Chapter 27 #2
Not wanting to answer the question, my mind jumped to Caden. The notion I could get back to him, go home, filled my thoughts. I had to be close, about a mile from him. A smile crept over my face, my lids closing as I shifted in the tub, imagining Caden’s expression when he saw me again.
Alive.
His shocked face turning into pure elation, his smile lighting up the world as he ran to me, folding me up in his arms and spinning me around. His lips crashing against mine.
“You’re alive,” he would breathe against my mouth, taking them fiercely again. “They told me you were dead.”
“I know.” My lips would seize his, unable to break from his for a second.
“I can’t live without you again. I won’t. It’s always been you and me, Brex. I should have fought for you that night. I will never make that mistake again. I want you. I love you.”
The words rained down on me, bubbling in my chest with joy, sliding tears down my face.
“I love you too.”
My mind quickly switched to my bedroom, Caden laying me down on his bed, his mouth on me, his body crawling over mine. I wanted so badly to actually feel him; my mind tried to make it real, like that night in the prison.
“Brexley . . .” His vision whispered my name, sounding like a plea. Desire. Want.
Falling into my illusion, I shut off the outside world, committing fully to my fantasy. My hands moved down through the water, ignoring the scars and bumps trying to bring me back to reality. I pretended my hands were his, caressing me, undressing me.
Touching me.
My fingertips squeezed my nipples, the pleasure opening my thighs with need, drowning in thoughts of Caden and me exploring each other.
“Is this what you want, Brexley? Me?” Caden murmured in my ear, his imaginary kisses soft down my neck.
“Yes.” My back arched.
“No, it’s not.” A deep gravelly voice skated over my skin, the man over me suddenly changing.
A smirk covered his mouth, his aqua eyes glinting.
Long, dark hair played through my fingers, a massive form pressing down on me, sparking fire in my veins.
I could feel his weight. His wet skin against mine.
His heat and excitement pressing into me.
Damn, he feels so real. So good.
“You don’t want tender or sweet. You want to be fucked.
Hard. Feel alive.” Warwick’s mouth skimmed my throat, electricity sizzling through me, filling me with desperate need.
“You think you still want him? Think he’s the kind of man you should end up with?
You hold on to him because he’s safe. But it’s not you.
Not anymore, princess. You are feral and dangerous.
A monster that can’t be caged. There is a wildness inside that won’t be tamed.
And that’s all he’d want to do. Break you of your savagery. Tame you.”
His words felt like arrows, each digging into my soul.
No! I yelled at myself. Get out of my head. I don’t want you. I love Caden.
I tried to clear my mind, reset it.
“You’ve tried that before. Didn’t work then,” Warwick growled against my ear. “Just like I tried not to think about you while fucking those women. I want you out of my head just as much.”
Every word was a threat. They dripped with hate, but his hands moved down my body, sending tingles over me, parting my mouth, my pulse thumping through my nerves.
How did this feel so real? Like he was really here with me. Fear rang in the back of my head when I knew my hands were at my sides but could still feel fingers glide down my sternum, a moan growing in my throat.
What the hell! Stop it, Brexley. My eyes jolted open, yanking me out of my dream world with a gasp. Alone in the tub, I peered at my limbs as if they would explain to me how they could feel him. My imagination wasn’t that good.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a huge silhouette in the doorway.
I jolted up with a croaked cry. “Holy shit,” I cried.
Pain stabbed through me as my muscles tweaked, water swishing in the tub.
Seeing the real man who had been so vividly in my head twisted me with confusion and humiliation.
It was as if he had jumped from my head to where he stood.
Warwick leaned against the frame, his arms crossed, eyebrows furrowed. He lowered his eyes on me, a clouded expression drifting over his features.
“What the hell? What are you doing in here?” Mortification flipped to anger as I tried to sink deeper into the water, covering myself, but it was too low to fully hide. How long had he been there? Did I say anything out loud? Did he watch me? “Get out.”
He didn’t answer, staring at me as if he was trying to figure something out. His presence didn’t just fill the room, he overtook it, flooding it until I couldn’t breathe. Angry and brutal.
“He’s terrifying and so sexually charged. Gods, he must know how to fuck.” Rosie’s sentiment rushed back into my head before I shoved it out.
My arms crossed over my breasts, glaring at him, the serene moment of my fantasy now gone, though energy pumped through me, sparking the air, drumming down my thighs.
“What?” I growled, my throat still raw.
He watched me for another beat, the intensity of his gaze making me fidget. He shook his head, the unreadable expression turning to his usual smug sneer.
“Enjoying yourself in there?” His cheek twitched, his tone leaving no doubt he had been watching me.
My nose flared. “Get. Out. Perv.”
“You sure, princess? I think you really would like me to join you.” Self-assuredness purred from him. “Remember, I’ve already seen what you have to offer.” His eyes moved down to my mostly exposed body. The feel of his gaze slipped down my skin, adding more flames to my fire. “I’ll pass.”
He’ll pass? Irritation wiped out all notion of modesty or prudence. The need to challenge his claim. Provoke. Push.
Forcing myself up, I gripped the edge of the tub.
The sound of swishing water crashed off the walls, my skin prickling with awareness as he went rigid, his eyes rolling down my figure.
Putting weight on my good leg, I stepped out, moving until I was flush to him, my head tipping back.
The water slipped down my naked figure, dripping onto his pants, my bare toes hitting his dirty boots.
Clean. Dirty. Naked. Clothed. Wet. Dry.
Yin. Yang.
He inhaled sharply but didn’t move, his gaze cautious and defensive like I was a wild animal. Feral and unstable. His chest moved in quicker pulses.
“Really?” My voice stayed low, husky, causing a twitch in his jaw. “For someone who declares I disgust him, you seem to find me often when I’m naked.”
