Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CARA
T he forest clearing has an ominous feel about it without the sun shining overhead.
The whipping sound of the swaying Himalayan lilies in the distance to my right.
I nudge a few loose rocks with my foot, watching them scatter across the dirt path marking the start of the winding trail.
The further my eyes trace the descent, the denser the foliage becomes, swallowed by the deep, inky shadows of the surrounding trees.
Stepping forward, I lean against the dilapidated wooden gate just as a sensor light flickers on above me.
The harsh autumn breeze bites at my skin.
Instant regret that I forgot to cover up before heading out here, I rub at my bare arms, hoping the friction will incite the warmth I need to stop my teeth from chattering.
The light above does little to cut through the darkness, like I’m alone on a stage, my audience vanishing into the void the longer I stand here.
I glance back at Blackwood—stoic, dimly lit, ominous.
For the first time since arriving, even while cold and slightly creeped out, I feel like I can finally breathe.
My lungs expand greedily, and I drink in the crisp night air with a wide-mouthed inhale.
The crinkle of Ezra’s note between my leather glove bound fingers as I reread his instructions brings me some comfort, but the quiet of the great outdoors also allows my brain to second guess my choice to meet him out here—alone—where no one would be able to hear me scream.
You’d happily scream for him.
A shuffling in the distance ahead of me makes me edge back, every muscle coiled, ready to bolt if needed. Ezra may be dangerous—no one gets the nickname ‘the beast’ on a whim—but at least I can seem to reason with him. Whatever else lurks out there in the dark—not so much.
The sensor light fizzles out with a pop, unease skittering up my spine as I chew nervously on my bottom lip. I contemplate running, but my gut is the decider, and I stay where I am.
A warmth at my back alerts me to his arrival.
I don’t need to look behind me to know it’s him.
His towering frame shields me from the brutal wind, his familiar cedarwood scent mingling with his natural musk that curls around me protectively.
I fidget with the buckles on the gloves he made me, fingers desperate to rake through his hair as I hold him to me.
The pregnant pause stretching out between us should be uncomfortable for how long we stand like this, staring out into the abyss as our bodies reconnect on another level.
But this close, the air between us hums, charged with an energy that caresses my skin like a length of the finest silk.
“Cara. Beautiful, unassuming, naive, Cara.” I don’t correct his assumption of me because it’s the persona I’ve worked hard to adopt.
You don’t survive the life I have without a little theatrics.
“Your…” he pauses, dipping to run his nose through my hair, “proclivities…” He grins wickedly.
I don’t need to turn and see the twist of his lips for myself; its presence is heavily implied in his tone.
“They run a little darker than you let the world see, don’t they, sweetheart? ”
It’s impossible to disguise the hitch in my stuttered breath as desire snaps low in my belly like a tautly pulled rubber band stretched to its limit.
Unable to form the words I need, I opt for a head nod in agreement.
I don’t know if I can trust anything that comes out of my mouth where he is concerned.
I’d have sold my soul to the devil the moment we met if he asked it of me.
This should scare me, being inextricably entombed within my own mind by a man I know nothing about, but I can’t reason with the part of me that longs so deeply for Ezra Wolfe—a part that doesn’t question what it might mean to have him own her so completely.
Heavy panting breaths, puffs of white expelled from my shaking lips, I lean back into him, his finger tracing the line of buttons on my dress down my centre. I’m no longer affected by the cold but rather his proximity.
“I have spent every night wondering what it might feel like, burying myself inside you, bruising your flushed skin with a brutal grip. Once I have you, Cara, there’s no going back.”
I want to slap myself as all I can muster in response is another feeble nod of my head. Everything about this man cripples my senses.
“Just by coming out here, you’ve agreed to my rules, so now we get to play. I’m going to give you a ten-second head start before I hunt you down.” His gravelly voice is resolute, my belly jostling at the idea of him giving me what I want and stalking me through the forest like a defenceless animal.
“And then?” I stutter, finally finding my voice.
He laughs gruffly, a jolt coursing up my spine as a shudder rocks my body.
Swaying on my feet, Ezra leans in, his arm winding around my waist to hold me to him, his lips inches from my ear.
“And then I will tie you up and tongue fuck you to the point you’re begging me for more.
” The curve of his slick smile ghosts over my neck, and my core throbs accordingly when he adds, “And rest assured—you will beg, sweetheart.”
Anticipation of what his mouth on me again might feel like has my nervous system frazzled; the thought of being so entirely owned by this man without the block of pills has me wet between my thighs and more than ready to play his game.
Trussed up and at his mercy, I’ve had worse nights.
“Lost for words there, Red?” he chuckles darkly, hitching up the hem of my dress as his fingers dig into my skin.
His chest heaves at my back as his grip around the fabric tightens, his fingers drawing invisible swirls on my inner thigh teasingly.
A lusty whimper tumbles from my lips at the contact.
“You certainly are sure of yourself, aren’t you?” I remark, managing for now to hide the tremble in my voice as the brat in me resurfaces.
“Be careful sassing me, sweetheart. I won’t hesitate to adjust your attitude while buried to the hilt inside that tasty pussy of yours.
How chatty do you think you’ll be when I’m holding you down by your throat as I fill you up?
” His voice is barely above a whisper as his full lower lip caresses the shell of my ear.
