Seventeen Gemma #2
But...in other ways, I didn’t. I still remembered the man who’d hugged me as if he couldn’t breathe without me in his arms. I dreamed of the sweetest kiss he’d given. I daydreamed of the boy who’d asked me out.
If I could just get him to let down his many, many walls, perhaps I could appeal to the other elements inside him. The pieces of him that weren’t so badly abused that they’d rather attack than compromise.
Even if you did succeed, he’ll still keep you here.
Things had gone too far to let me just walk away now.
I sighed, feeling twice my age.
“I told you the silent treatment won’t sit well with me,” he murmured, eyeing up my notepad, his gaze dark and full of annoyance.
We were closer than we’d been since he’d chained me in the kitchen.
The sun shone through the skylight dotted with wildflowers above, highlighting the silvery scars over his forearms and the turbulent shadows darkening his gaze.
What caused those scars, those shadows?
Who could be so cruel?
“Say something.” He arched an eyebrow. “I’m sure you have plenty to say after seven days.”
“Nothing that you haven’t heard before.”
“I’m happy for you to repeat it. My memory has been playing tricks on me lately.”
“No more so than usual, I’m sure. And pity for you, I’m not in the repeating mood.” I scribbled another line of gibberish, keeping the paper angled away from him so he couldn’t tell his presence rattled me.
Awkward quietness fell between us. It had nails, slowly dragging silence down a chalkboard and making my hair stand on end.
“What are you writing that’s more important than me?” He sniffed, ripping the notebook from my grasp.
“Hey!”
“Ribbons led me here, a chain kept me here, but betrayals will set me free.” His forehead furrowed, scanning my nonsense sentence. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means, none of your business.” I snatched it back, shoving it beneath me and the cushion.
He shifted away and rubbed his broken arm, still with the splint I’d fashioned for him. His profile revealed he bit back his temper. Like me, he physically trapped words behind his teeth and forced them down his throat.
I fully expected him to stand and leave. My heart raced, just waiting for him to give me back my peace.
Sitting forward, he clasped his hands together.
The rustle of denim on leather was such a masculine sound.
His long hair and etched muscles could’ve painted him as a bad boy with a motorbike.
Throw a patched jacket on him and a cigarette between his lips and he would’ve been the quintessential poster boy for all terrible decisions and reckless choices.
I couldn’t stand that even now—even with my blazing anger protecting me from whatever mind games he’d play next, I still found him unbelievably attractive. Rugged and untamed and entirely unpredictable.
It’s that unpredictability that makes him the most dangerous man you’ve ever met.
My fury threatened to overflow, threaded with pain I would not, could not show. “If you won’t leave. I will.” Standing, I charged forward, my only intention to get the hell out of the games room and somewhere that had untainted oxygen.
“Not so fast.” He grabbed the quickly unraveling chain between us and jerked me to a stop.
I almost tripped. It made my anger evolve into merciless flames. “What?” I spun around. “What do you want?”
He scanned me from head to toe. His eyes lazy, his insolent desire pricking my soul. “It’s been a week.”
I crossed my arms. “So?”
“So...” He gave me a look. A look that rolled its eyes and basically spelled out his intentions without needing anything else from him.
I said I’d take you in a week.
I congratulated myself that I didn’t back away, but I couldn’t fight the furious blush creeping over my cheeks.
“I don’t care if it’s been a century; my threat still stands.
” Reaching into my stretchy skirt’s waistband, I pulled out my stolen kitchen knife.
I didn’t go anywhere without it now. It was permanently attached to me. “Come near me, and you’ll regret it.”
He stood. His balance faltered a little, hinting he wasn’t fully mended. He never took his eyes off me, branding me as his intensity changed from stern to...sexy. A sexy, soft look that switched his entire face from savage to wanting.
My breath hitched as his focus dropped to my mouth.
Things inside me that had no logical reason for existing sparked awake. They sparked, and I didn’t know how to deal with that.
Closing his eyes with a pained expression, he cleared his throat, and the moment was gone. When he opened his eyes again, they were cold and hard. “As flattering as that offer is, I have other things in mind than fucking you. More important things.”
I ignored my flinch as I replayed the way he’d just looked at me and the way I’d reacted.
Liar.
He’d come for sex. His gaze had said as much. So, now what is he up to?
Suspicion layered my tone. “What things?”
His face darkened, even as lust continued to bracket his mouth. “Unlike you, I haven’t wasted time writing nonsense in a notebook or reading ridiculous magazines.”
