Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Kris
“Why are we here, Kristina?” Shaun peered at her over the rim of his coffee cup, the noise of the other patrons dimming in the background as he went on. “Didn’t I make my feelings clear?”
Staring at him, she realized it was a good question.
He’d more than made his feelings apparent, so why had she felt the need to meet him in person?
Shifting on her hard seat, though, the answer came to her.
She couldn’t let him get away with ghosting her.
She had to let him know he’d treated her badly.
“I wanted to see you face-to-face.”
She gripped the handle of her mug of tea tighter, unsure why her reply was so awkward. The meeting was her idea, so why were the words so hard to find? It was as if she had lots to say, but the sentiment was stuck in her throat.
“Well, here I am.” His brow rose as though he was suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. “And I haven’t changed my mind.”
“I’d guessed not.” Irritation at his smug tone knotted in her tummy. “I would have liked you to tell me how you felt instead of ghosting me for so long.”
“You’re a big girl.” His voice dripped with disdain. “If I don’t reply, then I’m sure you can work out what that means.”
“Oh, very mature,” she retorted, narrowing her eyes. “I think I deserve better than that.”
“No shit.” He had the temerity to roll his eyes that time. “But you’ve always had an inflated opinion of yourself, haven’t you?”
“What?” Watching his sneering expression, anger surged in her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know what it means.” He put down his coffee cup, his tone scathing. “You think you’re smarter than everyone else.”
I am smarter than most people.
The line hung on the tip of her tongue. She didn’t quite have the courage to articulate it, but she hoped he was bright enough to see it burning in her eyes.
“So, you gave me the silent treatment… to what?” she snapped. “Punish me?”
“It’s always got to be about you, hasn’t it, Kris?” He scoffed at her outrage, the response only heightening her fury. “Can you believe I have a busy life and don’t spend time thinking about you or your feelings?”
“Yeah.” She forced the mug back to the table, aware of the way her fingers were threatening to tremble. “You made that pretty fucking clear, dickhead.”
She couldn’t believe she’d said the words out loud, but as they left her lips, no part of her regretted the insult. Shaun had treated her with callous indifference, and he deserved to be held to account.
“What did you just say?” He glared at her across the table.
“You heard me.” Buoyed, she straightened in her seat.
She was fed up with men like him treating her like shit. If Shaun wasn’t interested, that was fine, but he should have been mature enough to tell her that, not leave her hanging for days. They were both supposed to be adults.
“I appreciate it’s probably the first time anyone’s told you, Shaun, but that pretty face of yours will only get you so far.
” She didn’t care if the people at the tables surrounding them were stopping their conversations and staring.
She sensed their inquisitive eyes burning her way, but somehow, the attention only empowered her, helping her to convey how much his immaturity had hurt her.
“To become an actual man, you’re going to have to grow the fuck up. ”
“Fuck you!” he hissed, his expression contorting with contempt.
Evidently, Shaun had thought the meet-up would be nothing more than an opportunity for him to rub his rejection in her face. He hadn’t expected her to push back.
“Nah.” She shook her head with a smile. “You never got that pleasure, darling, and you. Never. Will.”
She enunciated the final few words, gleeful at the way his face reddened.
In the haze of her euphoria, she was vaguely aware of the way the room around her started to cloud.
The people she’d noticed staring faded away as though they’d been lost in the fog.
Sitting there, she assumed it was only the rush of blood to her head making her faint.
The customers were still there. She was just so filled with satisfaction to put Shaun in his place that she couldn’t focus on them.
“I never wanted you,” he retorted. “Remember that, you desperate bitch. I was the one who turned you down!”
His words that would have once stung so badly only rebounded from her, and sitting back in her chair, she grinned. He was so ugly when he was agitated. Looking at him, she couldn’t even remember what had seemed so appealing.
“Bless you, Shaun.” Collecting her mug, she drained the remainder of her tea, her heart galloping in her chest. “Maybe one day you will grow up. I hope so for the sake of the poor woman who gets stuck with you.”
