Freed (Bad Boy Hitman Romance)

by Terry Towers

  A wide smile spread across my lips as I looked down at the gold necklace with a heart pendant with diamond center. I also noticed a pair of diamond pear drop earrings and bracelet to match. They were all so beautiful, the light from overhead making the diamonds sparkle and gleam.

  I’d never been given beautiful things growing up, certainly nothing like these. Father always felt that people bought things like this for vanity’s sake, so we were never given such things. The only jewelry I owned was a set of pearls, pearl stud earrings, which were reserved for church and church events only, and a plain Timex watch with a black leather band.

  “They’re for me?” I looked up from the jewelry and caught his gaze, my brow furrowing. Why would he give these to me? There had to be a catch.

  “I thought I’d already said that.”

  “It’s just a little hard to grasp.”

  His smile faded to a frown. He looked like he might actually be hurt. “I don’t follow. You don’t want them?”

  “I just don’t understand why you would get them for me, that’s all. I’m confused.” I wanted to reach out and touch them, but I needed to know the strings that were attached to the beautiful gift.

  “You told me not too long ago that you’d never been on a real date. I felt, aside from trying to kill me, that you’ve coped pretty well with this situation and your being here makes me happy, so I wanted to do something for you. I thought I would do what I could to make you happy tonight. Is that wrong?”

  This whole messed-up situation is wrong, I wanted to say, but bit my tongue. Keeping me prisoner here is wrong. I said neither of those things. Instead I shook my head. “No, I’m sorry. I’ve never been given a gift like this before, I’m just taken aback. That’s all.” I smiled at him and the anxiety that seemed to have entered his eyes quickly faded and he relaxed, returning mine.

  “In that case…” He reached into the case and pulled the necklace out. Setting the case on the bed, he motioned for me to turn around. “Let me put this on you.”

  I lifted my still wet hair as he slipped the necklace around my neck, his knuckles lightly grazing my bare shoulders and sending a shiver through me. Once the necklace was clasped, he grabbed the bracelet and secured it around my wrist.

  “Pretty. Very pretty.” His eyes lowered to the pendant and then back up to meet mine. “I’ll go start dinner and leave you to get dressed.”

  “Thank you.”

  He started to walk away from me, stopped and turned back. My breath hitched in my throat as he leaned in to me. I half expected him to grab me by the throat and toss me onto the bed, or something similar, but he didn’t. Instead he grazed his knuckles along my jawline and lowered his lips to mine for a sweet, soft kiss, before straightening again and leaving without another word.

  ---

  Tanner

  I whistled as I prepared the spaghetti and salad. The smile on her face has been so sweet when I’d given her the necklace. I was glad that I’d taken the time to pick it out for her. What kind of life did she have that she wasn’t given nice things once in a while? I have to admit, my curiosity about her father and family was getting the best of me. Hearing her enter the kitchen, I placed the lid back on the pot of boiling spaghetti and turned towards her.

  “What do you think?” She gave me a timid smile and slowly turned.

  I watched her for a moment. “Beautiful.” I wished I could take her out and show her off. The dress fit her beautifully, the neckline dipping just enough into her cleavage to be enticing but not so much as to give off a whore vibe, and the skirt landed just above the knees. She’d applied some make-up – not a lot, but enough to make her eyes really stand out and gloss on her lips. “Really stunning.” Though stunning was an understatement.

  Blushing, she chewed lightly at her lower lip. “Thanks.” She tentatively approached me. “What are you cooking?”

  “Spaghetti, meatballs, thought I’d put together a Caesar salad.”

  Leaning over the saucepan, she inhaled deeply. “Smells good. How come you don’t get me to cook?”

  I frowned, feigning hurt. “You don’t care for my food?”

  “No, I just… I was wondering. I did a lot of the cooking at home.”

  “Considering how the last time you were in the kitchen with a knife turned out, I’m not sure I’m feeling too confident about you being around the knives.” A grin was forcing its way onto my lips, but I fought to keep a stern expression.

  “Tanner, I’m sorry…”

  “I’m teasing you, Emily.” I gently took her upper arms in my hands. “It’s fine. I’ve already told you, that night was a great rush to me.” I shrugged. “Besides, I deserved being stabbed.” Releasing her arms, I went back to stirring the pasta.

  “So if I stabbed you right now, you’d get off on that?”

  A burst of laughter escaped me. “Not exactly. It was the chase. The being stabbed sucked.”

  “But if you like the chase, then why would you be mad if I tried to escape now?” she asked as she leaned back against the counter.

  I stopped stirring the pasta and turned back to her. “Good question.” She cocked a brow up at me and waited for me to further explain. “I’m not sure I can explain it to you Emily. I’m not quite sure I understand it completely myself. The feelings I have for you, I’m not completely familiar with. I just know I want you with me.”

  She nodded as if she knew what I meant, though she didn’t. How could she, since I didn’t know myself? “Would you like me to set the table?”

  I looked over at the empty table and nodded. “Yeah, that would be good.” I watched as she took her time setting the table, ensuring everything was in order. This was so strange, but nice. This was the first time since my parents died that I’d actually had my kitchen table set and was about to eat there with a woman. It was such a common practice to a normal person, but to me it was a foreign experience.

