23. Briar
23
brIAR
I absently stroke Whiskey’s fur as I stare up at the ceiling.
I left the window open, hoping the ocean breeze would comfort me. Listening to the ocean waves makes me feel less alone. It lulled me to sleep yesterday, but I can’t stop the racing of my heart tonight.
It thrashes wildly in my chest, reminding me of everything wrong in my life.
My mother.
She’s still out there.
And sooner or later, she will come for me.
I don’t want to be locked in this guesthouse. I don’t want to be Dimitri’s prisoner. But anything’s better than being dragged back to my old life.
I thought I knew my mother.
I thought I knew her secrets.
But I didn’t. She never told me she had a sister. Not just any sister, a twin sister.
There’s no other explanation for it.
I saw the woman’s face. She wasn’t just a lookalike; she was an exact copy of my mother. It’s the same features I see when I look in the mirror.
And the blood.
There was so much blood.
I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping to wipe the image from my brain. It works for a moment, but my mind soon draws a parallel. It shows me something else instead—metal poles, bruises, scared eyes.
My eyes pop open.
The vision I just had felt like something from a dream. But the details were too accurate, the color was too saturated, the emotions were too visceral. What I saw wasn’t a dream...it was a memory.
I saw scared children. They were tied to metal poles in a large, open room. They shrank in fear when I approached them.
I could feel the scream rising up my throat. But like always, I stifled it.
My heart is pounding so hard that I barely hear the sound of the lock turning. There’s someone downstairs. I throw the sheets aside and carefully climb down the staircase. I hear the sound of a man’s footsteps—heavy, arrogant, comforting .
I shake my head, disgusted by my own thoughts.
“Hello?” I call out. There’s no response. I climb down the rest of the stairs. “I know you’re here. I already heard you.”
Still no response.
Goosebumps rise on my arms as I make my way through the dark. I don’t know what game he’s playing, but it sets me on edge. I pause when I smell something in the air.
Gardenias.
I turn on the lights. A vase of creamy white gardenias with dark green leaves is on the kitchen counter. The flowers weren’t here before.
And in the backyard, Dimitri stands in front of the grill. I walk toward the open French doors. The cool night breeze makes my nightgown blow to the side. Dimitri doesn’t look up at me as he places two hamburger patties on the grill.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he replies.
He looks so normal, standing out here under the starry night sky. He’s cooking on the grill like we’re playing house. Like he’s an ordinary family man, and I’m his woman. Like anything about this situation is remotely normal.
“Olga told me that you didn’t eat anything all day,” he says.
“I wasn’t hungry,” I say. “I’m still not hungry.”
My stomach rumbles loudly when I smell the grilling meat. I place my hand against my stomach, horrified at the sound it just made.
Dimitri looks up at me now. The corners of his lips twitch in an almost smile. And then he does something completely unexpected—he tilts his head up at the sky and laughs. It’s a hoarse sound that makes my knees feel weak.
Wow.
I thought I’d have a bit more time before the Stockholm syndrome kicked in.
“You loved nothing more than a good cheeseburger,” he says. “There was this diner we used to go to. Rustic Fig. We had the entire place to ourselves most nights. You said you wanted to return to that diner until you tasted everything on the menu.”
I remain quiet. I don’t remember any of it.
Whenever he speaks about us, it feels like he’s talking about someone else.
I sit on one of the patio chairs and watch him assemble the cheeseburger. He uses brie cheese, tomatoes, crisp lettuce, and onions. He places the burgers on separate plates and hands me one.
I’m hesitant to accept it.
“You watched me make it from scratch,” he says. “You know I didn’t spike it with anything.”
I glance up at him, surprised at how easily he can read my mind.
“Thank you,” I say, taking the plate from him.
He said that I had burgers before, but I don’t remember eating one. It looks delicious, though.
I take a bite. Everything inside me lights up.
He watches me with a smirk. “I’ll never get tired of this.”
“So. Good,” I say, taking another enormous bite.
My mother’s voice still plays in my head—telling me that no man likes a woman who’s too eager about food. But she seems so far away right now. With this man sitting next to me, it feels like she’ll never get to me.
All that exists is the star-filled sky, the man whose smile I find disarming, and this mouth-watering burger.
We eat in silence.
When I feel like I can’t possibly take another bite, he brings me a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
I take a small bite. There are fireworks inside my brain.
“She never let us have sugar,” I tell him.
He puts his spoon down and leans forward. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
I swallow. “If it’s about the woman from this morning, the truth is that I have no idea who she is.”
“You’ve never seen her before?” he asks.
“Not once,” I say.
He watches me for a moment.
“We had a DNA test done,” he confesses.
“Twin sister?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says.
