Chapter 13 – Sage
I ’ve simply died and gone to heaven, meeting God aka Elias’s cock.
He fucked me all night. I lost count with how many orgasms rocked my body.
I ache… everywhere .
Every place he marked me with his teeth, sinking down to break skin on my neck, my breasts, my inner thighs.
I’ve never been bitten during sex, and I never knew how much I wanted it... needed it.
My cunt hurts most of all. The type of ache that makes me wet by moving because it reminds me of his dick pounding me over and over and over…
Elias took care of me too.
Cleaning me up and applying ointment to his bites. Chase never did that with me, not even when he wasn’t a psychopath .
I fell asleep in Elias’s arms but woke an hour later when the sun started rising. Elias’s cubicle room is encased in floor to ceiling windows, and he has black out shades, but a sliver of sun managed to peek through, right into my eye.
Plus, the man talks in his sleep. Some words were unintelligible as he jerked around. A few words I made out like, ‘No. Mom. Wake.’
He dreams about the night he found his mother dead on the living room floor.
Not a dream. A nightmare .
I carefully get out of bed, thankful he’s no longer spooning me, and rush to the bathroom to relieve myself.
I pause at the mirror, taking in my disheveled appearance.
As much as I would love to show the world the marks Elias gave me, I’ll have to cover them up before going to my parents’ for Christmas.
Except I’m not ashamed of these marks. They weren’t left in malice.
They were given with consent. For me and my pleasure.
Elias said we’d talk this morning about what I’m hiding from him, but I can’t. Not yet. Not until I can get my parents to safety.
I know I should let Elias help me, maybe even Noah, but I’m too scared. What if Chase hurts or kills them, because of me? I know they’re all tough and scary or whatever but there’s just too much at stake here.
I have to at least try and do this on my own first .
I quietly find my clothes around his bedroom floor and get dressed.
I give the peaceful bear of a man one more look, then walk out of his bedroom.
He’s going to be so pissed.
Grabbing my purse, I open the front door to his penthouse just a crack. When I’m sure the coast is clear, I step out and push the button to the elevator.
Nothing happens.
Shit. He used a card to work it last night.
“Can I help you ma’am?”
The deep voice makes me jump, and I stumble back slightly.
“Just trying to leave.” I wave my phone at the massive man dressed in a suit. “My car is here.”
“Let me get Mr. Carter.”
“No!”
The man, who towers over me by half a foot, and with muscles all over in places I didn’t know could have muscles, raises a brow.
“He’s asleep. Please, I just… need to go.”
The man purses his full lips. I’ve seen him before. He’s almost always with Elias. He must be his head bodyguard or something. He’s quite gorgeous—tall, dark, and handsome. If I were… available, I’d flirt my way out of this situation.
“Am I a prisoner here? ”
He shakes his head.
“Then you have to let me go.”
“With all due respect, ma’am—”
I swear if he calls me ma’am one more time, I’ll kick him in the nuts.
Wait… maybe I should do that.
“If I let you leave, Mr. Carter will kill me.”
“He wouldn’t,” I say, laughing. The man isn’t humored. My smile drops, and my heart races. “Would he?”
“I’ll go get him.”
Shit.
I panic and when he turns, about to open the penthouse door, I grab the vase from the foyer table and smash it over his head.
I must have hit a sweet spot because he stumbles and falls to the ground, unmoving.
“Shit. Shit. Shit. I’m sorry. Please don’t be dead.”
I check for his breath underneath his nose and sigh with relief when air hits my hand.
God, I’m a horrible person. I’d rather injure a man than talk to Elias… who probably heard the vase breaking and is going to be out here in seconds.
I search the unconscious man’s pants for a key card and whisper scream ‘yes’ when I find it in the first pocket. I tap it to the pad next to the elevator and the doors open. I rush inside and tap the card again before pressing the button for the lobby .
The doors shut, and I let out one long breath of relief.
Less than a minute later, the doors are opening. I lift my head high as if I didn’t just knock a man unconscious and start walking. The suited men in the lobby give me an odd look, but they don’t stop me. Maybe they assume if I got past beefy man number one, then I’m allowed to leave.
This sure feels like a prisoner situation.
Would Elias have let me leave? Should I have woken him up? He may be bossy, but he listens to the word no. He doesn’t force me to do anything I don’t want to.
I can’t think about that right now. I accept that I likely overreacted, and Elias is probably going to hate me.
It’s for the best.