  Sensing my eyes on her, she finished setting the table and turned to return my stare. “Is everything all right?” she asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

  ***

  Emily

  “Can we go for a walk outside before we sit down to watch a movie?” I looked longingly out the kitchen window into the night. It looked beautiful out, the sky clear.

  “It’s your night. Whatever you want, love.”

  We got to the front door and I stopped, chewing my lower lip between my teeth, looking down.

  “What’s wrong?”

  My brow creased as I looked at my bare feet. “Ummm, shoes.”

  Opening the foyer closet, he stepped aside and motioned inside. “Take your pick. I got your size from the shoes you were wearing when you arrived and picked some things up for you the other day. Since you’re going to stay here, I assumed you’d need them. There’s a half dozen or so pairs to choose from.”

  Sure enough there was a variety of shoes in my size from sneakers to sandals. I picked a pair of beige flat sandals from the pile and didn’t miss the fact that they said Prada and slipped them on. I really had no idea how much something with the name Prada cost, but knew it was a lot. It was confusing to me. Why would he buy me such things? I would have been happy with Wal-mart brands. Heck most of my wardrobe was hand-me-downs. Something new from Wal-mart had always been considered a luxury.

  “What’s the problem?”

  Shrugging, I forced my eyes up from my beautiful new shoes, not sure how to respond. I really didn’t know what the problem was, I mean, I knew to a certain extent, but I was so confused. “Why buy me these nice things? If I’m just some slave to you, why give me such nice, expensive things? Is this another game you’re playing with me?”

  He captured my chin in his hand and forced my eyes up to meet his. I was expecting to see the hard anger in his eyes that I’d seen many times before, but that wasn’t the case this time. This time I saw a sliver of compassion. “Emily, I bought you these things because I thought they’d make you happy. My intention isn’t to make your
life so miserable that it isn’t worth living. Yes, I do put my interests first and always will. You’re mine, and what I want from you I’ll take when I want it. And yes, seeing your family will never happen – that part of your life is over – but this new chapter in your life doesn’t have to be miserable.”

  Opening the door, he took my hand and led me out and onto the porch. The night was stunning. The dogs began barking from their kennel behind the house. “So, where to first?”

  Over to my right I noticed a large white gazebo, soft white lights illuminating it. Seemed a little romantic for a man who didn’t believe in such things. I pointed to the gazebo and gave his hand a tug, heading towards it. For a brief while I’d questioned if I’d ever see the moon and stars again. It’s funny how something as everyday as seeing the moon and stars can seem like a miracle when you’ve spent days questioning if you’d ever see them again.

  ***

  Tanner

  “Okay. Spill. What’s bothering you?” Her mood was so up and down I was having a hard time keeping up. I supposed it was my fault she was like this, but it was still as frustrating as hell. She looked down at our hands, fingers still laced together as we remained seated in the gazebo.

  She chewed at her lower lip and looked up to meet my gaze, uncertainty in her eyes. “I’m just… I’m worried about Victoria.”

  I bit back a string of curses. Fuck, I’d finally gotten rid of her and she was still haunting us. Fuck and double fuck. I forced myself to keep my temper in check. “What do you mean by worried?”

  She shrugged. “Are they going to hurt her?”

  With a sigh, I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. I’d told her this was her night. If she wanted to waste it focusing on Victoria, well, whatever. Let her waste it. “I didn’t sell Victoria to the highest bidder.”

  Cocking her head to the side, she eyed me, her gaze displaying her confusion. “Why not?”

  “I didn’t sell her to the highest bidder for you. I know the reputations of the men who were at auction, most of whom have been my business associates for many years. The highest bidder has a tendency to be hard on his slaves, some would say sadistic. I chose who I’d sell her to. It was actually the fourth highest bidder, who I might had add paid a significantly lower amount then the highest, but I sold her to him because he treats his girls well. I assure you, Victoria is going to have a decent life with him. Much better then she had before I took her, I can promise you that. She won’t be free, but she’ll be cared for.”

  She stared at me for a moment, but finally, thankfully, she smiled. She didn’t wait for my response. Leaning in to me she placed a soft, delicate kiss on my cheek. “Thank you, Tanner.”

  It wasn’t often I received tenderness like I’d just encountered from her. If I were to be completely honest with myself, it was the first time since my parents had passed. I wasn’t sure what to think. Her gesture wasn’t that of a mindless drone that I’d created, but of her free will, despite knowing what I was and what I’d done to her. I really wasn’t sure what to make of it.

  She stood. “Can we go see the dogs now?”

  “Yeah.”

  Chapter 17

  Emily

  Snuggled tight to his side with his arm lazily draped over my shoulder and the bowl of popcorn on my lap, I watched Tanner out of the corner of my eyes, off and on, throughout the movie. We were watching How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. It was a cute movie, but Tanner’s presence next to me was keeping me more than a little distracted.

  He’d followed through with his word and this night, up until this point, had been a night fulfilling my wishes. He’d played the role of dutiful and caring boyfriend perfectly, making me realize that what he’d said a while back was true. He could morph himself into anything or anyone he wanted seamlessly. Had I not seen with my own eyes what he really was and what he was capable of, I’d never have believed it.

