taylor. Put it in the cart. We will finish this discussion when we get home.”

  “Sebastian, please don’t be like this.”

  “Like what, Taylor?” he asked, leaning over her. “What is it you think I am doing?”

  “You’re backing me into corners and looking for reasons to punish me.”

  His shoulders jerked with a humorless huff. “I don’t need to look, sweetheart. You are giving them to me on your own.”

  She winced when Sebastian reached up and stroked the back of her head, the tenderness belying his smoldering expression. She’d endured that gesture enough to know it was an unspoken warning of things to come, a menacing herald of pain.

  “You’ve forgotten how things work between us, Taylor,” Sebastian murmured. “It’s my fault for being so lax with you. I’ve been too forgiving and negligent in my duties to keep you on track, but I assure you that is a situation we will remedy.” He leaned over and brushed his lips across her temple before pressing them against her ear. “You are going to fall back into line, darling. I don’t care what I have to do or how much pain that takes.”

  Unable to help it, she stumbled away. Tears pricked her eyes, and she frantically scanned their surroundings in a bid for help. The rueful slant of Sebastian’s mouth warned he knew exactly what she was doing. Saying nothing, he folded his arms and reclined a hip against the meat counter. The unspoken dare burned steadily in his gaze.

  She wanted nothing more than to run. This was bad. So bad. He wasn’t himself. Whatever he’d been through was making Sebastian even more menacing and cold. Her heart hammered, and her stomach was twisting into painful knots. Asking someone to help would only be handing them a death sentence. Of that much she was certain. Her desperate gaze darted to the other end of the store. Maybe she would make it out the front doors. She might even make it out of the parking lot but, eventually, Sebastian would find her. He would use every high-tech resource available, and he wouldn’t stop until he’d found her. Her terrified brain couldn’t even bear to fathom what would happen then. One thing she did know—if he didn’t kill her, he would definitely make her wish he had.

  Seeing her shoulders slump, Sebastian arched a brow.

  “Are you finished?” he asked with a surprising measure of calm.

  Body sagging in defeat, Taylor offered a mute nod. It was pointless. There was no escape, and like always, he knew exactly what she’d been thinking. The thought made her blood run cold. She grabbed the cart to keep from sinking to her knees. Causing a scene would only make things worse. Maybe, if she was lucky, he would cool down by the time they got home. At least enough that she’d be able to sit right after a few days. As terrifying as the notion was, she had no doubt that would be quick and painless in comparison to whatever lie in store for her now.

  The rest of the shopping hadn’t taken nearly long enough. Neither had putting the contents of their overflowing cart away. Taylor found herself wishing Sebastian would stop helping several times. He was quick, proficient, and more than determined to get through the task as quickly as possible. A frigid bolt of fear zapped through her when she heard the sound of the pantry door clicking shut. He turned to face her and she knew, without being told, where to go.

  Her legs felt heavy and leaden as she made the arduous climb up the steps. She didn’t bother pausing in the sitting room. Hoping compliance would at least help shave a point or two off her punishment, she headed straight into the bedroom while Sebastian shut the heavy wooden double doors to the master suite. The strength she’d tried to cling to fled as she watched him secure the lock and approach. Her eyes darted to his, her petrified brain wondering why he would lock the doors when they were alone.

  When fumbling behind her offered no viable forms of support, Taylor sank to her knees. The gesture didn’t earn her any favors. His hands shot out and he wrenched her to her feet. She whimpered, doing her best not to cry, despite his brutal hold.

  “I warned you not to keep pushing me,” he growled.

  She slackened in his grip, unable to tear her eyes away from his numbing stare. There wasn’t just anger in those sage pools. There was hatred. The pale slits narrowed with rage, and something close to disgust crawled across his chiseled face.

  “You enjoy this don’t you?” he asked, cocking his head.

  “No, Sebastian. I swear. Stop…please just calm down…don’t do this.”

  “After everything you’ve done today?” His smile was a cruel, sadistic farce. “I don’t think so, darling. You all but begged me to punish you this morning. I should have listened to you then instead of trying to rein you back in, but I hear your message, Taylor. I hear it loud and clear.”

  The room spun when he buried his nose in the hair above her ear. She could feel him drawing her scent in, breathing it deep into his lungs. But it didn’t stop there. His other hand inched up her throat, coming to a stop just under her chin. It didn’t tighten, but its weight was heavy and sinister.

  “Are you enjoying this, sunshine?”

  She tensed against his raspy whisper.

  “Is this the side of me you wanted to see?” he murmured against her ear.

  All she managed was a mute shake of her head. He released her and she hit the floor at his feet. Sebastian shot her a hard of disapproval as he stood above her with his hands locked behind his back. Her swallow was so strained it hurt. That was why he’d locked the doors. It ensured his hands or a bullet would stop her in her tracks before she even managed to pull them open. Sebastian stared down the end of his nose, his lips quirking with an unrepentant twitch.

