Chapter 8 Grace
GRACE
“Ilike it when you put up a fight, Gracie,” Dmitri snarls at me. I’m tied to a bed, there’s nowhere for me to go.
“It doesn’t seem like a fair fight, does it?” I sneer as I pull against the restraints, which makes him laugh.
“True, but I like you this way. To do with as I please.” The look in
his eyes is murderous.
There’s no escape.
“Now, I need you to be a good girl for me tonight. Do Dmitri proud. Show them a good time like you do for me. If you are good, I’ll reward you.”
“There’s no reward you could give me that would make me do what you want me to do.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Really? Not even letting you stay the night with your sister?”
I freeze. I miss Zoe. I need her strength. I need her. I can’t keep living in this nightmare.
Dmitri chuckles. “See, I knew there would be something. Now, behave and be a good little jewel.” Then he opens the door, and I scream.
“Get off me!” I scream, pushing against the strong arms wrapped around me. I punch and scratch at them. I won’t do it. I won’t go and fuck those men.
“I’m trying to help you, Grace,” a deep, familiar voice yells at me.
But I’m too far gone in my nightmare to pull myself out. My instincts have taken over as I try and scramble from the danger.
“Please, don’t touch me, not again, please.”
“I would never touch you. I told you that, Grace. I made a promise, and I’m going to keep it. You’re safe. I’ve promised to protect you from these monsters. You will never have to fear them again.”
That familiar voices words still me. I blink once, twice, and the dark fog surrounding my vision seems to lift. Maxim is standing before me, his chest bloodied from my nails. I’m huddled in a corner of the bed as far away from him as I can be.
“I thought ...” I start trying to explain myself, but the way he is looking at me with such sadness and pity behind those black eyes embarrasses me. I burst into tears as my emotions are still running high after my nightmare.
“Hey, Wildcat,” he says as the bed dips near me and he pulls me into his strong arms. “I promise I will never touch you like that.”
I look at him through tear-soaked lashes, my tension slowly releasing.
There’s something about the way he’s looking at me, something in the tone of his voice that makes me believe him.
He’s still the enemy, but ... I trust his words.
He sat with me while I detoxed, he fed me a beautiful dinner, he held me as I broke down after trying to hurt myself, and here he is again, helping me.
He tightens his arm around my shoulders, and I sink in against his hard body, enjoying the first bit of affection from another man in a long time.
I was jealous of the way Mateo and Tomas would scoop Zoe up into their arms when she had a moment.
They would give me hugs, but it wasn’t the same.
There was a fleeting fling with Enrique, but once I was back, he didn’t know how to be around me.
I felt like he thought I was tainted after being violated, so whatever was once there was gone.
But Maxim’s arms wrapped around me feels right, and I’m not going to overthink this because I need it. I’m ashamed of myself for craving his attention, but deep down in my soul, I need five minutes of someone telling me they’ve got me. That I’m not alone.
“Thank you,” I whisper, embarrassed over how long I soaked up the feeling of being in his arms.
Maxim looks down at me and gives me a warm smile before reaching out and pushing the hair away from my face. “It’s my pleasure.”
A flutter tickles my stomach over his kindness. It’s not fair that he’s this handsome when he’s such a bad guy.
But is he really that bad?
Oh, come on, his job is killing people for a price.
They are bad people, too. Maybe he’s doing a service to society.
You want to get laid, and in that pursuit, you are ignoring huge red flags.
He could kill Dmitri. He would be the only person with the skills and connections.
Doesn’t he work for Dmitri? Shit. Yeah, he’s not coming to my aid.
We sit in silence for a while neither one of us daring to talk to break this moment between us.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Maxim asks.
I shake my head. What is there to say? He doesn’t push me any further, which I appreciate.
We fall into another round of silence until it’s me this time breaking it.
“Maxim,” I say his name, looking up at him.
“Yes, Grace?”
I bite my bottom lip because what I’m about to ask is crazy and a bad idea, but for the first time since all this has happened, I’ve felt safe. I’m afraid when I close my eyes again tonight Dmitri will visit me.
“Can you stay with me tonight?” The words tumble out of my mouth quickly.
