Chapter 6
Chapter Six
BLAIR
"Binx." I groan. "I'll feed you in five minutes." He only smacks me with his paw again. "You little brat." I reach out, grabbing him and pulling him into my chest to cuddle. "You'd think no one ever feeds you and—" My brain comes fully online, and my eyes snap open.
Binx is on my chest, but I'm not in my bedroom. I'm in a cabin in Bumfuck, Egypt, for all I know. I sit up, still holding on to my cat.
"Eros? What the hell is going on?" He appears in the doorway to the bedroom like Houdini.
"You asked for your cat. I got your cat." My eyes drop to his right forearm, where I see a scratch. This man can’t be real.
"He do that?" I fight a laugh.
"We may have had a—" He pauses. "Scuffle."
"Scuffle!" I burst into laughter. How does he keep making me laugh? Eros stands in the doorway watching me until I get it together.
“I think we came to an understanding,” Eros says, his face deadass serious.
“Like you and my cat?” Binx wiggles in my hold, and I release him. He and I have been together for years. In my eyes, he’s the only family I have. I found him behind a dumpster. He was only this tiny, fluffy ball back then, pure black.
“Yes.” Binx jumps down off the bed, his tail up, flipping back and forth. He’s never been shy, but that doesn’t mean he’s friendly.
“Thackery Binx has never had an understanding about anything. We should get that straight now.”
“Thackery Binx?” Eros cocks his head to the side.
“It’s Binx to you and only Thack when he’s being a brat.” Which is pretty often.
“A bully, you mean.” I put my face in my hands.
“I can’t.” I shake my head, imagining Binx bullying Eros. “What is this understanding that you have with him?”
“That if I do what he wants he’ll be nice.”
“Nice?”
“Nice-ish.” Binx’s tail flicks in agreement.
“How did you get my cat?”
“I went to the condo you reside in and got him along with a few other things.” Shit, Eros was in my room.
“What other things?” I narrow my eyes on him.
“Clothes and some items from your bathroom.”
“Did you get into my panty drawer too?”
“And the bras.”
“You pervert.” I pick up one of the pillows off the bed and throw it at him. He catches it and tosses it back but to the end of the bed.
“I’ll make food. I put your things in the bathroom and there.” He points to a bag in the corner. It's one of mine. “And we need to clean your knees.”
“You’re not going to deny you’re a pervert? That you didn’t sniff my panties because you’re weirdly obsessed with me and keeping me?” I toss back at him. I think I am primarily trying to gauge his reaction or perhaps provoke one. He can remain so stoic no matter what he’s saying.
“If I’m a pervert, then it’s your doing.” He shrugs one shoulder. “Now, you got your sleep. It’s time for food and the shower you wanted before you passed out on me.”
“It’s my fault you're a pervert?”
“Yes.”
“It is not.” I huff.
“We’ll agree to disagree.”
“We will not.”
"Fine, we can either argue about it while you eat, or I can join you in the bathroom so we can argue there while you shower." I stare at him a little dumbfounded. Not sure with him or myself because my body is having a reaction to all of this, heat pooling deep in my belly.
“Over food.” I throw my legs over the side of the bed. I’m still in my stupid uniform. I push the sleeveless shirt down; it has risen up. When I glance back up, Eros's eyes are running up and down my legs.
Dirty-ass schoolgirl fantasies flood my mind. One that has spankings and lots of naughty things I don’t let my mind venture to right now. It's so not the time. I blame my Kindle, since I can’t blame the drugs any longer.
“You’re staring.”
“I am a pervert when it comes to you.” He does another one of those shrugs. I bite back another laugh.
I’m going to murder him because this shouldn’t be funny, but since Eros came into my life, I have laughed more than ever.
I stand up from the bed. “How long did I sleep?”
“Ten hours.” My mouth falls open.
“Really?” Holy shit. “I never sleep that long. It’s a fight every night. I’m usually restless.”
“Maybe you felt safe enough to let your guard down.”
“Why would my guard be up?” I lift a brow.
“I don’t know, Blair, why would it?” I press my lips together. I walked right into that one.
“I’m showering,” I huff, stomping toward the bathroom. I slam the door behind me, then remember that my clothes are in the bag by the bed. I stomp back out, and Eros is still standing there. Binx is sitting at his feet watching me too. “Whatever.” I grab the bag and slam the door harder this time.
I drop the bag and see that he really has brought a bunch of items from my own bathroom. I don't know why my attention lingers on my toothbrush, which is next to his. It's intimate, not in a sexy way but a familiar one.
My eyes catch on the black nail polish, and a wave of emotions slams into me. I grip the side of the sink counter. What is this man doing to me? He’s sweet in the darkest of ways. Eros is the kind of darkness that doesn’t scare me. Any fear I had of him left when he drove me here.
He really is obsessed with me, but this might be some You TV show shit. The man is crazy obsessed and does insane things for the woman he’s obsessing over, but, and it’s a big but, that obsession in time would turn to another, and I’d be forgotten.
I’m always fucking forgotten. I need to be very careful and not let him pull me under.
I might be as crazy as him because I think I could fall for Eros too.
He’s strange and mysterious, unpredictable.
All things that can pull me in. All the things I shouldn’t want. I hate how cliché my daddy issues are.
“Get your shit together, Blair. You’re not Bonte,” I whisper to myself in the mirror. She’s dead and gone, along with the dreams and life I wanted at one time.
I turn the shower on, stepping in under the spray.