  “What?” His eyes shifted from the massive flat screen television mounted on the wall to me.

  I didn’t answer, only stared up into his dark eyes.

  “Don’t feed me the nothing line. I’ve been enduring this movie because you wanted to watch it, but instead of watching it you’ve spend the last hour periodically staring at me. It’s apparent you have something on your pretty little mind, so spill it. Beating around the bush with me is just a waste, you realize this, right?”

  After a moment’s hesitation, I nodded. “How can you be like this?”

  He gave me a peculiar look, his brow furrowing. “I don’t follow.”

  “Tonight you’ve acted as if we were just a normal couple. Is it hard for you being like this? Or is it just something you can switch on and off?”

  “Ahhh, you want to play doctor-patient again, that it?”

  Placing the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table I turned to face him and nodded. “Something like that. I’m just trying to understand.”

  He took a deep breath in and slowly released it. “All right. I guess I can explain it to you this way. It’s mentally exhausting to act like this. But I gave you my word you could have a normal date night, so I’m enduring.”

  “What do you mean by that? By it being exhausting.”

  “This might not be the best analogy, but let me put it to you this way. Have you ever had an itch you’re dying to scratch but can’t seem to get any relief from? One so bad that if you don’t get relief soon you’ll go insane?”

  I crinkled my nose up at him, attempting to decipher his response. “I suppose.”

  “When I act freely and without pretending to be something I’m not, there’s no nagging at the back of my mind, there’s relief. But when I’m acting,” he motioned air quotes, “‘normal’, then it’s like an itch in the back of my brain that gets worse and worse until I can no longer play the game or put on airs.”

  “Oh.”

  “If I were to be completely honest, a part of me is hoping that with you I’ll find some peace. You’re mine and you know what I am so I don’t have to pretend. It calms me. Putting me into a ‘normal’ family to pretend to be something I’m not would be the equivalent of caging a tiger. Sure I could play nice for a while, years even, but eventually my true nature would break free. It’s as inevitable as the tide.”

  “But your father…” I loved it in the brief instances where I was allowed to peel back the layers of him in an attempt to get a grasp of how he worked. I was starting to see why his mother had used him as her own personal science project. His thoughts and way of thinking were fascinating. Although to be fair I suppose that could be said about me. But I know I was a product of my environment, of years of carefully planned and executed manipulation by my father., He wasn’t.

  “My father had more control over himself than I do. My father was able to direct his tendencies and be satisfied with mental manipulation and the victory of financially destroying families. That was how he got the rush to satisfy his urges. My preferences are more hands-on. For me, it’s the one-on-one mental and physical challenge.

  “So when I ran a few days ago and tried to stab you…that’s why it was fun for you? It fed that need?”

  Giving me a sheepish smile, he nodded.

  The wheels began to turn in my head. I’d lost count of the amount of times he’d warned me not to try to run, but those words were in direct conflict with what he wanted from me. Perhaps if I played out the scene with him from time to time and gave him that rush it would sate him? It had worked the first time, although that hadn’t been intentional. But if I played the role, then perhaps I could make this work. He’d been so pleased with me that night after I’d cut him, satisfied. To use his words, the itch had been scratched.

  I nodded to myself. Yes. I was beginning to understand. His words, everything he’d said to me up until that point was beginning to make sense. I needed to periodically feed the beast before it became too much and he imploded. I thought I could do that. It wasn’t like I had a choice, but the understanding could help me deal with this – w
ith him.

  “Emily?” Using the arm he’d had across my shoulders, he raked his fingers through my hair, the soft tugs from the strands sending sweet shivers through me. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself the luxury of savouring the delicious pull and his rare tender touch.

  Slowly, I reopened my eyes and met his stare, and I saw what I’d seen in him the first night we met. He was so damned sexy as his dark eyes drank in every inch of me. Maybe it was the wine I’d consumed throughout the evening that was making my body begin to crave his; I hadn’t drank a lot, but enough to help me forget the previous three weeks of agony and focus on this moment. Tanner lived in the moment – maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea. Maybe in order to lead a somewhat happy life that was what I needed to do as well?

  “I have a question.”

  “All right.” He raked his fingers through my hair again. I had to force myself to keep my focus on him and not the delicious feeling.

  “This is my night, my date night, right?”

  “Yeeeesss.” He eyed me with curiosity now, his brow creasing ever so slightly.

  “Then I was thinking…” I could feel a blush colouring my cheeks and I averted my gaze, looking down at my hands placed on my lap. I could only imagine the shock on his face when I said what I was thinking – I hardly believed it myself.

  “Well, come on.” He released the strands of my hair and braced his head on his hand, patiently waiting, a sexy smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

  Taking a deep breath in and slowly releasing it, gathering my courage, I forced myself to look at him. “I’d like to have sex.”

  His expression went blank as his mouth dropped open. If nothing else, I’d managed to shock him, not an easy feat. Had I not been so nervous I might have found his expression comical.

  “Have sex?” Quickly regaining his composure, he cocked a brow up at me, his grin slowly returning.