She slid the empty mug across the table to him, already rising to her feet.
She hadn’t known precisely what she’d wanted to say when she’d asked him to meet her at the local coffee shop, but staring at his flustering face was easily the most gratifying outcome she could have imagined.
She’d said her piece, and suddenly, there didn’t seem to be any good reason to stay there and listen to him.
Walking away, her head swam with dizziness, as though she’d had one too many glasses of wine, and when she turned her head, she was disconcerted to find the room swaying around her.
She lifted her hand to her head, rubbing at her temples. What was in that tea they’d given her? She was so hot suddenly, the heat rising inside of her until she was nauseous, and reaching for the nearest table for support, she found there was nothing left to lean on.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Shaun’s voice rose from the miasma, his distress her only anchor in the confusion.
“Goodbye, Shaun.” She forced out the remark, desperate to have the last word despite her rising unease. “Have a nice fucking life.”
Lurching for where the door to the coffee shop should have been, she was hit by an abrupt blast of warm air.
That’s strange. She frowned. It’s winter. Why is it so warm?
What was going on? One moment, she’d been meeting an ex to put him in his place, and the next, the world around her had shifted.
Hot, suffocating clouds had replaced the interior of the café, the noise of its patrons swapped for the sound of her racing heart, and when she finally opened her eyes, everything was different.
There was no street outside and no coffee shop behind her.
Instead, where those things should have been, there was only an endless stream of white surroundings.
She blinked at the scene, trying to decide not only where she was, but where Shaun and the coffee shop had gone.
Glancing around at the white ceiling, the white floor, and eerie, ethereal white walls, she realized the encounter with Shaun must have been a dream.
She’d been asleep, processing the things she would have liked to have said to the moron.
Sprawled out on the bed, Kris couldn’t decide how she felt about that outcome. It had been cathartic to tell Shaun how she’d felt. As it was, though, she was trapped inside Kronos’ white prison, with no obvious way out.
Kronos.
For the second time, a crushing wave of captivity pulverized her. She was back in the white room. She was still naked, but that time, a litany of hot, awkward, and erotic memories rushed to greet her at the thought of the man who’d put her there.
Kronos was the man who’d saved her on the street, who’d brought her to the strange cell, and, in the short time they’d had together, who’d managed to master her.
She groaned at that thought, squeezing the muscles between her thighs. He had conquered her all right, and despite her initial protests, she’d loved almost every moment of his control.
Blinking at the white glare all around her, the contradiction washed over her all over again. He was the man she needed to flee from, yet who she wasn’t sure she could live without.
What was the point of walking away from his grasp if she was going to spend the rest of her life regretting it, wondering where he was, and grimly certain that she’d never find anyone else like him?
She pulled herself up to her elbows, her throat drying as she recalled some of the things he’d put her through.
He’d spanked her over his lap. He’d forced her to go to the bathroom in his presence, and just when she’d thought she couldn’t be any more humbled, he’d proceeded to use her as his footrest in his dark, enticing parlor.
None of those things was acceptable, yet they had made her more wanton than anyone or anything else had ever achieved.
Her cheeks burned with embarrassed heat as she considered her humiliating arousal at his dominance.
Instead of trying to fight off her captor, or at least passively refusing to cooperate with his demands, she’d actively chosen to join in his depravity.
She’d ridden his cock right there in that room, and later, after he’d used her as furniture, she’d admitted how much she’d enjoyed the experience, even succumbing to his demands for anal sex.
Not that there was much she could have done to prevent the violation, but in truth, she hadn’t wanted him to stop.
Having him claim her there while he demanded she admit that she belonged to him was surely the single hottest moment of her life.
She squeezed her ass, her toes curling at the mortifying memory. It didn’t matter if she’d temporarily been overcome by madness. How could she have been so stupid as to tell him she’d relished being his footrest? But then, he’d have been able to discern the truth for himself.