“I…I…” The single stuttered word feels too heavy for my mouth as I imagine what that scenario might look like, feel like.
I’d only need him to pinch my clit once, and I’m sure I’d come here and now with very little effort.
I’m wired and ready to explode. I’m well aware he likely knows exactly what he’s doing to me when his hand firmly cups me between my legs and squeezes.
The pressure only increasing the throb of neediness at my core.
My eyelids involuntarily flutter closed as my back bows, his even breaths warming my cheek as he tightens his arm around me.
“I own this and don’t you forget it. Now run, Red.” His command leaves no room for misinterpretation as he steps away and releases me.
My eyes snap open, and I take off like a whippet.
My boot heels sink into the wet mud between jagged rocks the further I get down the incline.
I glance back, but Ezra isn’t where I left him—he’s gone.
No lights reach this far down the hill. When I stop to catch my breath, I tip my head back, but the sky is nothing but a tangle of branches, limb-like fingers and rustling leaves blocking out any starlight that might be trying to creep through.
At the fork in the road, the rational part of my brain votes left—denser forest, more places to hide, a real Bear Grylls’ experience.
The reckless part? It cracks a joke about a missed opportunity for an actual fork sticking out of the ground.
This side of my brain should never be left unattended because while I’m picturing the irony of an oversized dinner fork holding a sign, Ezra is probably already circling me, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce.
Sure, the idea of him hunting me down, pinning me against a fallen tree, and fucking me until I see stars of my own has me thrumming with anticipation, but I’m not about to make this easy for him.
To the right we go.
Off the trail, tucked away in the distance is a fenced off building.
The Blackwood brochures depicted it as a stunning leisure centre used by the patients back in the day.
To look at it now with its crumbling brickwork, overgrown garden, and weatherworn patio, I’d bet it hasn’t seen life in years.
I’m sure there would be somewhere for me to hide in there.
I want Ezra’s punishment, but my competitiveness to win and outsmart him is too strong to contend with right now.
I’m equally turned on by his promise to fuck me as I am by the thought of pushing him to the brink as he searches for me.
Bating the psychopath—this feels like the beginning of one of those bad choices we discussed earlier.
Shimmying under a broken section of the chicken wire fencing, I run through the long weeds, happy to see the padlock on the entrance dangling unlocked.
I’m not usually this impulsive; back home with Suzy, I would suggest we consult my cards before stepping into the old abandoned unit that looks like the serial killer’s hideout in some eighty’s teen horror flick.
You’ve committed to it now, might as well see what’s inside.
Creeping through a foyer that has seen better days, I can’t help but chuckle at the inspirational posters that slightly miss the mark—the staple ‘Hang in there, baby’ with the distraught teary-eyed kitten hangs in a broken frame behind the counter littered with crispy leaves and scrunched up newspapers.
Venturing further down into the building, I step carefully, the trepidation at my earlier choice to throw caution to the wind behind me.
We’ve made our bed, Cara; let’s lie in it.
“Preferably with the sinfully handsome beast hot on our heels to keep us warm,” I whisper to no one as I push through a door that opens up into a long hallway.
On tiptoes, I peer into the porthole windows of doors that line the walls either side of me.
I find a gym in disrepair—locked. I twist the handle of another door, looking through the glass down a set of stairs that lead to an Olympic-size swimming pool; even without the water, the cloying taste of chlorine hits the back of my throat as it permeates the wood and tickles my nose.
Before I can peer into what door number three has to offer, movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention—for a second, I think Ezra has found me, but the empty hallway assures me the hunt is still very much in play.
The swing doors in the distance sway again against their whining hinges, inviting me closer.
The Tannoy speakers above me crackle as a familiar song begins to play.
Kill of the Night by Gin Wigmore stirs memories from my first night here at Blackwood, and I realise the significance of Ezra playing it now.
The reminder that he has been watching me from the moment I got here has my skin flushing, my nipples hardening, and my brain spiralling.
I stumble through the set of double doors at the end of the corridor, and a single overhead strip light buzzes to life, the others with shattered casings or missing their bulbs steeping every corner of the room in shadows.
As my eyes adjust to the light, I find the room is oddly reminiscent of the morgue I found in the basement of Blackwood—the one where I caught Lenora with the twins as she tested the limits of her patient/employee etiquette.
This one, however, doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of an adult film set.
Polished steel cupboards wrap around the far end of the room with a matching table in the centre.
The graffitied creme walls with chipped paint and the chequerboard flooring littered with leaves and mulch adds some personality to the otherwise sterile room.
The familiar scent of lilies hangs in the air as a light breeze wafts in through the shattered window pane.
The coating of dust on the various bottles on the shelf to my left and the dated calendar with the browning pages signals that no one has likely used this space in roughly six years.
I hear footsteps approaching out in the hallway and scramble to find a hiding spot, realising quickly I’m cornered in a room that wasn’t meant for this game.
I crouch down behind the table and wait, my small even breaths echoing in my ears as he enters.
The swaying doors slow to a stop, and then there’s nothing but silence.
I peer around the edge of the table to an empty room, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention.
Rising from my hiding place, I figure Ezra gave up and went to search elsewhere.
Disappointment claws at my insides; I’d followed his rule, I’d run, but it isn’t until now that I realise how desperate I am to be caught.
How much I want his punishments.How alive I feel when he has his intense gaze trained on me.