  “Go ahead. Try it,” he urged, tilting his head toward the doors. “Did you forget what will happen if you try to run from me, Taylor? Do you need a refresher course on that as well?”

  “No! I-I don’t want to go. I just want you, Sebastian. Not this…you.”

  “You have me, sweetheart. You will always have me. I’m the one who no longer has you. You’ve made that much perfectly clear. Whether you acted on your desire to leave or not, the thought is still there. This is something else we will work on correcting together.”

  “Can you blame me?” she choked. “Look what you’re becoming, Sebby! Look at how you’re acting. How am I supposed to feel anything but scared?”

  Tilting his head, his pale eyes narrowed even more.

  “Things have been so good between us,” she said, fighting back tears. “Don’t do this. Don’t hurt me. I’ll do better. I’ll be better. I promise…just please…”

  “I’m not interested in your promises, Taylor. Only the results. I will
find a punishment you don’t enjoy and, eventually, you will learn to stop baiting me. Now strip.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Just listen to me for one minute, Sebby, please,” she begged, holding out a staying hand.

  “I don’t negotiate, Taylor. Stop crying. You brought this on yourself.”

  “I know,” she choked, blindly dashing the tears away. “Just give it a little more time. You're not the man who loves me right now. I won’t be able to take this. This…emotionless. If you punish me now, you’ll destroy us both. You’re not you. Don't hurt me just so you can feel.”

  He stood over her for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice came in a strained rasp. “Is that what you think?” he asked. “You think hurting you makes me feel better?”

  The honesty was difficult, but she forced herself to nod and meet his eyes. The hurt and bafflement warring with the anger on his face didn’t make it any easier. “I think it gives you a release—a way to vent all the rage and hopelessness SKALS makes you feel, but I’m not a target, Sebastian. I’m the woman who loves you,” she whispered, hanging her head.

  The silence that followed broke her heart. Each second that ticked by shattered it a little more.

  “What do you want from me?” he asked. “What is it that you want me to be, Taylor?”

  The exasperation in his voice caught her off guard. She swung her tear-filled gaze back up to his and struggled to push the words past the agonizing lump in her throat. “I’m not asking for the world. I just want you to be you. I know you’re still in there somewhere, Sebby. I can feel it. I just don’t know what to say—what to do. How do I get you to come back to me?”

  Cocking his head, he spread his palms. “I’m right here.”

  “No,” Taylor whispered with a sad shake of her head. “You’re not. You’re still stuck inside SKALS headquarters somewhere. When you’re you, we’re so good together. Everything feels real and right. You’re my perfect fit. I know this is hard. I know this isn’t what they trained you to be, but I need you. Not some hollow shell. Not this cruel replacement. You. I need you to stay with me, Sebby. Please. Come home. Try to remember what we had. I know you love me, but right now when I look in your eyes, all I see is hate.”

  His lethal stare narrowed even more. The muscles along his jaw corded and clenched, as did his fists. Ice rolled through Taylor’s veins, certain she’d just provoked a much more terrifying alternative to his belt. Those hands were large, powerful, and trained to kill. Without a word, he snatched her up from the floor in a forceful yank. Certain he was about to murder her, she splayed her palms against his chest.

  Seizing both her wrists in one hand, Sebastian jerked away from her touch as if burned. That was the last straw. It was pointless. If he wouldn’t even let her touch him now, he was never coming back. There was no way to reason with him or plead. All fight fled her and Taylor blinked against the tears. Maybe it would be kinder for him to end it than to subject her to a lifetime of living like this—an existence full of torment and fear. When it came to SKALS, she couldn’t compete. It wasn’t fair to either of them for her to try.

  Lifting her chin, she peered back at him in wounded resignation. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “I understand. Do what you have to.”

  Sebastian’s lean form trembled with fury. Closing her eyes, Taylor hung her head and braced herself for the worst. It scared her to know she would have no idea what was coming, but it was easier than seeing him like this.

  She stumbled as he used his hold to jerk her across the room. A forceful shove sent her reeling. Before she could regain her balance, she tumbled onto the end of their bed in an awkward sprawl. Seconds ticked by as she shivered and held her breath, waiting. The stillness ended with a forceful slam of the doors that shook the entire house and threatened to stop her heart dead.

  Something deep inside her broke in the silence that followed. The shattered fragments of her heart fell without sound. She’d spent a lifetime yearning for love only to catch fleeting glimpses of what it could offer. It was an elusive phantom, a ghostly specter haunting the hollow corridors of hope, constantly twisting out of reach at every turn. She’d found passion with Sebastian, but their love was a razorblade dipped in poison—a dream held hostage at the edge of SKALS knife. She bit back a sob knowing, if left to Marx’s mercy, it would never survive.

