17. Zeiden
SEVENTEEN
zeiden
The stairwell was quiet; then again, this one always was. The building was small and kept for us. Safe rooms, apartments for us to change or crash in, depending. The building was hidden so far into shell corporations that no one knew it had any ties to the Spectors. I was good at my job. What could I say?
Good at my job or not, this place held nothing but good memories. This was our first really big buy when we knew we’d finally made it. It was the one place that we could show ourselves in any way we wanted.
And, if I were to be honest, this was where I took off the mask, and I wanted Daisy to be able to do the same.
Her touch caught my attention. Not throwing me off guard, but sending a strange thrill through me that I couldn’t have ever imagined existed. Her hand was small and warm in my own. Everything about me felt different. And the thrill of bringing her here with this asshole…
“You are following me with no questions?”
She seemed to squeeze my hand tighter, and it did something so strange to my entire body. I still doubted that I had a soul, but she was everything. Like she was the heart I was meant to have, just outside of this shell of a man. I liked the silence between us as the echo of our footsteps filled the concrete hall, every step pulling us down into my happy place.
“Following me with your fiancé draped over my shoulder?” I stole a glance down at her, and as much as I thought I couldn’t be surprised anymore, the smile dressing those beautiful lips surprised the hell out of me.
“I’m curious, prince asshole. Or can I call you my mysterious prince Zeiden? You think you’re so good at being all scary, don’t think I didn’t notice there’s more to you. If someone knows you, they could see the way your eyes sparkle like it’s Christmas morning sometimes. And aside from you between my legs, this is one of those times.”
The stairs ran out and so did our small talk, for the moment. Fuck, I had to slow my breathing. Not because I was excited about what I was about to do, but at the idea that someone had just said they watched me enough to know something about me. Something other than I’d forgotten how to be human until now.
My pause was a bit too long, but I finally released my hold on her to activate the biometric locks.
The lock clicked, and I pushed the door open.
“What is this place?” she asked but walked forward anyway as I stood aside, letting her pass. She walked in blindly, not even looking back.
I flicked the switch on the wall.
“Trusting, aren’t we?” I asked, stepping into the dim room and shutting the door.
The moment I stepped into the room though, the warmth and fuzzies of being trusted were instantly replaced by everything I hid from a world that didn’t like anyone or anything different.
The door slammed shut behind me and as I watched my little dove. She seemed perfectly content. What would it be like if she were just as twisted, just as desperate to let a repressed side of herself out?
My cock jumped at the idea.
What would it be like to see this all for the first time again? At first glance, there was a chair, but if you looked closer, there were chains attached to the ceiling. There were tarps, and if you walked toward a corner, there was a cart and sink and shelves.
At some point in the car she’d ditched the heels making her steps on the concrete floor nearly silent, and yet I knew every single move she made in here. Hunger filled every crack inside me that wasn’t already planning my next move with Mr. Corrupt Judge.
She spun on her little toes, barely making a small sound that proved she was indeed in here.
“Why wouldn’t I trust you? You’ve never been anything but honest. And…” Her voice trailed off with each step. “And something about you just feels safe. Nothing in my world has ever felt safe.”
Safe? She just called me safe? It shouldn’t have hit me like it did. Straight in the chest. Fuck if that strange little comment didn’t make me stagger a half step before I continued, finally getting the dear old judge to the single-chair setup.
And now for the fun to begin. The world fell away in here, and today was almost the same, almost. She was my ever-present little captive audience.
“Little dove? You asked what this place is. Well, welcome to my playground. It’s for any Spector in need, of course, but for me and my brothers? It was one of our first purchases. This building. Made us step into a legit business world, though with a few other perks.”
The cuffs on the chair rattled a bit as I set the body onto the wood in a deep slouch. It didn’t seem right to leave her alone in the middle of the room, not when there was fun to be had. Not when I wanted her next to me. With a glance over my shoulder, I half expected to see her shocked, frozen, or even just full of questions. Instead I clamped down one cuff onto the judge’s wrist and saw her beautiful eyes looking up at me as she reached for the cuff on the other side.
“Like this?” she asked me. The way her hands slid over the metal as she clipped them together had me growing hard.
“Yeah, dove. Like that.”
There were other restraints. Other things I could do, but this guy wouldn’t be much trouble.
I stood and held my hand out to her, pulling her into my body.
“You’re not running yet?”
I took her chin between my thumb and forefinger, tilting her face upward.
“Instant regret hit me the moment I asked you to leave. The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that’s always told me what was wrong in my life? Well, it wasn't hard for me to realize that you’re not the villain in my story. You’re my own personal hero.”
I ran my tongue over my bottom lip, thinking.
“Hero? I don’t think I've ever been called that. Demon?” I leaned in to kiss her soft lips before pulling away after a second. “Perhaps.”
The basement was quiet, for the moment. I could hear every single inhale and exhale. I could feel the way her breath whispered over my lips.
“Whatever you are, you’re mine,” she said without turning away. Her gaze locked on my own. “How long until he wakes?” she asked.
I found the strength to look away from her to the chair where his head still hung, but his chest was obviously moving.
“Hard to say. The bottles were all drugged rather heavily just in case he didn’t drink enough.”
I stilled as her hands trailed over my chest then came up to wrap around my neck.
“Would he have died?” she asked? “What if I had drunk too much from them?”
I slid my hand over my jacket toward a pocket.
“He might have, and it would have been a blessing for him. However, had you drunk from one, this vial would have countered the effects enough that you would have awoken quickly.”
Down here, there was no one and no thing that could pull away my beautiful little Daisy. I could feel every inhale as her chest expanded, and we just breathed together. Steady, even. I turned my attention back to her.
“How many other girls have you brought here?”
I quirked my brow at her.
“Never before have I ever trusted another woman to come here. So, tell me, my dark little dove, what would you do if you could do anything?”
Imagine my surprise when her body pressed closer to mine and her hand slid away from my neck down to my hard cock.
“You, Zeiden. I’d do you.”
I couldn’t stop the belly-deep laughter.
“Unexpected; however, noted. I am happy to do as my beautiful future wife wants, but I meant to the unfortunate man in that chair that dared to touch you. He won’t leave here alive, but until that final moment? Well, I didn’t say this was my playground because there was a slide.”
I took a step forward and she took one backward, moving with my body until her ass bumped into a metal table. I reached behind her and grabbed an excessively large blade, holding it up, letting it catch the bit of light.
“Now tell me, dove. What do you want to do?”
The breath she sucked in wasn’t hard to hear down here, but the way she grabbed my face and pressed her lips to mine? That made it hard not to ignore whatever the hell answer I wanted. I dropped the knife, wrapped my hands under her thighs, and lifted her, placing her on the table and pushing aside whatever was in my way as I devoured the one thing that might make this place not just my playground but my heaven.