Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Eve
I’m panting, watching Christian as he looms over me like the devil, deciding exactly how he’d like to devour his victim—in this case, me.
He holds the gel capsule up. “You’re going to take this one way or another,” he says. “You’re not leaving this room again tonight. There are way too many drunk guys roaming around.”
Honestly, after what happened between Christian and me downstairs, I’d be safer in a nuclear warzone than I am with him. At least out there, there’s a 50/50 chance I’ll get away unscathed. With Christian, there’s zero chance. Less than zero.
I remain perfectly still as he eases off me. I’m determined to appear unaffected, but I’m still sore from earlier, and I wince before I can stop it.
“Open your legs,” he orders.
I consider arguing with him, but in the end, I do as I’m told—to my utter humiliation. He’s touched me a million times by now, we just had sex, and he’s bathed me, so I don’t know why I’m suddenly so self-conscious about it. Squeezing my eyes shut, I remind myself that his opinion of me doesn’t matter. Once I leave this house, I’ll never have to see his smug face again.
His hand moves to the patch of dark curls between my thighs. “I haven’t told you yet how much I like my girls natural.”
My jaw is clenched so tightly, pain radiates up the side of my face. “I’m not your girl,” I say through gritted teeth.
His eyes flick up to meet mine so quickly that, like an idiot, I jerk back on instinct, and my head slams against the headboard. Shit. He smiles when he sees how uncomfortable he makes me.
“Actually, you are my girl. I claimed you in front of everyone and in the Burning Crown, that’s binding,” he says, his finger pushing past my curls, entering me.
He toys with me for a minute, teasing my clit with the pad of his thumb, stroking me. And despite my resistance, it’s working. Downstairs in the livingroom, he proved just how effortlessly he commands my body and fuck if he isn’t proving it all over again with one effortless stroke of his thumb.
My hips lift off the mattress of their own volition, and he chuckles, then pushes in deeper. His fingers fill me and it feels so good, I can’t help but suck in a sharp gulp of air, that blissful tension building in my veins all over again...
Oh, sweet mother of…
“Goddamn.” He curls his fingers before pulling out, then pushing back in, ratcheting up that tension in my body. “You’re still wet with my cum.” He dips his head and presses his lips against my stomach, using his teeth to nip at my skin. “But it’s not enough. I want it dripping down your thighs…”
The mention of him fucking me again sends a shameful frenzy rushing through my veins. I shake my head. “Once was enough,” I manage to choke out. “And it wasn’t even that good.”
He’s not even phased by my insult. Maybe he knows it’s a lie.
“Why are you fighting this so hard?” he asks, distracted by his exploration of my body. With his fingers still inside me, his tongue dips into my navel.
“Because…” I say, my voice shaky. “...I hate everything you stand for.”
His soft lips trail down to my hip, and his warm breath brushes over my skin, sending a riot of sensations zipping through my body. “And what’s that?”
“You’re wealthy, privileged, controlling…” I pant, squeezing my eyes shut. “You think the rules don’t apply to you…”
He laughs against my skin. “You forgot ‘possessive.’ Though I prefer to think of it as knowing exactly what’s mine—and making sure it stays that way.” He applies more pressure to my clit, rubbing it in delicious little circles with the pad of his thumb. “The things I value, I protect,” he says darkly, lifting his eyes to watch me writhe under the onslaught of sensations. “The things I want, I pursue until they’re mine…”
“You’re wasting your time if you think I’d ever surrender to you…” I mumble, my mind struggling to form a coherent sentence while my body actively betrays me.
“You already have,” he answers with a smile that’s so beautiful, it makes my pussy clench tight. God, how can someone be so evil yet so fucking hot?
My aunt used to tell me life isn’t fair—and she was right.
It’s never been fair to me, anyway.
“If you try to fuck me again, I swear—” I bring my leg up and wedge my foot between our bodies, using it to push him away. He’s much stronger than me, though, so my efforts are a joke. “—I’ll scream.”
Not that it’ll matter. Who would come to my rescue?
“No, you won’t…” he says, removing his hand from my body. He holds something up. It’s small and pinched between his fingers, so I can’t make out what it is at first. But when I look closely, I can see it’s the gel cap—but it’s deflated, empty.
What the…?
Then I realize what he just did. When I wouldn’t swallow the pill, he ruptured it inside me. My heart seizes. I’ve just been drugged.
“You motherfucker…” I spit out, but the words are slightly slurred. Is it already working? The effects hit within seconds—too fast—and a cold wave of panic crashes through me when I realize this is no ordinary drug.
I try to lift my head, but it’s too heavy, and my movements are slow, sluggish. Holy fuck. “What did you give me?”
He flashes me a sinister smile. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ve got you…”
His handsome face hovers above me, all blurry and distorted. I try to say something cutting, but the words dissolve on my tongue before I can get them out.
Then the darkness rushes in, and it’s lights out.
I’m gone.