  Sebastian gave his Disaronno another disheartened swirl. It was a strange and eerie feeling to know he was at a crossroads. One from which there was no turning back. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been sitting outside, but dusk was already starting to settle across the grounds. The house behind him remained quiet and still. The grounds were vacant as well. Rupert and the rest of the security team had taken one look in his direction and wisely decided to give him some much needed space.

  Taking another long draw of the sweet amaretto whiskey, he sighed. No matter how hard he tried to shake them, Taylor’s words still haunted him. He would never forget the emptiness and resignation in her eyes as she gave up. Not just on herself, but him.

  Tucking the bottle between his knees, he scrubbed his hands over his face and let his troubled gaze wander to the sky. Maybe it was better this way. Marx was growing increasingly unhappy with his relationship and performance. A fact he had made painstakingly clear over the past ten days. It had been much worse than usual. This time, the commander had made his point with intensive rounds of shock therapy and water boarding. There were times when he’d doubted he would ever get out of that room alive.

  Sebastian shuddered with the memories, his body coiling with helplessness and rage.

  It was too damn hard to keep bouncing back and forth. He’d been riding the fine line between the man he wanted to be and the one SKALS demanded for too long. The constant shifting and conflict was starting to take its toll. He couldn’t keep going on this way. As strong as he was, he didn’t know how much more fight he had left to give.

  His thoughts returned to Taylor and he tipped the bottle with a grimace. He’d never intended to fall in love with her, but that was exactly what had happened. Her laughter and innocence had wormed its way beneath his skin. They helped keep the darkness and venom at bay and, somehow, she had managed to remind him how good it felt to laugh—to feel, to live again. Part of him resented her for it. For giving him a glimpse of what life was supposed to be. The other wanted to cling to her tightly and never let those experiences go.

  Everything he’d been through—the training, the operations, the reconditioning—made it easier to work, easier to function and do what he needed to do. Sebastian took another disheartened swill. He wasn’t stupid. He could see enough to know Marx wasn’t just ripping away the last shreds of his humanity. He was ripping away his life. It would be so easy to give in. So easy to surrender. Another round or two in a reconditioning cell at that man’s hands and there would be nothing left. Nothing. It was already too damn hard to find the broken little pieces, but he was fighting it. Fighting with everything he had for one reason and one reason alone…he wanted to be worthy of Taylor.

  Shaking his head, he took another long pull off the bottle. It didn’t matter what he did. That would never happen. She was too good for someone like him. She didn’t deserve this life, let alone some of the things he had done. He knew it, and she knew it, and still she stood by him, hoping and praying that things would change. She could have shut down and just offered her body when she realized there was no way out, but she still put her heart on the line. At least until tonight.

  Sighing, Sebastian dragged a weary hand across his face as one lone question came to mind. He wanted to, but could he give her that life? Was he capable of making that change and being the kind of man she deserved? As hard as he’d been trying lately, he still failed. The past always loomed, serving as a constant reminder. One tiny misstep and Marx would snuff her light for good. He didn’t know if he could live with that. A dry snort broke the silence. It didn’t matter what he could handle. It was too late to turn b
ack now. Marx would never let her walk away. She knew too much. Taylor was as trapped in all of this as he was and, if today was any indication, he’d already done a damn good job of killing her either way.

  He pried himself out of his seat and made his way back inside. Somehow, he had the feeling he would find Taylor still waiting upstairs. His heart ached when he pushed open the bedroom doors to find her still hugging her knees to her chest in the middle of their bed. She looked so fragile and broken as she tracked his movements, her eyes empty and drained of life. Gone was the sparkle of vitality and hope he’d come to love.

  Setting the bottle on the dresser, Sebastian faced her with a grim shake of his head.

  “I am going to be completely honest with you, Taylor. I’ve spent the last few hours thinking about everything you had to say.” He trailed a slow finger along the dresser’s smooth, glossy surface. “What you fail to understand is my position. You were just supposed to be a means to an end for me. Nothing more. Just a beautiful body to use for my pleasure. Someone to do my cooking and cleaning...but love was never supposed to be a part of that deal. Men like me aren’t supposed to have families. We go to work and we rip those institutions away.”

  “But some of you manage…” she whispered, “if you try.”

  “Do we?” he asked with a dry laugh. “Take a good look around you, Taylor. My sister is a widow, and the rest of my family is dead. Those of us that have tried to build a life outside of work have failed or met an untimely grave. Where is the success in that?”

  She said nothing. A miserable tremble ran through her as she lowered her gaze and hugged her knees tighter.

  “I have given this a great amount of consideration over the past few hours, and I realized things can’t go on like this. Things have to change.”

  She nodded and he watched, tilting his head, as she worked to tug the band on her finger free.

  “Whatever you are doing, stop it right now. So help me God, Taylor, I will beat you senseless if you take off that ring.”