Maxim stiffens beside me.
See, I knew it. Stupid of me to ask, what the hell was I thinking. This man is my fucking kidnapper.
“Grace …”
I jump out of his arms and shuffle away from him on the bed. “It’s okay, Maxim. It was a stupid idea. I was having a moment, and the words came out before my brain had a chance to catch up with them. Ignore me. Thank you for checking in on me. I bid you a good night.”
Maxim’s brows pinch together. “It wasn’t a stupid idea.”
Oh. That’s not at all what I thought he was going to say.
“Are you sure you want me here, beside you, all night?” he asks, looking at the space between the two of us.
“Yes. It might help keep the nightmares away. I trust you. That’s probably a stupid thing to tell you, but I do for some strange reason.” The word vomit continues to fall from my mouth.
He gives me a smile. “I like that you trust me, Grace. Especially as I’m the bad guy here.”
A yawn surprises me, and I cover my mouth with my hand. I know I should be worried about his words, but I’m too exhausted to care anymore. Give me one night of peace, and I can worry about how fucked up this all is tomorrow.
“You’re safe with me now. I promise nothing will harm you ever again, even me.”
Oh.
Not sure how to interpret that, but I think that’s his way of saying I’m safe for the moment and I guess that’s all I can ask for, for tonight.
I lean forward and do the second stupidest thing tonight … I kiss his cheek. The prickles of his five o’clock shadow tickle my lips. The quick inhale of his breath as my lips connect with his skin tells me how surprised he is by this gesture.
“Don’t think it means anything other than a thank you,” I tell him.
Which makes him chuckle. “Go to sleep, Grace.”
Laying down on my side, I wriggle down into the bed and close my eyes.
The bed dips and moves as Maxim readies himself for bed.
I don’t dare turn around to see what he’s doing.
He then settles back into bed, stays apart from me for a moment, and then curses something in Russian and rolls over.
His large hand lands on my hip, and strong fingers dig into his t-shirt that I’m wearing to bed as he pulls me to his chest. I can feel every single muscle through the fabric against my back.
Once he has me in a position he likes, his hand moves from my hip and pulls up the blanket to just under my chest, where he leaves his hand, gripping the blanket into a hard fist as if he is stopping himself from touching me.
We stay like that in the silent darkness of my bedroom. Can he hear my heart beating uncontrollably in my chest? I open his fisted hand and let it rest against my breast.
“Grace,” he says my name with a groan as his body becomes as stiff as a board.
“Don’t think anything of it. Your fist was digging into my chest, and I can’t sleep all night like that.”
“I promised I wouldn’t touch you,” he whispers against my ear.
“And you haven’t. I’m the one who moved your hand
there. It’s just comfort, nothing more.”
He lets out a heavy sigh.
Then I wriggle against him trying to get comfortable. Now I can feel something else digging into me.
Maxim swallows a couple of times loudly but doesn’t move either.
We both know there’s an elephant in the room, or should I say in his pants.
“Sorry about that ... I swear it will go down in a minute.”
“It’s fine. It means nothing. I know it’s not because of me.”
Another groan comes from him and a couple more curses in Russian. “It’s been a long day. We need to get some sleep,” he says.
And we do, and for the first time since I don’t remember when, I have a restful night.
The sun is blazing through the windows, and I hear birds singing.
Did I dream that Maxim was in my bed? I turn over and notice the other side empty, maybe it was a dream.
Then I lean over and smell the sheets. They most definitely smell like him.
I bury my nose further into them, inhaling his musky scent like some lust-filled groupie.
I roll onto my back and shake my head. What’s happening to me?
The man is a killer and eventually he’s going to kill me.
I’m losing my mind that must be the reason.
The smell of bacon cooking filters through to my room and my stomach rumbles.
Today is a new day, I feel rejuvenated from my nightmare-less sleep.
There are loads I need to discuss with Maxim, but first, bacon.
I rush into the bathroom, relieve myself, and head out into the corridor following the bacon trail.
I end up back downstairs and check in on the dining room first. No one is there, but the smell is close.
I push through a door next to the dining room and end up in the kitchen.