I suck in a deep breath and push my ice cream bowl away. All of the fireworks in my brain have stopped. All that’s left now is a deafening silence. A ringing in my ears, reminding me of everything that’s wrong with my world.
“She was my aunt,” I say. A wave of sadness washes over me. “What...what was she like?”
Dimitri swallows and looks away. “She was scared. She kept repeating something over and over again.”
“What was it?” I ask.
“She kept saying that she wasn’t Jennifer,” he says.
“Jennifer?” I ask.
When I say the word out loud, it tugs on some distant memory. It’s somewhere inside my head but hiding in the shadows of my consciousness.
“Does that name ring a bell to you?” he asks.
“I can’t recall,” I say honestly. And then I ask, “What did she mean by that?”
He shrugs. “Hell if I know. I have some detectives looking into it, though. Something about this whole situation doesn’t feel right.”
I swallow, thinking about the vision I had earlier this evening.
I don’t want to confide in Dimitri, but I don’t have anybody else to talk to here. And something about being out here under the stars makes it feel okay to share my innermost thoughts with this man.
“I had a memory come back,” I whisper.
Dimitri’s eyes widen. “You did?”
“It wasn’t about you,” I say, licking my lips. “I saw this room. There were children in it. They were bound to long metal poles. And...it looked like it was at my old house.”
Dimitri studies my face and then looks away.
“It felt like a dream,” I say. “I don’t remember being there, but the image in my head was too clear. It felt real.”
“It was probably nothing,” he says.
He heads back into the kitchen with the plates. I follow him.
I stare at his silhouette, entranced by his broad back. In the short time I’ve known him, my body has become attuned to his. I can read the little shifts in his body. And from the way his muscles are bunched together right now, I can tell he’s hiding something.
“You know something, don’t you?” I ask.
“It’s late,” he says, checking his watch. “I should go. There’s still work to be done.”
The scent of fresh gardenias clouds my mind. I don’t know what takes over me, but I run to stand in front of him, blocking his path.
“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what you’re keeping from me,” I say.
He appraises me. For the first time tonight, I feel his gaze on my body. His eyes turn hooded as he takes in my curves. His gaze alone sets my skin ablaze. He looks at me like he can see straight through my nightgown.
“Or what?” he asks, stepping closer.
All I can think about is that video he showed me in the hospital. His body was on top of mine. He was thrusting inside me, making me moan and beg. I press my knees together as the fire spreads to my insides.
“Just tell me,” I sputter. “Please.”
His eyes soften. “There are some things you’re better off not knowing, princess.”
“I’ll decide that for myself,” I say, gritting my teeth. “I’m so sick of everyone making all my decisions for me.”
“You loved it when I did, though,” he says, watching me. “You loved it when I called the shots.”
I shake my head. “Stop talking about the past. I don’t remember any of that. It’s weird for me to hear.”
His jaw hardens. “Do you know why I came here tonight?”
I shrug.
“Because you’re my light even on the darkest days,” he says. “You might not remember everything we had, but you’re wrong if you think I’ll stop loving you because of that. You’ve been mine from the night we met. And that’s not changing just because you feel differently about me now.”
“Chloe told me that we broke up,” I say, looking at him. “What was the reason?”
A muscle in his jaw jumps.
His silence tells me everything I need to know. We didn’t end on good terms. Even if what we had was electric, we chose to part ways at the end.
“A nice dinner and flowers aren’t going to make me forget what you did,” I tell him.
“And what is it that you think I did?” he asks.
“You abducted me,” I say. “You took me away from my family.”
“Your family never cared about you,” he says. “Your sisters abandoned you. Your father neglected you. And your sweet mother put you in a fucking coma, for fuck’s sake.”
I feel a wave swelling inside me, growing larger and larger until I can’t ignore it anymore.
“For the first time in my life, I had a choice ,” I spit out. “But you took that away from me. You thought you knew what was best for me. You know who else did that? My mother. You can try to act like my savior all you want, but the truth is you’re no different from her.”
Something in his eyes breaks. And then it hardens.
He lunges for me, grabbing my throat and pinning me to the wall.
“You can hurl all the insults you want,” he says. “I’m not fucking going anywhere. You’re mine, and that’s that.”
“I’ll never be yours,” I say. “Never.”
“Again,” he says. “Your mouth says one thing, but your body says something else entirely.”
With horror, I realize that I’m arching into his touch. He has me pinned against the wall, but I’m arching my back, trying to rub my breasts against his hard chest.
“You just can’t help being a tease, can you?” he says. “Can’t help spreading your thighs for me, even when you say that you don’t want it.”
He grabs the back of my thigh and lifts it so it’s wrapped around him. His fingers sink into my flesh. He does the same with my other thigh, lifting me off the ground completely.
