Chapter Eight
Gemma
I stepped into the lion’s den with my body coming back to life even as my mind screamed run. I ignored both and put on a bland face as I crossed my arms and looked at anything but Evander and his king-size bed.
If he wanted sex, I wouldn’t cooperate. I’d be a lifeless piece of flesh, immune to him in every way. If only the handcuff dangling from my wrist was as easy to ignore. It reminded me all too well I was nothing more than Evander’s prisoner.
My peripheral vision caught him arching a dark brow. “Would you like a drink or to use the toilet before I attach your handcuff to the bed?”
I blinked at him. “Please tell me you’re not going to keep me chained up like a dog?”
“I am,” he said somberly, gesturing then toward the edge of the bed.
I stepped to where he asked, my legs suddenly heavy and my mind numb. “You don’t have to do this,” I protested weakly. “I’ll stay here willingly. It’s not like I can go anywhere.”
He nodded at me to sit. I did what he asked, slumping on the mattress. He reached out and clasped my hand, his warm touch creating electrical sparks even as he pulled my arm back before attaching the other end of my handcuff to the bedhead.
I refused to cry, refused to plead with him. Instead I stared at him with empty eyes and a stoic face. He was mafia. He’d get off on my fear just as much as he’d get off on me begging him to release me.
My mother had told me enough stories about her life with the Accardi mafia to make me realize how low those kind of men went to enact revenge. I’d humiliated Evander by escaping and leaving him alone when he’d taken me to meet his family.
No doubt his family now thought the worst of me and imagined he couldn’t keep his slut in line. Mafia families might respect their own kin, but they most certainly didn’t respect women who’d done the dirty on one of their own.
I couldn’t help huff out an aggrieved breath. Mafia men could treat others like shit even while they expected the utmost respect in return.
Assholes.
I tensed as the handcuff clinked as it was locked into place, imprisoning me once again. I squeezed my eyes closed as Evander straightened; his powerful frame towering over me and making me feel tiny and inadequate.
He spoke then, his voice hard. “From this moment on you will stay quiet unless I ask you a question or you absolutely need to tell me something. Maybe then I won’t feel a need to gag you.”
Sweat beaded on my brow, my top lip, my muscles so tight they quivered. As if taking my freedom away wasn’t bad enough thanks to being cuffed to the bed like an animal. Having a gag in my mouth, which restricted my breathing was an even more horrifying thought.
It wasn’t until his tread retreated from the room that my eyes popped open and my tension slowly leached back out of me.
I heard the faint snick of a lock before a far door opened and closed. No doubt he’d gone into the room he’d told me never to enter.
I blew out a slow breath. I’d been expecting him to rip off my clothes and take me against my will. So what was this ?
Was he just going to leave me here alone to slowly rot?
I’d go stir crazy!
What, do you want him to fuck you now and get it over with?
Was it terrible that I did? I hated not knowing what was going to happen next. I hated waiting for the unexpected. The only thing I knew for sure was that he would take my body. It was just a question of when.
I wasted hours watching the shadows grow as they slowly crawled across the floorboards. My eyelids finally fluttered and fully closed, darkness then descending in a rush.
I stood at the traffic lights with a folder of my precious artworks clutched in one hand, my cell in my other. The pedestrian signal flicked to walk just as my phone rang. I stepped across the road with dozens of other people, juggling my folder as I answered the call.
My phone slipped from my grasp and I fumbled to keep a hold of it even as I misstepped, slamming into someone coming from the other direction. Oomph. I somehow clamped hold of my phone even as my folder dropped and fell open on the ground, a dozen acrylic landscape and seascape paintings on paper scattering free.
My breath hissed out as pedestrians stepped onto my precious work. It was only when a man bent and collected my paintings that I realized he was the one and same man I’d collided into.
It took one breathless heartbeat for me to take in his magnificence. His tall, lean yet masculine body that was encased in a dark suit likely tailored especially for him. His shadowed stubble showcased a strong jaw and sensual lips, while his nose was perfectly proportioned to his high cheekbones and dark, mysterious eyes that hid tantalizing secrets.
He looked at me, freezing for a second before he asked huskily, “Are you all right?”
I am now.
At my shaky nod, he gathered up the last couple of paintings, pushed them into my folder, then drew me with him off the road. “You look far from all right,” he said in a deep, concerned tone. “I think you could do with a strong drink.”
I was made weak by his powerful presence, his intoxicating scent of forest and smoky leather aftershave. “I think you’re right,” I admitted with a shaky laugh.
He smiled then, his dark eyes crinkling slightly at the edges. “There’s a bar half-a-block away from here. Maybe I can buy you a drink while you tell me all about those amazing paintings I saw.”
I smiled, a glimmer of joy lighting me up from the inside out. “Thank you. I-I think I’d like that.”
I woke with a start, though my arm stayed asleep and tingled with pins and needles. I jerked the handcuff and its chain before I half-sat, then looked around, my memories flooding back with a vengeance.
I’d been dreaming, totally unaware I was prisoner now to the same man I’d been salivating over. I might have fallen madly and passionately in love with Evander in the past, but things were a whole lot different now.
I despised him and everything he stood for. He was mafia. He wasn’t just a bad man, he was evil personified.
Morning light flooded through the net curtains of the bedroom that was now my home, a bird twittering just outside as though welcoming me to my new home.
Piss off, bird. This will never be my home.
I yanked my arm again, clattering the chain on my restraint. That my bladder was full only added to my urgency. “ Hello ! Evander? I need to pee!”
Silence answered my query and panic grew inside of me like a tsunami, wild and aggressive. “Evander you son-of-a-bitch, I need to pee now !”
A far-off door creaked open then shut. The sound of approaching footsteps made my heart rate settle considerably, until Evander walked into his bedroom in the same suit he’d worn last night, the whites of his eyes tinged red and dark shadows beneath.
I gulped. Had he slept at all? “I need to use the bathroom,” I said hoarsely.
He nodded, then retrieved the handcuff key before he bent and unlocked it. It was a relief to move my arm and I shook out the pins and needles before I stood on too-weak legs.
“Thank you,” I muttered ungraciously before I walked quickly out of the bedroom and to his bathroom, all too aware of him following me close behind. Before I had the chance to shut the bathroom door, he put a hand out and caught it.
“The door stays open,” he said in a gravelly, no-nonsense voice.
“I’d like privacy while I pee,” I gritted out, even as I stumbled toward the toilet and pulled my leggings and panties down together, then sat on the seat. My bladder couldn’t be restrained a second longer and he stood watching me silently while I tinkled loudly for what seemed like forever.
“Pervert,” I snarled when I finally finished.
He snorted. “Believe me when I say watching you pee doesn’t make me want to jerk off.”
“It’s good to know you’re not completely vile.”
His eyes narrowed. “Not every member of the mafia is a sadistic fuck.”
I pulled up my panties and leggings, then flushed the toilet. “Really?” I asked sweetly. “Says who?”
“Says me,” he growled before he stalked forward, then turned on the tap for me to wash my hands.
I squirted some liquid soap into my hands, then slowly washed off the bubbles. “Then perhaps you’ll show me that nice side by letting me go?”
His dark chuckle reverted around the small bathroom with its off-white walls and pearly-white tiles. “My inner goodness only extends so far. You’re stuck here with me for the foreseeable future.”