Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Matt
I wasn’t sure what apartment I was in, but it had to be in my building. The design of the place was practically identical to mine. I didn’t think it was James’s, but I’d never gone inside, so I wasn’t sure.
“Hungry?” James asked as he secured me to the chair in the kitchen. He’d removed the rope from around my wrists since it was making my skin raw but replaced them with cuffs. I’d resisted and tried to fight back but that just earned me a punch to the gut followed by an apology for me making him hurt me. Fortunately, my arms were in front of me now, but I was still cuffed and my legs were tied.
“Not really.”
“Oh, pish posh.” He waved me away. “You’ll need your strength.”
What the fuck did that mean?
“Well, James, I don’t have much of an appetite.”
“Something light, then.” He nodded and went about cooking what looked like eggs.
All the windows had blackout curtains, so I couldn’t even tell what side of the building I was on or what floor.
“You know, your friends, they were smart. Not as smart as me, though.” He poured the mixture into a skillet.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I mean, once I knew you were going to work today, I was able to get you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You pretended to be Olivia’s dad?”
He pointed at me. “See, you’re smart. Of course you’d figure it out. It was very easy. Then, I simply called Olivia’s house as a Rybelt employee and rescheduled their session.”
It had never occurred to me that was what my stalker had planned at the time. And everything after that had happened so fast, I hadn’t thought about it.
“What time will Nicole be back?”
He paused a beat and when his eyes met mine, for a brief moment I could see the monster lurking behind there.
“Don’t worry about Nicole.” He didn’t say more, just suddenly smiled and returned to cooking.
I’d never been more irritated with myself than I was right now. On Nick’s nightstand was the necklace he’d given me. I hadn’t put it on after my shower, and there was no doubt Nick had realized it by now. Seriously, maybe he should just stick a tracker under my skin. Where was Nick now? He had to be frantic. I could feel his rage from here…would he really burn the world to ash to find me?
“And voila !” He placed scrambled eggs in front of me, no fork in sight.
“Am I supposed to eat it like a dog?”
In a flash, he gripped my chin and squeezed painfully. “Act like one, and I’ll treat you like one. Say thank you.”
“Thank you,” I mumbled.
“You’re welcome. Now, I’ll feed you.” He sat beside me, took a fork from the other side of the table, stabbed a few eggs, and held it out to my mouth.
I turned my head away. “I said I wasn’t hungry.”
He grabbed my hair and pulled my head so I was facing him. “You’re going to eat every egg on this plate, or I’m going to shove a tube down your throat and force feed it to you.” He grinned. “I don’t want to hurt you, Matt, but I will.”
He released me and held the fork out again, and this time I took a bite.
“Good boy.”
“Where are we?”
James tsked. “You’re asking questions you already know the answers to.”
“I know we’re in the building, but I don’t recognize this apartment.”
He nodded. “It’s on the top floor. Remember Mr. Black?”
He was an elderly man who’d passed away a year ago. “Yeah.”
“Well, when he died, I decided not to rent it. I’ve been coming up here most weekends, getting it all fixed up.”
“For what?”
He caressed my cheek with his thumb. “For you, of course…for us.”
“I have an apartment.”
He laughed as he scooped more eggs into my mouth. “You won’t need that place anymore. We’ll be together now.”
After I swallowed I said, “I don’t think Nicole would like that very much.”
That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because he stood and threw the half-empty plate against the wall.
“Don’t say her name!” he shouted. “Matt, listen to me. I love you. We are going to have the most amazing life together.”
“I’m in love with someone else.”
He reached out and wrapped his hand around my throat. “No, you only thought you were. You love me, Matt. I saw how you looked at me when you moved in here. The sparks flew, but it was a few months ago. You were going out, dressed in your clubbing outfit. You winked at me, and I knew what you were telling me.”
“I wasn’t telling you anything.”
“You were.” He pressed his cheek to my cheek. “You wanted me. You craved my touch, my tongue. I wanted to unwrap you and lick every inch of skin on your body, fill you with my seed, and make you bloom.”
He sniffed my hair as my stomach began to roil.
“I will, I’ll do all of that.” He pulled away. “But like I said, you’ll need your strength. So, let me get you something else, since the eggs were a miss.”
A miss? He’d thrown them. Shit, no way was I going to willingly sit back and let this crazy fuck touch me.
I watched as James went about opening a can of soup next. He was determined to feed me. Maybe if I kept denying it, he wouldn’t give up until he picked a winner.
“Such a mess,” he said once the soup was up. “Nicole knows better than to leave things around.”
I turned my head left and right, thinking she’d appear, seeing as he was referring to her…Had he forgotten he was the one who’d done it?
“Hey, James?”
“ Hmm? ” He grabbed a dustpan and broom.
“I know you said not to mention her name, but you did. Can I ask when she’ll be here?”
He didn’t answer me right away. After he disposed of the mess, he leaned against the counter. “When I acquired Nicole, she was a mousy little thing. Craved guidance, needed submission. I saw her one day leaving her high school crying, and I rescued her. I gave her everything a woman could want. Love, affection, and all I asked for was obedience. She thrived in a strict environment; you will too. But the last few months, she was displeasing. When I told her I was in love with you, she cried.” He rolled his eyes.
“She was lackluster at that point, not shiny and beautiful like you. I sent her to Greg’s house, knowing he likely had been compromised. Poor Greg, so clueless. Always had been. Anyway. I heard on the police scanner that Nicole killed herself.” He sighed. “So pathetic.”
I was speechless. He spoke so frankly, as if he were telling me the scores of a baseball game. She was his wife; at least I’d thought she was. Either way, he’d spent years with her. Clearly she’d been an obsession of his at some point. Is that what I was?
“So you’re saying once you’re tired of me, you won’t care if I off myself?”
He rushed over to me and cupped my cheeks. “No, Matt. We are forever. I’ve never felt for anyone the way I do for you. Every time we part ways my heart hurts, every time we’re close, my cock stirs.”
Okay, I was going to throw up.
“Let me finish this soup so you can eat it; then I’ll wash you up and show you just how much I love you.” He pressed his lips to mine and forced his tongue inside my mouth, and I almost did vomit everywhere.
When he walked away I shot up a silent prayer for Nick to find me, and fast.