Chapter Four
Mimic
We ate in silence. Indie ordered food to be delivered, and she growled when I met the guy at the door and paid for it. I felt her growl vibrate through my dick. I didn’t understand why she affected me so much when no one else had.
I’d just begun to notice girls when Dakota found me. Living on the street with my sister, it was hard not to notice the whores that lived there too.
Vegas was in the desert, so it was fucking hot all hours of the day and night during the summer, and the women took advantage of it, wearing as little as legally possible.
It wasn’t just the whores who had chosen sex as their career choice; it was the addicts who offered anything for a fix and the homeless teenagers hoping to score their next meal or a soft bed to spend the night.
They were everywhere, and I’d started popping wood any time they fucking talked to me. Which was fucking sick, seeing as I was an eleven-year-old kid.
Once Dakota found me, he took me off the street. Only it wasn’t in the Hallmark way like Valhalla had done for Rose. No, he fucking took me. I wasn’t given a choice.
He locked me up and tortured me. Him and his asshole father. They thought they could break me. Thought they could brainwash me into doing their bidding. They were fucking wrong.
I played the part I needed to play. I bided my time and acted the perfect submissive pet until one day George Stone let me go.
What I went through wasn’t as bad as what Rose had endured. I would have stayed locked up forever if it meant Rose didn’t have to go through what that bitch had done to her.
“Here. If you insist on staying, the least I can do is try to make it comfortable.” Indie dropped a couple of pillows and a blanket on the couch.
She didn’t know that I could sleep standing up if I had to. I’d done it before. Except I wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. Patch said she needed to be woken up every few hours to make sure she was okay. He gave me a list of things to look for.
She stared at me, waiting for me to thank her. When she didn’t get what she was looking for, she scoffed and turned back down the hall, slamming her door behind her.
I looked at my watch. It was only nine o’clock. Even if I planned on sleeping, I’d never fall asleep this early. My captivity had conditioned me to require the bare minimum hours of rest.
I paced around the small apartment, checking the locks on the windows and doors a second time, watching the street below for anyone who might want to come back to do more.
Indie said nothing else had happened, but she was unconscious and the cameras were down. The bastard could have done anything and she’d never know.
Her bedroom door opened, and she slipped across the hall to the bathroom. The sound of water running spread through the apartment. I groaned as my dick stiffened when a vision of Indie, naked under the water spray, filled my head.
I settled myself in a place where I’d see her when she exited the bathroom. I sat there waiting, my eyes never leaving the small dark hallway. My reward for my patience came with the sound of the click of the doorknob.
Steam poured through the doorway, and I leaned forward, my elbows resting on my knees as I waited for her to step out.
Time slowed down, similar to a movie I’d secretly watched as a child after my mother and sister had gone to bed.
Indie slowly stepped into the hallway in nothing but a small towel that barely covered her ass.
My sharp inhale drew her attention as her head turned in my direction. She was hot as fuck. Her perfect white teeth dug into her bottom lip, and all I thought about was how I wanted them to bite mine. I wanted to sink my teeth into her skin and mark her.
Tattoos encased her arms and legs. The distance between us made it hard to see the details, but the details weren’t important. Ink was sexy on women, but on Indie it was erotic.
It was sensual and seductive. I stood from my chair, desire leading my actions. Her eyes widened, in fear or lust, I couldn’t be sure. Either way, she quickly dashed behind her bedroom door.
I stood frozen. My body wanted to storm down the hall and slam open her door and take what I wanted. Thank God my head prevailed. I rubbed a hand on the back of my neck and moved out into the hall.
Letting the door slam so she heard it close, I leaned back and ran my hands over my face. I’d never had such a visceral reaction to a woman before.
Dakota paraded women in front of me from the time he locked me up until his father let me go. He had sex with them and made me watch. Some were willing.
Many were not.
It disgusted me the way my body reacted as he took what he wanted despite the way they fought him. Rage consumed me at the way I reacted to Indie. I wanted to cut off my fucking dick. I refused to be like him.
I understood my sister a little better in that moment. Her need to hurt herself. To cause herself pain to push back whatever she was feeling.
“Fuck!” I hissed, before opening the door and closing it a hair lighter than a slam. I wanted her to know I was still here. I wanted her to feel safe, but my reaction to her in that damn towel might have had the opposite effect.
I dropped myself onto the couch, letting my head fall back as I stared at the ceiling. I should call a prospect to come stay here. Or maybe Haizley.
For five years I had held my desires back. Held back the images that played through my brain when I jacked off in the shower. The faceless woman I envisioned at my mercy. It had always been enough.
