Chapter 4 #2
The car finally comes to a stop, and it feels like it's been more than ten minutes, but that might just be because I've got a kink in my neck from lying across the center console on his arm. Or maybe it's because I didn't enjoy cuddling with this asshole. Either way, it's over now.
He gently shakes me and calls my name. "Zoe, hey, we're here."
I come to slowly, stretching and yawning, but not really waking up. I can't be sure what he put in my drink, but I can bet it's something to put me out and keep me out. That's what it always is, after all.
"Hey, Zoe," he tries again, and I groan and move to lie on the window.
He chuckles as if I'm being cute and not like he drugged me before I hear him get out of the car. He moves around the car to my door, slowly opening it and pulling my pillow from under my head.
"Where are we?" I ask, blinking up at him before settling into the seat again.
"Hey, no wake-up. You can sleep inside." He reaches across my lap to unbuckle me before pulling me from the car.
I'd almost expected him to pick me up and carry me into the house, but I should have known better.
That's something I'm used to because that's something my guys do, and unlike him, my guys aren't bitches.
Instead, he slings my arm over his shoulder and grabs my waist, all but dragging me to the door. It's pathetic and fucking dangerous the way he stumbles over his feet again and again, but I'm just here for the ride.
He's so damn uncoordinated that for half a second, I contemplate pushing him off the porch when he fishes for his keys, but I don't. I know I could balance on my own and stay on the porch, but with the performance I'm putting on, it would probably look suspicious.
I don't stop myself from imagining it, though, and that brings a smile to my lips.
The apartment is big, not like the small ones on TV, but one that screams, ‘I come from money.’ It probably costs more than most families spend on a three or four-bedroom house each year.
Gross.
Of all the people who don't deserve the finer things in life.
He flicks on the lights as we make our way down the hall and into the large living room, where he gently sets me down on the couch before disappearing back down the hall, probably to close the door.
Almost everything is white, with small accents of black here and there.
The ceilings are high with fancy light fixtures that I bet he wouldn't dare change himself, and the TV is more than half the size of the opposite wall.
Thankfully, I've seen most of this type of shit before, both because of the guys and because of clients I've had in the past, but it never ceases to make my stomach turn when I know how these fuckers got money or what they do with the status they earned.
Again, gross.
Nash returns to the living room quickly enough that his socks slip on the hardwood floor in the hall, and he almost goes down. I don't even attempt to hide my chuckle when he looks up and sees me staring at him. His brows pull together, and his jaw ticks in clear annoyance.
Nash doesn't like to be laughed at, noted.
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," I assure him, and his smile returns, though it doesn't seem as genuine as it had been before.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." He moves around the couch and looks like he's going to have a seat with me.
Not what I want.
I cradle my head in my hands and groan. "Do you, by chance, have anything I can take for my head? I can feel the start of a banging headache coming on already, so I want to get ahead of it if I can." I peek up at him with a forced smile and again find his brows pulled.
As quickly as I notice his irritation, it's gone, and he's moving behind the couch and into the kitchen behind us, which I didn't bother to really look at. It doesn't matter much to me what the fuck it looks like. If you've seen one fancy kitchen, you've seen them all.
Unless you’re Rick, of course, then it might matter. Beyond that, no matter how nice it is, in just a few hours, Nash will be dead. So it's not like what’s here really matters, not anymore.
I hear the cabinets open and close and the water run as he hurriedly moves around, and it's ironic, really, because the faster he gets to do what he wants, the faster he'll die.
Not that he knows that, but it's funny to me all the same.
"Here."
I look up to find him standing in front of me. Two little pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other, both held out in offering to me.
Without taking a moment to examine them, I take them and toss ‘em in my mouth before taking the water and chasing them down.
When his brows pull together this time, he looks more confused than upset, and I can't say I blame him.
I'm sure it would have been a lot easier to drug me by simply giving me pills, and I just showed him how easily it would have worked.
Rookie mistake, but then again, most things are to me.
"Um, do you have a blanket I could use?" I ask, making a show of rubbing at my arms to try to warm myself up. The house is on the cool side, and considering how little I'm wearing, it's not unrealistic to assume I would be cold.
I'm not.
No, these goosebumps have everything to do with the anticipation of what's to come. The excitement I feel as every second ticks by into another minute, but he doesn't need to know that.
"Oh, um, you can sleep in my bed, and I'll take the couch."
"Oh no, I couldn't. The couch is plenty comfortable enough," I tell him, giving a bounce as if to prove to him that this will do.
"Nah, it's nothing special, but I'd never be able to sleep knowing you're down here on the couch when I'm in bed. I just wasn't raised like that." Nothing in his expression says what he's saying is a lie, and I'd bet he wasn't raised like that.
Most people aren't raised to be rapist monsters who prey on underage girls that they're supposed to be teaching... crazy, right?
"Okay." I push a stray strand of hair behind my ear and smile at him. "If you're sure."
He takes the cup from my hand and sets it on the table behind him before offering his hand to help me stand. This time, I don't make him work quite so hard to get me moving, seeing as I'm awake, but I still have a little fun with him on the way up the stairs.
His room is boring, for lack of a better term. Nothing really screams his personality except a few frames on the walls, but even those are documents rather than photos.
Most people who hide everything have something worth hiding.
Trust me, I'd know.
He pulls back the covers, and I start to take off my shoes. Even if I weren't trying to act tipsy, these shoes always take a second to get out of, and with Zander having tied them, well, that's not helpful.
"Let me." He drops to his knees after I groan in annoyance, takes my foot and places it on his other knee, then begins to untie them.
"Thanks," I whisper, looking down at my lap and fiddling with my thumbs.
He makes quick work of the shoes before going to his dresser and pulling something out. He then drops it on the bed as I move under the covers and get comfortable.
"They'll probably be a bit big, but I put a shirt and sweatpants on the end of the bed if you decide you want to change."
I don't respond; instead, I close my eyes and let my breathing even out.
I hear him as he moves around the room toward the head of the bed. He doesn't touch me, but I feel him as he gets closer before pulling away again.
"Damn, that was fast." His words are quiet, hardly more than a whisper, and not at all meant for me, but it's impossible not to hear the excitement in them.
The next second, his hand grips my shoulder, and he gives me a shake. It's not a lot, but enough that had I been some half-drunk girl who wasn't knocked out from the drugs he slipped me, he’d know I was faking.
He waits a second before doing it again, and like before, I keep my breathing calm and flop around as he moves me. It seems he’s happy with it, though, because I hear him move from the room and down the hall before he comes back, this time closing the door behind him.
I’m not sure what he’s doing, and I don’t care to peek and find out.
It doesn’t matter because, in his haste to have his way with me, he’s missed the fact that he isn’t the only one sneaking around right now.