Chapter 5 #2
The only reason I don’t tear his head off at the patronizing response is because I’m too blissed out from what was possibly the best orgasm I’ve ever had.
“You’ve made your point. You don’t have to do it again.
I’ve already told you I will not say anything.
If you let me go, I’ll promise whatever you need to ensure I won’t say a word about what I saw. ”
His thumb continues its soothing path back and forth across my knee.
“See how sweet you are after your punishment? How do you behave? Imagine how you’ll feel after a night of it?
After I make you come dozens of times. By the time the sun rises, I’ll have had you screaming for so long you’ll be begging to tell me what you’re doing here.
That’s when we’ll be done. When I know the thought of my face will make you hesitate before coming back.
I don’t trust a damn word out of your mouth, but I can trust that. ”
Already, the tendrils of apprehension snake through my resolve, clouding my certainty and polluting my judgment. I don’t want to come back here, and the night’s only just started.
Then I think about my mother and the potential clues she might have left behind. Would I have come back again to see if there was something else I might have missed?
I don’t need to ask myself the question twice, because despite everything that’s happened, I wouldn’t hesitate.
There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.
Even if it meant putting myself in Aiden’s path again.
The question comes out before I can rip it back. “What went on between you two? Why would you kill him?” Curiosity killed this foolish cat. Isn’t that how I wound up in this predicament in the first place?
He takes a long beat to answer. One that’s filled with the kind of scrutiny I’m coming to ascribe to being the object of his intense focus. Something I hadn’t wanted to be, until now.
“You really don’t have any clue who I am, do you?” He seems almost surprised. And amused? I try to put space between us to study his expression more, but his arm tightens.
“Only what I could find on the internet after you…” I nearly choke, remembering I can’t give him any clue about who I am. “Announced the casino’s grand opening.”
“Interesting,” he says, drawing out the word.
“I assume you will not answer.”
“I—” he begins, and then a familiar voice drowns him out.
“I should have known you couldn’t leave the little bird alone.”
“I thought you left,” Aiden says flatly as he lifts me to my feet, holding a hand to my hip to keep me steady as my gelatinous knees threaten to collapse beneath me.
I wrap the strap of my purse over my shoulder, despite the fuzziness clouding my brain.
There’s no way I’m leaving this goddamn house without it, no matter what hell he puts me through.
The nameless man studies me with deep blue eyes that see too much, burn too bright.
I almost want to hold my hands out in front of my face to keep him from peering too close.
Letting him study my face and draw conclusions about what Aiden just did to me.
Thankfully, my mask blocks him from seeing too much, and his attention swings back to Aiden.
A breath stutters from my lips, my lungs screaming from holding it for so long.
“It’s a good thing I didn’t. I thought you said you had a handle on this and didn’t need any help. ”
Aiden merely lifts a brow. “What makes you think I don’t have a handle on this, Eamon?
” Before Eamon can answer, Aiden turns to me.
He dips his head in a nod toward the house and leans down so only I can hear his words.
“Why don’t you go inside and freshen up?
There’s a guest bath off the kitchens, and I’ll find you when I’m done.
” His eyes drill into mine. “I don’t need to say if you do something stupid, the punishment will be far, far worse. You understand?”
I don’t want to know what could be worse than what he just did, but I also don’t want to find out what else he has in store for me.
So I nod, keeping my face carefully blank and wobbling my way through the departing crowd, careful to be as discreet as possible.
My heart rams against my chest the whole way inside, certain someone is going to stop me and rail at me for what we’ve just done.
But no one does. Too hammered, too coked out, too depressed from losing too much money.
Take your pick. Bodies filter out of the front door in droves.
Most of the detritus has been cleared away, and catering staff flit around like bees, collecting what remains as I weave through them.
My heels click against the marble floors, the sound echoing in my pounding ears.
A hot, prickling spot comes to life between my shoulder blades, and I know it’s his eyes glued to my back. Always watching. I don’t allow myself to be swept away by the crowd. Not when he’s on high alert. But I’d be an idiot not to take this as an opportunity. One I may not have again.
By the time I reach the downstairs bathroom near the kitchen, my whole body quakes, both from the aftermath of what he did to me, but also from the colossal rush of adrenaline.
I close the door behind me, giving him time to think I’m following his orders.
I rip away my mask, needing to feel fresh air on my overheated skin, and I nearly wince at what it uncovers.
Wrecked.
Mascara smudges beneath my eyes. Red blush stains my cheeks that no amount of cool water from the faucet seems to wash away. An over-bright, manic glare in my otherwise plain brown eyes. My mother’s eyes.
With one encounter, Aiden O’Connor has torn off my carefully crafted veneer.
And, God help me, my body aches for more of him.
More depravity. More ownership. It capitulated to him without a second thought.
He’d mastered it so thoroughly that my goal of getting out of here had disappeared entirely from my mind.
I’d even started feeling sympathetic toward him, and that’s after I witnessed him execute someone not even an hour ago.
A healthy number of mediocre men have made me come before. It means nothing.
It doesn’t.
Just because I take much longer to convince myself to at least try to escape means nothing either.
A quick check reveals that my phone is dead. I nearly throw it at the wall in frustration, but put it on the charger bank instead. If it had been working, I would have sent a text to Yasmine for backup. But just my fucking luck.
I tie my mask firmly back in place around my head and peer out of the door, stomach sinking when I note the empty halls and foyer beyond.
Shit. So much for trying to blend in with the crowd.
In fact, almost everyone is gone. The band.
The servers. Even Aiden and his friends aren’t loitering in the back garden anymore.
My ears strain to receive sound, but all I hear is the relentless drum of my heartbeat.
It’s eerily quiet. Like a graveyard and all that’s left of the party are the echoes of voices knocking around in my head, haunting me like ghosts.
A chill grips my spine and doesn’t let go.
There are two options. Both equally shitty. The front door is to my left, the closest option. But it’s also the one he’ll most likely expect. My second option is the garage, which spills out onto a busier street, making it easier to hide if I manage to escape.
Fingers fumbling, I unhook the clasps on my shoes and grip them in nerveless fingers.
It’s now or never. My heart skips a beat, and I press my hand to my chest to assuage the ache.
This is my chance. Fuck his warnings. Fuck his threats.
Fuck his deal. I’m going to get out of here before I do anything else stupid, like crawl for him or beg him to call me a slut again.
I’m running when he and his friend appear in the doorway to the kitchen, only a few feet away. The sound of a muttered curse and the rhythmic thud of his shoes striking the tile sounds behind me, but I don’t dare look back.