Until Indie.
For hours I paced through Indie’s small apartment. I scrolled through my phone. Turned on her small television. Anything I could do to pass the time until I woke her.
I stood at the end of the hall. Inhaling long, slow breaths as I calmed the blood roaring through my veins. I shouldn’t be here. It should be someone else watching over her. Someone who could control the urge to make her submit.
My hands fisted and un-fisted at my side as I tried to gain control of my thoughts. I could do this. All I had to do was walk in there, wake her up, check on her, and walk out.
I crept down the hall. My mind raced at what I’d find inside her room. I prayed she slept in something. If she were naked under the covers, I might not make it out.
I slowly turned the knob. Light from the building next door streamed in through her open window, immersing her room in a warm glow. My gaze roamed over the room, taking in every detail, giving myself a moment to calm my nerves before I looked at her.
My eyes searched her out, and my breath caught. Fuck, she was gorgeous. Her platinum hair splayed out over the pillow. Her face, bathed in light, looked relaxed as she slept. There was none of the tension in her features; the hardness was gone.
She looked innocent. Pure.
I couldn’t touch her. I wouldn’t allow my blood-covered hands to taint her life. Moving closer, I kneeled by her bed.
“Indie,” I whispered.
She breathed deeply in her sleep before turning her head away. My hand lifted without permission, a solitary finger reaching under her chin, rotating her back in my direction.
“Indigo.” My voice raised an octave higher as she stirred.
Her eyes fluttered before they opened, and she stared into my eyes. A flash of something crossed her face as she gasped, before her eyes focused on me.
Her eyes drifted closed; her breath sped up as she placed a hand over her chest. Was she afraid of me?
“Indie?”
“Give me a minute, please.” Her hands covered her face, and I stood, backing away.
“Come out to the living room so I can check on you.” I turned on my heel and strolled out of the room. My mind told me to run. To leave her alone. But she was afraid of something. Or someone.
Her footsteps were soft as she entered the room. I kept my back to her, not ready to see what she wore.
“Do you want some coffee?”
“No, you need to go back to bed when we’re done.”
“Coffee helps me sleep,” she said, and I finally turned.
Indie stood on her toes, reaching for a mug. The black tank top she wore lifted, revealing a swath of skin between the top and the shorts she wore. And the shorts...
Fuck!
The very bottom of her cheeks hung just below the edge, teasing all my senses.
My hands wanted to reach out and squeeze.
My eyes feasted as my brain questioned what the rest of her ass looked like.
I licked my lips as an image of me behind her, my teeth sinking into the silky skin, floated in front of me.
“Mimic?”
My eyes snapped to hers. I expected anger that she caught me staring at her ass. Or maybe embarrassment that I was checking her out. Neither were there. In fact, there was nothing. No emotion on her face as she held a mug in her hand.
“Do you want some?”
“Sure.” My voice cracked on the word, but if Indie heard it, she gave nothing away. She stood by the counter as the coffee brewed, and when it was done, she handed me a cup and then sat in a chair at the table.
“Okay, do what you have to do.”
She couldn’t know what those words would do to me. How the thought of taking over her body would fuel my dark urges. I cleared my throat and set my coffee down. My hands braced the countertop as I turned my back to her.
“Go back to bed. You are walking and talking fine.”
I couldn’t keep the gravel out of my voice. I was hanging on by a thread.
“Don’t you have to shine a light in my eyes or something?”
“Do you have a headache?”
“No, but—”
“You’re fine. Go back to bed.”
I listened for movement. The sound of her standing up, the footsteps scuffing down the hall. The sound of her door closing. I heard none of it. Looking over my shoulder, I found her still sitting at the table, staring at me. Her face was blank, but her eyes held something I couldn’t discern.
It wasn’t lust or desire. I had seen that enough in the club girls to recognize it. But it wasn’t disgust or hatred either. I dumped the coffee in the sink and darted past her. I opened her front door and growled, “Go back to bed, Indie.”
When the door closed behind me, I sank to the floor. My elbows hit my knees, and my hands gripped my hair. I was losing control when it came to her. Did she know the power she held over me? Did she understand it? ’Cause I sure as fuck didn’t.
I let my hands fall between my knees and lay my head back against the door. I sat there until I was sure it was safe to go back inside.
Both cups lay upside down on a towel by the sink, rinsed out and left to dry. My eyes searched the darkened hall, and my feet slipped quietly along the hardwood floor until I stood in front of her door, my hands braced on the outside trim.
It would be a long fucking night.