I gasp and hold his body for support. Unfortunately, that means wrapping both of my thighs tighter around him.
“This is what we’re good at, baby,” he says. “Even when everything else was chaotic, we found peace when our bodies were pressed together like this.”
I feel his hard length against my core. He’s thick, long, and pulsing with raw need.
“And it’s no different now,” he says, burying his face in my neck. “You come alive under my touch. You’re such a horny little thing for it. It’s why I have to bury my cock deep inside you every time. You don’t calm down until you have a big cock inside that tight little hole.”
“Dimitri.” I moan, letting my head fall back.
Everything is forgotten. All of my reservations, all of my doubts, all of my uncertainty leave me the second he wraps his hand around my throat.
I belong to him now.
I exist for his touch.
“Go ahead, princess,” he says. “Don’t be shy to rub that cocktease pussy all over my hard cock. I know you like pushing me to my breaking point.”
His words are crude. Offensive. But I can’t help the way my body reacts. I buck my hips against his, moaning his name.
“Touch yourself,” he orders.
I don’t think about it. I blindly follow his command. The second I touch my clit, it feels like all of me is electrified.
“I would rub it for you, but I don’t trust myself,” he says. “I turn into an animal when it comes to you. But I’m not leaving tonight without hearing your breathy moans as you come apart for me.”
He thrusts his swollen length against me, making my tits bounce. His fingers are digging into my thighs so hard, I know there’ll be bruises by tomorrow morning.
“Oh God,” I say.
“If I put my hand inside your panties now, I won’t be able to stop, princess,” he says. “I’ll shove my cock deep inside you and bounce you on top of me until I come deep inside that tight cunt. You would scratch at my back, but that will only make me want to take you harder.”
The implication of his words starts a fever inside me.
I’m burning up, and this man is the only one who can put out the flames.
“Fuck, you’re soaked all the way through,” he says. “Your wet pussy is practically begging me to give in.”
His hand travels up my body, groping my breasts and then wrapping around my neck. He tilts my head up, forcing me to meet his eyes.
“Look at me when you grind against my cock, girl,” he says. “Show me how grateful you are that I’m taking mercy on you tonight. Your pussy has my name stamped all over it, but I’m keeping my hands off it tonight.”
He crowds me harder against the wall.
We’re fusing together, becoming one. And even though all of him is touching all of me, I want more. All of my focus is zeroed in on that hot ridge plastered against my belly. I know that I’ll have the ultimate pleasure when it’s buried deep inside me.
“My hot little temptation,” he growls against my mouth. He bucks against me once again, grinding his pelvis against mine. “Come all over my big cock, princess. Make a mess all over me.”
I see blinding lights.
It feels like an explosion inside my head. It sends liquid warmth to the deepest parts of me, turning me boneless in his arms. I become his plaything as he grinds against me.
“Fuck, you look so sweet when you come,” he says.
I blink up at him.
He’s my captor. I have to keep telling myself that because I suddenly have this overwhelming urge to kiss him.
“You need to stop looking at me like that, baby,” he says. “Or I’ll end up doing something I’ll regret.”
I glance down at us. My thighs are wrapped around his middle. He’s even harder than he was before. I like the way he feels against me.
Without another word, he carries me up the stairs.
He takes me to my bedroom and lays me down on the bed. I wait for him to get in beside me, but he doesn’t.
I don’t understand why, but I need him next to me. After everything I saw today, I need a reprieve. I know it’s wrong, but I really don’t want to be alone tonight.
He glances down at me.
The words are on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t say a thing. He studies my face for a moment. Unexpressed emotions flash in his eyes as he watches me. But more than anything, I can see that he’s tired.
My heart knots over itself.
“Good night, Briar,” he says, turning away. He turns off the light and walks away.
He’s about to close the door behind him when I speak. “Dimitri?”
He turns his head to the side. His silhouette is so sharp and masculine that it makes it hard for me to breathe.
“I didn’t thank you for the flowers,” I say, wetting my lips. “They were lovely.”
His expression softens. He looks at me. “I’m glad you liked them, princess.”
He’s about to leave when I speak again.
“You...you didn’t come,” I say. My heart is thrashing so hard against my rib cage. I didn’t think that Ihad it in me to be so bold. I hold my breath as I wait for his reply.
“I’ll take care of it,” he says gruffly.
“You don’t have to,” I say.
His jaw hardens. “ Briar .”
“I can take care of you,” I say.
“And how do you plan on doing that, princess?” he says, turning around fully.
He’s been holding back with me all night. Although I appreciate that he’s trying to be gentle with me, it’s not what I need right now. It’s not enough for me that he gave me pleasure.
I want to give him pleasure, too.
I get down on my knees.
And I wait.