A twitch flicked at his temple, but he kept his face emotionless, tipping up one shoulder. “It’s like being around a naked boy.”
“Have a lot of experience with that, huh?” I curved an eyebrow, inching closer, his T-shirt absorbing the water from my body. “I should have known. All makes sense now.”
He snorted, his eyes glinting with rivalry. “Glad you have me all figured out.” His tone was condescending, but he tipped forward until his mouth lingered just a breath from mine. I forced myself not to move, his nearness setting off alarms in me. “I feel so much better now.”
As if his words could physically touch me, I could feel the sensation of hands sliding everywhere over me, curving up the back of my thighs, skimming my ass, tracing my spine, across my collarbone.
I sucked in, freezing in place.
At my reaction, he went still, his head jerking back, his eyes widening slightly.
“You felt that?” he muttered so low I barely caught it.
“What?”
“Nothing.” He pulled back, his face turning aloof and cold.
“Get dressed,” he ordered. “I need to bandage your wound, which is probably infected from the dirty water. And you need food,” he snarled, his gaze briefly going to the ribs showing through my skin as if they had insulted him.
He rubbed his heavy scruff, swearing under his breath.
Fury rode his shoulders, disgust for me choking the air from the room
What the hell was his problem? As if being starved, beaten, and tortured in prison had been part of my plan to utterly piss him off.
“I don’t need your help,” I snapped back. Pulling my hair over my shoulders, I covered my front the best I could, feeling vulnerable and insecure. “Actually, I’d be better without you. I can’t wait to get back home and leave this whole horrific time behind me. Especially you.”
It was a second—a blink.
He grabbed my shoulders, shoving me back into the wall, igniting sparks through me, flushing my skin with energy. Adrenaline slammed into my bloodstream, spiking my senses. His enormous physique flattened against mine.
“You aren’t going back home, princess.” He glared down at me as his legs pressed into my thighs, the fabric of his cotton pants and T-shirt rubbing across my bare skin. My body responded with want, curving into him, greedy for more, which only made me angrier.
“I am,” I seethed. “You have no say over me.”
“Really?” he gritted, moving in closer. On purpose or not, the movement scraped his clothes against my core and nipples, filling me with blinding need. Stop, Brexley. You don’t even like him.
Clenching my jaw, I funneled everything into hate. “Get. Off. Me.”
He smirked, his hand coming to my throat, the pulse of his erection rubbing into me, spinning my head like a whirlwind, shooting out all my logic. His thumb grazed over the black and blue bruises he put there yesterday. His jaw twitched as he ran over them, fury lighting up his eyes.
“Let me go.”
“No.” His fingers trailed down my throat, firing another shot of adrenaline into my blood. With everything I had, I swallowed back the moan clawing up my throat. “You need me, Kovacs.” He pushed me into the wall harder, wetness slicking my core.
Fuck, did I like this? What was wrong with me?
“You would be still in prison if it wasn’t for me. Or dead.” He loomed even more fiercely.
“Need you?” I spat, lifting my chin. “I don’t need a man who wants me dead.”
His thumb ran up my neck. Slowly. Sensually. Threatening. “If I did, you would be. That was just me playing with you. Bought us more time.”
“You choking me was just a little game?”
His thumb sank down into my collarbone, and once again, I was overcome with the sensation of hands grazing up the back of my thighs.
“Yes,” he replied. “And you liked it.”
I sucked in sharply, feeling my body answer with an eager yes.
“But make no mistake, I saved you. Your life is mine now. I own you.”
“Nyasgem.” Fuck off. I felt my voice vibrate against his palm. “No one owns me.” I realized how easily I let Istvan give me over to the disgusting Romanian asshole. I didn’t fight, sensing it was out of my control.
Owned. Weak. Submissive.
I had been beaten, stabbed, starved, tortured, locked in a hole, whipped, and almost raped. I had survived it all.
I wasn’t some little doll anymore.
I was now a killer.
Going in innocent, considering myself tough, but I came out of Halalház as the monster they created.
Feral and dangerous.
And I wouldn’t be tamed.
Adrenaline masked the pain in my body, so I curled my good leg around his, wrenching it hard. Warwick dipped to the side, giving me a moment to shove him back.
“That all you got, princess?” He laughed, his frame barely registering my hit, which spiraled frenzy in my chest.
A growl vibrated in my throat as I barreled forward. As if I was siphoning energy from him, I rammed into Warwick with a force I knew my fragile frame was not capable of in its condition. Warwick’s eyes widened slightly as he stumbled back, his arms flailing, his massive build dropping back.
Splash!
A wall of water sprayed into the room like stormy ocean waves, roaring and breaking as they came crashing back down, dumping on his head, spilling over the floor. His form folded into the bathtub.
Holy shit, how did I do that?
There was a pregnant pause as liquid dripped down his face, drops sticking to his lashes. His livid blue eyes shot up to mine, glinting with fire, his nostrils flaring. Slowly, his tongue slid out, sweeping up the water from his lip.
Heat and terror flushed my stomach with hot and cold, but I kept my head up, holding on to my facade of strength.
“I’m not property,” I snarled, keeping my voice low. “And if you try anything like that again, I will stab you in the throat. I’ve done it before . . . and I will do it again.”
Before he could respond, I whipped around, going for the towel on the hook but seeing it was drenched with the water sloshing around my ankles. Damn it. With a grunt, I flung the door open, the prudish voices in my head screaming to cover up my bits when several people passed by.
Pride won out. Plus, I doubted nudity even registered here.
I stormed out of the room with my head held high, my message clear. Okay, I limped out, terrified of his retaliation, but I didn’t pause as I went to the room and slammed the door.
Fuck Warwick Farkas. The moment I could get out of here, I was going home.
Back to where I belonged. To my life and the man I loved.