Chapter 24 Sloane
Sloane
The knock thunders over my music, Even though I have the volume turned way up. I have no neighbors, not for a good mile or two, so I never have to worry about noise complaints.
DUM DUM DUM.
The series of thuds shakes the glass in the window frames that overlook the city in the distance, and I pause in folding my laundry. It comes again. Bang, bang, bang. Whoever it is, they’re getting pissed off.
I immediately think the worst: It’s him.
But then I remember that Zeth has a key.
Surely, he’d just let himself in if he were here.
Why the hell did I agree to that again? I skid down the hallway in my socks, picking up the baseball bat I always keep propped up against the wall behind the front door, just in case.
I peer through the spyhole, and my stomach drops.
He may have a key now, but for some reason, Zeth is hammering on my door at ten a.m. on my only day off this week.
Even though the spyhole glass distorts his face, I can tell that he’s furious.
“Sloane. If I let myself in and find that you’re in there, things are gonna get mighty awkward.
” He speaks in a conversational tone, like he knows I’m standing on the other side of the door, staring at him.
He looks right at the spyhole, arching an eyebrow.
Fuck.
I pull the door open, greeting him with a deep-set scowl. “What are you doing here? Couldn’t you have sent a text?” The corner of his mouth twitches, and I realize he’s trying not to smile. He eyes the baseball bat in my hand.
“I could have. But I didn’t.”
“Well, you should have.”
“I wanted to see where you lived.” He smiles a secret smile, and I know what it means.
He knew where I lived just fine. He looks ridiculously hot in his tight black tee and leather jacket, his jeans hugging him in all the right places.
Dark hair, dark eyes, dark clothes. I’m almost surprised to see him out in the daylight.
“If I don’t invite you in, will you be stuck at the threshold?” I’m pretty proud of that one. Zeth does the eyebrow thing again and steps into the house.
“You think I’m right out of a horror film, don’t you?”
“Well, this is hardly a fairy tale, is it?”
“It could be. If you let it.”
“Oh, yeah? And who are you supposed to be? My Prince Charming?”
He snorts at that. “No, silly girl. I’m the big bad wolf.
” He looks around with a curiosity that does nothing to dampen his predatory vibe.
If anything, it looks like he’s searching for the exits, documenting all possible escape routes.
Not for himself, of course. For me. Wondering which way I will run.
“What are you doing here, Zeth?”
“I told you. I wanted to see where you live.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Oh? You know me so well already?” He picks up a photo frame, studying the picture of me and Alexis at summer camp.
We look like two peas in a pod, smiling, both with braces.
He shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be handling my belongings, doing mundane things like flicking through the unopened mail sitting on my kitchen counter.
“Hey. Do you mind?”
“You live here alone?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He carries on investigating the place, leaving the kitchen to head through to the living room. The place is pretty empty, just a couple of bookshelves, the beaten leather sofa, a small flatscreen that I never watch. His gaze lingers on my guitar leaning against the wall in the corner.
“You play?” I ask him.
“No.” He turns, finally giving me his attention.
“You done snooping?”
“The only room I’m interested in snooping around in is the bedroom, Sloane. Right now I’m just making sure your house is secure. And it is.”
“I know. I spent thousands of dollars making sure it was safeguarded against intruders when I moved in. Now if you don’t mind, I have housework to do.”
Zeth smirks, like the idea of me doing housework is the funniest shit ever. “This friend of yours, the doctor,” he says. “I want to meet her.”
“What?”
“I want to meet her.”
“Why?”
“So I can gauge whether she can help with Lacey.”
Help with Lacey? That takes a moment to sink in. He wants help for his friend? The girl had been so locked down at the hospital, but I’d made the offer. I’d planted the seed and hoped all the same.
“My friend’s name is Pippa. And why the hell should I help you?”
A reckless smile curves Zeth’s mouth upward on one side.
“Pippa, huh?” He looks like he’s enjoying some secret joke.
He stalks slowly across the living room, his face suddenly all danger and destruction.
I feel like I’m being hunted. I back up as he gets closer, but the damn wall stops me after three paces.
Zeth leans into me and trails the bridge of his nose across my jawline, breathing in deep, inhaling me.
“You’re going to help me for four reasons.
” His hands find my hips. He takes his time, reaching into my jeans pocket and pulling out my phone.
Meanwhile, I am frozen solid, rooted to the spot.
He’s touching me, and it’s broad daylight.
“One,” he says, dropping his eye contact to look down at my phone.
“You’re going to call Pippa because I asked you to.
That’s the only reason you’re ever going to need from here on in.
” He starts keying the buttons, then scrolls across the touch screen, frowning.
“Two. You’re going to call Pippa because you’re a doctor, and it’s in your nature to want to help Lacey. ”
He hits the call button on my cell and holds it out to me.
I take it from him, dazed by the fact that the scent of him is making me feel drunk, and from the fact that I can’t say no.
He’s already too commanding, too powerful, too confident in himself.
I don’t have a hope in hell of refusing him. The phone starts to ring in my ear.
“Three. You’re going to do what I ask you because I’ve had a change of heart.
I’m going to help you find Alexis.” He raises a finger to my lips to stop me from saying anything before I can get a word out—no thank you, no it’s about fucking time.
Nothing. “And four…” He bites down on his bottom lip, tugging it between his teeth, and just like that, I’m ruined for every other man on the face of the planet.
He leans close again, pressing his lips against the shell of my ear.
His hand slides down inside the front of my jeans, and I start to shake.
“Four, Sloane, I’m about to make you come.
And you’re going to be very, very grateful.
” He parts my flesh with his index and middle fingers, working my pussy lips apart, immediately finding my clit, and I gasp out loud.
“Are you ready?”
Every muscle in my body tenses. A deviant spark flares in his eyes, daring me to deny him. I don’t. I can’t. He slides his fingers forward, groaning, pushing them inside of me, his gaze firmly fixed on me. I suck in a sharp breath, fighting the urge to let my eyes roll back into my head.
“Sloane? Sloane? Are you there?”
I haven’t even noticed the dial tone stopped ringing in my ear. “SHIT!”
“Well, hello to you, too.” Pippa sounds mildly entertained by my greeting.
Zeth looks about as evil as a man can as he thrusts his fingers inside me even harder. “You want me to stop?” he whispers.
I shake my head.
“Then you’d better get talking.”
A wave of pleasure shudders through my body. I can’t do it anymore. I close my eyes. This is it. This man is going to be the death of me.
“Pippa, hi. I—I need to ask a favor…”