“Good for you.”
His jaw worked with impatience. “I’ve taken the past week to fully assess the likelihood of us surviving winter with our current supplies.”
“Clever. Do you want an award?”
“What I want,” he snapped, “is what you owe me.”
“I don’t owe you—”
“The food I’d grown was enough for one. I’d already used more than I should keeping you fed, then you went and used at least a month of rations that ought to have been stored. Which means we now have a serious fucking problem.”
I ignored the urge to say something argumentative. Instead, I pointed out the obvious. “If you let me go, you’d only have one mouth to feed.”
“If I let you go, I won’t have the manpower to prepare everything I need. Not with how I’m feeling—” He cut himself off with a scowl.
I shouldn’t... it made me a bad person, but I relished in his misfortune, even if it was at my detriment. “Not as strong as you once were, Kas?”
“Careful.” His temper flared, dark eyes narrowing with ire. “Actually, you know what, fuck it. I’m done with this.”
I stiffened. “Done with what?”
“Playing games with you.” Marching toward me, he shook away the cotton in his head and grabbed my wrist with his good hand.
“I’m not feeling well. There, I admit it.
I’d hoped I’d be back to normal by now, but the truth is, I’m not.
” Yanking me to him, he hissed, “The truth is, Gemma, I need you and not in the way you keep threatening will end with my cock sliced off with a knife. I need you to put aside your high-handed outrage and—”
“High-handed?” I snorted. “I think you’re getting confused. You’re the high-handed one. You tyrannical, overbearing bastard.”
“Enough!” he roared, pushing me away and raking a hand through his hair. His face lost a little color, his eyes etched with pain. He wasn’t lying about his current health. I could strike and kill him easily if I was cold-hearted enough to take his life.
Do it!
Run!
I shifted on the spot, highly aware of the weight of the blade and the queasiness in my stomach.
“Finally decided to do it, huh?” He chuckled blackly. “I admit my weakness, and you light up as if I’ve just given you the key.”
My eyes locked with his. “Do you blame me?”
For a second, he didn’t move, then he shocked me with a half-smile, weary and not at all what I expected. “No, I don’t blame you.” He swallowed and fiddled with his homemade cast. “It’s what I would do.”
Funny how quickly things could change. Incredible how a single look, a simple word, could undermine seven days of vows, violence, and vengeance.
I’d envisioned another fight. I’d barely slept and hidden out as if we were enemies on different sides of a war. I’d prepared to be cruel. To match his nastiness if I stood any chance at being strong enough to get home.
But...all of that tension, that waiting, that plotting, it wasn’t me. It was too much effort. It hurt. It truly hurt, and I didn’t know how to deal with that.
“The power isn’t lasting at night,” he murmured, the topic switch leaving me floundering. Even talking about mundane things, his allure, his presence, all dripped with sexuality. “I’m guessing you’ve noticed.”
Unable to see where he was going with this, I nodded slightly. I’d found it annoying at the beginning. Wary of him stalking me in the dark, I suspected he’d shut the lights off as another mind game or version of control.
“It’s not supposed to.” He licked his lips, drawing my attention to his mouth. “I think the hydro power has been damaged. Possibly by the storm the night you ran away.” His eyes burned with memories, transmitting every touch and thrust we’d shared while coated in rain and mud.
The hesitant hum of awareness between us suddenly billowed into outright heat.
My breasts tingled. My tummy clenched. My hate for this man didn’t stand a chance against my desire.
Stop it!
I cleared my throat and dropped my eyes to the knife in my hands.
He’s your enemy, Gem.
“The backup power comes from solar. The panels are old, and even though I do my best to maintain them, their output isn’t enough to run the fridge, oven, and lights for a full day. The batteries are old and past their prime. That’s why we’re having blackouts.”
I kept looking down, not sure why he was sharing such things but unwilling to interrupt his soft voice. It was the kindest he’d ever spoken to me. Simple topics of life in his valley that somehow made my heart kick and belly flip in his presence.
It did more than just make me lust, it made me question what his existence had been like after.
After the abuse.
After the masters.
After...when he was all alone.
“I haven’t stocked up on firewood yet, which is another task I should’ve started by now. Come winter, whatever electricity we do have will be used for other essentials. Heat will have to come from fire.” He came toward me, tipping my chin up with his finger.
Electricity sizzled from his skin to mine.
I shivered.
His jaw clenched.