I let the hot water rain down on me until it starts to turn cold and I have to quickly wash myself.
I do my normal-ish morning routine except today I’m not going to school, I guess.
Who knows when the heck I’ll get back there.
I’m sure no one will even know I’m missing.
I find a pair of black joggers and an oversized hoodie in my bag to wear. I have not a clue what is going to happen today. This isn’t the first time my life has been flipped on its head.
When I exit the bathroom, I make my way down the short hallway. The cabin is small but not claustrophobic. Binx is sitting on the kitchen island that separates it from the living room. It has a couple of stools under it.
Eros is at the stove, shirtless. I can see his thick, defined muscles move and flex as he cooks. He’s too hot for his own good, or mine for that matter. How the heck am I gonna keep distance between us with him walking around half nude?
“Where did your shirt go?”
“Does it bother you?” He turns to face me. Holy hell.
“What? Do you live in the freaking gym?” Eros glances down at himself. He’s even got those V lines that disappear into his sweatpants.
He’s trying to seduce me. The man is dressed like a thirst trap, except he doesn’t shave the hair off his chest. It’s only a thin layer, letting you still see the ink and scars that only add to his hotness. His body tells a story. One filled with red flags I’m ignoring.
“Not really, but Damon and I box, and I run.”
“Once I ran a mile in gym class. It was the worst day of my life.” Okay, that’s a lie; it wasn’t the worst, but still it super sucked.
“I take it you did not enjoy it.”
“I did not.”
“Then you should be happy I didn’t take you to school.” It should be a joke, but he’s dead-ass serious.
“You should have kidnapped me last year. I don’t have gym class this year.” Thank God.
“You should learn self-defense instead. It would be more useful.”
"Hey, I took that teacher out," I remind him and myself. I keep pushing that to the back of my mind. It makes me wonder if I’m more like my father than I know.
“Your first kill?” he says so casually. Binx rubs up against my arm, demanding pets if I’m going to be sitting here.
“Kinda.” Shit, that has Eros turning from the stove again.
“There’s more to that story?”
“I don’t know.” That life is gone. There isn’t supposed to be a story. Sure, it doesn't stop the dreams that I think should be nightmares instead of reminders. Ones I shouldn't have.
“You don’t know because you don’t remember, or you don’t know because you’re not supposed to talk about it?”
“Stop doing that. It’s freaky.” His brows rise. “Doing Jedi mind tricks or whatever.”
“I thought women wanted men to be better at reading their minds.”
“What are you making?” I ask even though I already see the pile of pancakes. He must have gone to the store too. How the heck did he get this all done? Holy hell. It is rather impressive.
“Pancakes and sausage, but I got some of the cereal and stuff you like.”
“How do you know what I like? Did you stalk my pantry while you were abducting my cat?” I try to act offended, but really, I’m impressed.
“I mean, I’m kinda impressed that you accomplished two kidnappings in one day.
Well, technically one kidnapping and one catnapping. Is that a new record for you?”
“No to both.” He shakes his head like I’m crazy. “I had Mac track your credit card; she pulled up your last few grocery orders.”
“Right, duh.” I throw my hands up. "That's the logical thing instead of just asking me."
"You were sleeping. You want something to drink?”
“Sure.” I go back to petting Binx. “You didn’t encounter anyone when you went to get him?” I ask out of curiosity. Sam and Kim really only go through the motions. At one time, they'd been a couple or were hooking up. Not sure what happened there, but I didn't ask.
“No, your pretend parents were asleep, in separate rooms.” I rub my eyes. “Would you rather I pretend I don’t know you’re in WITSEC?” I drop my hands.
“You guys can really get into WITSEC?”
“No, WITSEC is managed by several hubs, each with limited information shared among different leaders. It’s a very intricate system. Though facial recognition does change things.”
“Good to know, I guess, but how did you know?”
“Mac gave me your background run. It’s fake.”
“How do you know it’s fake?”
“It’s too clean and cookie-cutter. You look nothing like your parents.”
“Maybe I’m adopted.”
“I suppose you kind of are now.”
“Touché.” A small laugh leaves me. Eros sets a plate of food in front of me.
“After you eat, I need to check on your knees.” I place one of my hands on one. It was burning like hell when I washed them. I’d forgotten about scraping them.
“Why? You want to play doctor?” I try to sound annoyed, but I think I’m failing.
“They are likely fine. Superficial cuts can typically heal on their own without causing any complications. Just a little water is needed to wash them off. I thought I should double-check to be certain.”
"You always fix wounds of the people you abduct?" It's not really a question, but he answers it, nonetheless.
"If I'm trying to keep them alive."
"Oh, so I'm not the only one that made it out of the hole. I don't feel special anymore." I say it sarcastically, but deep down, that darker part of me is kind of sad about that. I guess I'm not so special after all. See, I'm just the current obsession.
"I didn't say that. You keep them alive so that you can torture them more." Did my father do that? I shake that thought from my head.
"Pass the syrup." That feels like the correct response. Eros slides it over to me, watching me. "Why are you staring at me?"
"I like doing it." That is kind of sweet.
"It's creepy." I shove a bite of pancake into my mouth.
"Then I'll only do it while you sleep. You didn't complain then." I almost choke on the fluffy goodness.
"Drink." He pushes a glass of milk toward me. I chug it down.
"Oh, I was not ready for you to crack a joke."
"You think I'm joking?"
"I honestly don't know what to think when it comes to you."
And I only find it that much more appealing.