I hop in the cab waiting out front of Elias’s luxurious building and give the driver my address.
As we’re pulling away, four security guards run out of the building. I turn in my seat and watch them stop at the curb, failing to catch me. The lead guy takes out his phone, I assume speaking to Elias.
Seconds later, my phone vibrates with a text message.
Boss
Stop running from me
I stare at the text message the entire ride back to my apartment building. He even added a crying emoji.
The big scary mafia boss sending emojis? It’s too cute .
My stomach spurs with regret. I should have woken him.
At least made up a reason to leave. A doctor’s appointment…
a lunch shift at the bar—which is somewhat true except I work tonight.
But I know Elias would have demanded he drive me or sent bodyguards with me.
And I have a feeling he’s pretty good at catching liars.
He already suspects I’m hiding stuff from him.
Because I am.
I instruct the driver to drop me off on a different street, knowing Chase or one of his goons will be waiting for me out front. By the time I woke up this morning, I had dozens of missed calls and text messages.
Where are you?
It’s morning. Time to talk.
You better not be at Carter’s, you slut!
I stopped reading them after that. I responded that I’d be home around noon, and we could talk then. I desperately need sleep before dealing with him.
I make my way inside my building through the back trash area and take two flights of stairs to my apartment. The sun is starting to rise, filtering in through the windows in my kitchen and living room. It’s enough light to see as I toss my purse on the table next to the door and slip off my shoes.
When I turn toward my living area, I scream and jump back, hitting my hip on the edge of a table and nearly falling to the ground .
“Caught in a lie, Sunshine,” Chase growls and stands.
“How the hell did you get into my apartment?”
“Why have you been ignoring my texts?”
He stalks toward me, his eyes wide and bloodshot. He looks strung the fuck out.
“I stayed at Noah’s father’s house. It wasn’t safe to talk there. We were up late so I barely got any sleep. I just wanted a few hours before we talked. I kept the wire’s power on through dinner. Didn’t you hear everything?”
He stops inches in front of me, his breath reeking, likely forgetting to brush his teeth while high on whatever drug he’s on. He clenches his teeth, his nostrils flaring.
“It stopped working shortly after you arrived.”
Oh, thank fuck. That means he didn’t hear me with Elias. He didn’t hear anything. I attempt to hide my relief with a wince.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
He also didn’t tell me the wire failed in any of the frantic texts to me.
“Did they have a jammer?” he asks.
“Wouldn’t a jammer cause my phone not to work too?”
His hand shoots out and grabs me by the throat. “Did you fuck with the wire?”
Typically, I’d be struggling for breath, but he’s too strung out and his grip is lax.
“No, of course not.”
“What. Happened?”
“I… I don’t know. Maybe your lackey put it on wrong.”
I wonder if it was because I sweated too much, and it shorted out. I won’t ask him if that’s a possibility because he might just kill me.
Chase drops his hand from my throat, mumbling something about dumbass Dante. His phone rings, and he turns away to answer it. My entire body relaxes. While he’s barking orders at whoever called, I take the wire out of my purse and set it on the table next to the door.
I cautiously watch Chase, noticing him getting angrier the longer he’s on the phone. When he hangs up, he shoves the phone in his jacket pocket and glares at me.
“We’re not done here. I’ll be back in a couple days to talk about what happened at that dinner.”
“I won’t be here. Christmas is next week, and I took time off to spend it with my parents. I leave tomorrow afternoon.”
He smiles, a smile that I once found handsome, but now sends chills down my spine.
“Then I guess we’re having a little family reunion.”
“What? No. I can just head up there after we talk.”
Chase stands there staring at me with narrowed eyes, considering my ultimatum. “Fuck no. I don’t trust you. I’ll just go with you. Don’t think about leaving early either. My men will be watching your every move.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to respond and storms out of my apartment .
Goddamn it.
My parents knew my marriage to Chase was bad, but they didn’t know it was this bad. They don’t know this new version of Chase. They knew he wasn’t a good guy, but now? They’ll want me to go to the cops. They won’t understand why I’m not.
I’m also terrible at lying to them. They’re going to know something’s wrong, especially when Chase shows up at their home for a visit—which he never did when we were together.
But I have no choice. I can’t defy Chase.
Hopefully he won’t want to stay the entire week. The moment he’s gone, I’ll figure out a way to escape his goons and take my parents somewhere safe.
“ Y ou’re not eating.”
I jump at the sound of Chase’s voice.