Chapter 23
RAFE
Ifelt his eyes on me, shooting daggers from the confines of the prison—Zach’s home for the rest of his life if Alex had her way.
If I didn’t give her the baby she wanted.
Part of me was still bitter over her choice to keep Zach alive, still questioning it. I also questioned what we were about to do down here, but the truth was I’d do anything to make her happy. To help her heal.
As I dragged a set of shackles into the middle of the cellar, I sensed his hatred following my every move. Ignoring the sight of his bruised face, I got to work installing the restraints.
“What the fuck is that for?” Curling his fingers around the bars, Zach watched me with a furrow between his brows.
“Nothing that concerns you.”
His answering laugh echoed through the cellar. “You must love this, having me locked up like a fucking pet.”
“My first choice was to put you in the ground.”
“Then why don’t you just get it over with already?”
I didn’t answer, and that dragged a laugh from him. “She doesn’t want me dead, does she?”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” I returned his smug smile with a lethal glare, infusing every ounce of hatred I felt for the bastard. “She thinks death is too good for you.”
“Keep telling yourself that, but you know the truth as well as I do. There’s a part of her that loves me—that will always love me—and you hate it.”
I hated him for even thinking it. As if Alex could love him. What a ridiculous idea.
No wonder she felt the need to prove to him otherwise, and God, though it was sick and demented and a hundred levels of fucked up, the idea of fucking her brains out while forcing him to watch heated my blood.
My dick came to life at the thought of all the things I planned to do to her down here, now that her body had healed.
She’d made a full recovery physically. Now it was time to work on her heart.
Testing the chains, I arched a brow in his direction. “I used to think you had a good head on your shoulders.” I wandered to the bars standing between us, remaining just out of reach. “But you really believe these delusions, don’t you?”
“You’re the one buying into delusions, man.”
I couldn’t hold back a bitter laugh. “She wants to make a baby with me, and she wants you alive long enough to watch it happen.” Another step brought us face-to-face. “And as soon as she gets that positive pregnancy test, she doesn’t care if you live or die.”
“You’re a fucking liar,” he shouted.
“It’s the truth. Even she has a limit, and you reached it when you caused her to miscarry our child.”
We weren’t positive of the actual cause, but she believed it was the shock collar, and she’d never forgive him for it.
Hell, she’d never forgive me.
He scoffed. “I’m glad she lost your fucking spawn.”
Hands clenching at my sides, I fought the temptation to unlock the cell and strangle him to death. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
His eyes widened the slightest bit, but the bastard wiped the alarm from his face as fast as it had appeared. I made my way up the stairs, ignoring Zach’s running commentary, and found Alex in the kitchen where I’d left her.
She was wiping down an already clean counter, keeping herself busy with mindless work. She’d been doing that a lot since I’d plowed through the wall she’d built between us with nothing more than determination and the sting of my belt.
Halting behind her, I set my hands on her warm shoulders and leaned down to inhale her scent. “You ready for this?”
“Yes.” Conviction laced her tone, but I still detected the tiny tremor stringing that word together.
“Tell me the rules again.”
“Don’t look at him. Don’t talk to him. Don’t acknowledge his existence.”
“And what happens if you break one of those rules?”
Her breath hitched. “You won’t let me come.”
And she wanted to. We were both aching for each other after two weeks of celibacy.
“That’s right,” I said, nuzzling her ear as I parted her legs with my knee. I drew the hem of her dress up and slipped my fingers beneath her panties. “But you’re not going to break those rules, are you, sweetheart?”
“No.”
“Good girl.” Fuck, how I ached to taste the sensitive spot on her neck.
Soon.
Her agreement of those three rules was the only way I’d go through with this. “You forgot one other thing.”
She glanced at me from over her shoulder. “I’ve always trusted you, Rafe. That hasn’t changed.”
And yet so much had. The knowledge seared me to my soul, and I closed my eyes for several seconds, breathing deep until the ache in my chest subsided. “You should have a safe word.”
“I don’t need one.”
“Then promise you’ll tell me if it becomes too much.” It was one thing to make her bend when it was just the two of us, but doing so in front of Zach…
“Promise me, Alex.”
“I promise.”
Lacing our fingers together, I urged her to follow me out of the kitchen. Her breathing picked up as soon as we reached the door to the cellar, and I wondered if she was reliving that morning when Zach forced her to flee down the staircase.
God, how fucking terrified she’d been. How smart.
If she hadn’t locked herself in that prison, there’s no telling how much worse it could have been.
He’d fucking violated her, which was horrific enough all on its own, but he could have taken her off the island if she hadn’t taken action.
That prison had saved her from a life sentence more horrible than death.
It had saved me from a lifetime of searching the ends of the earth for her, because I would have never given up.
Sometimes the stars did align. Even in the blackness, those pinpricks shone through, like little symmetrical signs of hope.
As I reached for the doorknob, her breathing stalled altogether.
Five seconds.
It was her thing, some technique she used in order to cope. I’d never called her on it, but I was aware.
“Are you sure about this? I’ll make you do all kinds of shit, Alex, but not this.”
She nodded. “Don’t baby me. I need you to be…you. I need you to do it in front of him.”
The desperation in her eyes, the submission begging to be unleashed…Jesus. I grabbed her by the chin as my cock throbbed in my jeans. “The asshole in me wants to use ginger on you.”
“So you want to punish me.”
Not a question, but a fucking statement her mind had tricked her into believing. As if I would ever hold her responsible for any of this.
“God, baby. No.” I lowered my head, an inch away from touching my lips to hers. “There’s nothing to punish.”
“Then why the ginger?”
“Why do I do anything, Alex?”
That earned me a glimmer of a smile. “Because you’re fucked up?”
“Yeah, baby. I’m fucked up over you. Let me show you the pleasurable side of ginger. If you don’t like it, we never have to use it again, punishments excluded, of course.”
She swallowed hard. “Of course.”
“Is that a yes?”
“It’s not a no.”
We locked eyes for several seconds, exchanging excited breaths. Without severing the connection, I pulled the cellar door open. “Go down and undress. I’ll grab the ginger and be down in a second.”
“No, Rafe, I—”
I placed a finger against her lips. “He can’t hurt you anymore. Never again.” I darted a glance into that black space where she’d gone through so much. “You’re going to go down there, ignore the bastard, and wait for me. It’s your turn to take his power. Understand?”
With a quick, nervous nod, she flicked on the light and disappeared down the staircase.