14. Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Vincent
I can see fear in her eyes. Now that we’re in a well-lit room, I can more fully appreciate the beauty of her hazel eyes fringed by full lashes. The swelling in her black eye has gone down considerably, and there’s only a purplish bruising left.
“Are you feeling nauseous?” I ask her.
She looks at me as if it’s a trick question.
Wrapping my hand around the nape of her neck, I pull her to me. I catch a whiff of her scent, and my body responds instantly. Suppressing the sensation, I press, “Are you?”
“No,” she replies.
I want to pull her closer. I want to touch her. Even in a hospital gown she looks hot. Maybe it’s because I know what she looks like underneath that gown. But she’s not fully recovered. Stifling my desire to ravish her, I release her and say, “Then eat.”
She doesn’t move.
I set the cover down. “I think the pills you took killed off some brain cells. I can just shove the food down your throat if you want. Would you get off on that?”
She looks down at the tray. “There are no utensils.”
“You think I’d let them give you a fork so you can stab me in the eye with it?”
“So I’m supposed to eat with my hands?”
“If you want to be all prim and proper with a fork, I can feed you with one.”
It’s clear that idea revolts her. She picks up a piece of potato and places it in her mouth. I watch her chew and swallow.
Even her eating is turning me on. Fuck me.
I let her know, “If you’re having thoughts of starving yourself to death, remember you don’t have my permission to die. Any and all attempts will fail, and you won’t like the punishment that follows.”
“I wasn’t trying to kill myself this time. I took those pills because I didn’t want your bastard growing inside of me.”
As soon as the words leave her mouth, she looks as if she wished she hadn’t spoken. She just revealed to me how much she detests that prospect and knows I’ll use it against her.
Instead of rubbing it in, I pull out the dining chair. “Sit down and eat some more.”
She hesitates, and I almost have to admire how much she loathes me. Even with her life in my hands—though I guess she doesn’t value her life much at the moment, but I can make her life a living hell—she doesn’t want to do anything that might faintly please me. I can’t help but think she would be an incredibly successful woman with the amount of verve she puts into hating me.
She sits down and takes another piece of potato. I take the chair opposite her and watch her chew slowly.
After swallowing, she asks, “So did you, like, throw the crew overboard because one idiot decided to give me some abortion pills in exchange for a blowjob?”
She tries to sound disinterested, but I know more than she thinks. I reply, “Maybe.”
Her eyes are downcast, but I notice she pauses ever so briefly while picking up another piece of potato. I consider how her fears for her accomplice’s well-being might affect her.
“Or maybe I let them go,” I add.
Instantly she looks up at me, then catches herself. “You’re not nice enough to do something like that.”
“I’m not? How do you think I have the unwavering loyalty of people like Misty, the doctor, and others in the triad?”
“Because they fear you.”
“Fear is not the best way to lead. As soon as they face a bigger fear, they’ll turn on you. I earned their loyalty through trust and by rewarding them, not scaring them. In short, I’m ‘nice.’”
She looks at me with skepticism.
“To my enemies, however,” I continue, and stare hard into her eyes, “to people who try to put a bullet through my head, I’m not nice.”
“You’re more than ‘not nice.’”
My headache stabs at me. When the pain recedes, I say, “I’m being nice to you at the moment, aren’t I? But you don’t seem very appreciative. Did you like your previous treatment better?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Why are you treating me better? Are you planning to sell me to some pimp and need to fix up my bruises first?”
Not quite ready to stop being an asshole to her, I smile. “Something like that.”
She sucks in her breath.
“Not pleased?” I ask. “I’m surprised that you would rather be with me. I’m flattered, pet.”
Her cheeks flush. She pushes the tray away. “I lost my appetite.”
“That’s fine. You’ll eat sooner or later, or it’s back to being harnessed to the bed so we can stick a feeding tube in you.”
“This type of food is too heavy for me.”
“What do you prefer?”
“Soups, wraps, sushi.”
“What about pastas, risottos, a nice osso buco?”
“Just because I’m Italian doesn’t mean I like Italian foods best.”
“Your madre or nonna didn’t have a pasta sauce to die for?”
“Well…I did really like my nonna’s pasta sauce.”
“What was her sauce like?”
She regards me carefully. “Why are you asking?”
I prompt her, “Don’t make me repeat myself unless—”
“It was tomato based,” she answers, “lots of herbs, a sprinkling of chili flakes, some vegetables. I liked it topped with a little bit of Pecorino Romano.”
“Sounds like you’re Southern Italian.”
She doesn’t like that I fished for information and caught something .
Pushing herself up from the table, she says, “I need to use the bathroom.”
I can’t help but think she just wants to get away from me. But after a few steps, she stumbles, catching herself on the table. On my feet in an instant, I hold her elbow to steady her. She shirks from me but starts to fall backward. I grab her around the waist and, sweeping her into my arms, carry her to the bathroom.
After I set her down, she says curtly, “I don’t need to use the bathroom anymore.”
“I’m not going to do anything to you,” I assure her.
She looks at me warily. “I don’t believe you.”
“I may be an asshole—”
“That’s an understatement,” she murmurs.
After all that I’ve done to her, and given how I don’t even need a reason to punish her, she still has the gall or idiocy to be sassy with me?
I grab her around throat and bring her near me. Her fingers pry uselessly at my grip.
“Just what am I?” I ask.
“Evil incarnate.”
She’s not really my type. I prefer a softer bone structure, but she’s not unattractive. And there’s something about her that ignites my blood. I want to consume all there is of her. I want to start by smothering her mouth with mine. But I just told her I wouldn’t do anything to her.
I release her. “Even people who are evil incarnate can keep their word. I would make a poor head dragon if people couldn’t rely on my promises.”
“What are you doing?” she asks when I step to a control panel and program the bathtub to fill with water, selecting a comfortable target of eighty-eight degrees.
“You’re taking a bath,” I inform her.
She looks a little dumbfounded, then the wheels start turning as she tries to figure out my true motivations.
“When am I getting sold?” she inquires.
Should I tell her the truth? That I don’t have a buyer for her? That, despite the awful scenarios I painted, I have no intention of selling her to anyone? But maybe it would make her feel better to know that she won’t forever be in my possession.
“Just take the damn bath,” I reply.
Seeing some bath bombs in a glass bowl, I toss one into the tub. Not exactly sure what they do, but women seem to like this stuff.
“Are you…staying here?” she asks.
I turn to her. “I’ve already seen all there is to see of you, pet. Felt it, too.”
The scent of roses has filled the bathroom. The tub is done filling with water.
“You said you weren’t going to do anything to me. Watching is doing something,” she points out.
“Someone has to make sure you don’t attempt anything.”
“You think I’m going to kill myself by jamming a toothbrush down my throat or something?”
I glance around the room to make sure nothing has been missed. There’s nothing sharp. No shower rods to hang herself from.
“The door stays open,” I tell her before stepping outside. There’s a lot I could be doing instead of tending to her bath, but I want my own assessment of how she’s doing, beyond what I’m told by Suyin or the doctor.
From the corners of my eyes, I see her slip off the hospital gown and step into the bathtub. She sinks into the water up to her neck.
I pull out my phone. If I don’t distract myself, I’ll be too tempted to walk back into the bathroom. But there’s really nothing to do on my phone. Even though we own highly sophisticated encryption software, I don’t conduct business through email or messaging. So…I could check the damn weather.
Partly cloudy with twenty percent precipitation today.
I get a text from Ming confirming an acupuncture appointment for Ramona and another one for me. I don’t know that Suyin has a needle long enough to penetrate the depths of the headaches I’ve been getting.
I check tomorrow’s weather.
Cloudy with thirty-five percent precipitation.
It sounds quiet in the bathroom. Did she faint? I turn to look. Her head is above water, her eyes closed. Her arm is moving just slightly. Quietly, I walk over. By the angle of her arm, it looks like she’s washing the area between her legs.
I told her I wasn’t going to do anything to her, but that may turn out to be a lie.