CHAPTER FOUR
DAMON
I didn’t think I could love a reaction more. Watching Athena melt down into a total mess of shock and panic was the highlight of my week. Hell, it may have been the highlight of my entire existence.
Her dark green eyes were impossibly wide, her screams muffled by the tape over her mouth. I turned my phone to bathe her in its flashlight, snickering when she fell backwards onto the ground in her haste to get away from me.
With her hands tied, she struggled to get to her feet. I stood back, watching with a smile on my face that only seemed to feed her desperation. There was nowhere for her to run now.
“You don’t really think you’re going to get away, do you?” I snickered. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m having a lot of fun with this little game we’re playing. I’m more than willing to keep chasing you, but you and I need to have a little talk.”
That seemed to give her pause. Athena stopped back peddling away from me, a question in her eyes. Taking her forearm, I steered her over to a thick fallen log where we could take a seat.
She scooted away from me on the log, doing her best to put some space between us. I rolled my eyes. We both knew who had the power here.
“I’m going to take the tape off your mouth now,” I said, reaching toward her. “If you scream and make a fuss, it goes right back on. Understood?”
Athena nodded vigorously. With no attempt at being gentle, I grabbed the edge of the tape and ripped it off her lips. She let out a pained yelp that went straight to my cock.
“Ouch. What the fuck, Damon? I always knew there was something wrong with you, but I didn’t guess that you were such a psychopath. Why would you do this? I can’t believe how demented you are. You are going to be in so much shit for—”
I slapped the tape back onto her mouth, silencing her tirade. “What did I just say? If you want the tape off, you shut the hell up and listen to me. I’m trying to have a conversation with you here. If you can’t participate properly, then you get the tape.”
Her words came muffled as she begged me to remove it again, most likely promising that she wouldn’t continue her useless rambles.
With an irritated sigh, I pulled the tape off again, holding up a finger in warning.
The light from my phone was bright enough for me to easily see the glare that flashed across her face.
There definitely had to be something wrong with me. I loved how she managed to regard me with such disdain despite the fact that she was bound and gagged. This girl had some fight in her.
“How much do you know about me?” I asked. “Do you know about the services Noah and I provide?”
She glowered at me for several long moments before grudgingly nodding. “I’ve heard things.”
“So then you know that I don’t mess around. People pay me to do things they’re not willing to do themselves. Some pretty depraved things at times.”
“Depraved like kidnapping an innocent woman and chasing her through the woods?” Athena interjected. She sat stiffly on the log, not trusting me for a second. Nor should she.
I chuckled, enjoying the way it made her jump. “Much worse than that. You got lucky.”
“Yeah, feels really lucky,” she muttered, gesturing to her tied wrists.
“You should’ve heard what he wanted me to do to you.” I shrugged. “Trust me when I say you got off easy.”
That got her attention. Sitting up straighter, Athena was all ears now. “What who wanted you to do to me?”
I could see by the look on her face that she already knew the answer.
I told her anyway. “Your former boy toy, Andy, came to me looking for a little payback. Honestly, I was surprised by what he wanted me to do to you. I don’t have a lot of hard and fast rules or limits, but even I wouldn’t do that shit. ”
“Goddamn him. I knew there was something off about him. Boy, I really know how to pick ’em.” She sucked in a deep breath, letting it out in a rush of shaky air. “So what happens now? You kill me? Something worse?”
In an effort to drag the moment out and make her sweat a little, I withdrew a joint from my pocket. Lighting it up and taking a long, slow drag. “I guess that’s up to you.”
Athena’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
I stared off into the darkness beyond the beam of the phone’s flashlight.
Nothing but absolute black within those trees.
A person could really get lost out here.
The forest seemed to stretch on for several miles in every direction.
Good thing I’d mapped my route here so I could find my way back easily enough.
“It means that now you have a choice.” I took another long toke off the joint before passing it to Athena.
With her hands tied in front of her she was able to awkwardly grab it.
“Either I leave you here in the woods for Andy to find or I let you go and you help me rain down a little punishment on that sick fucker instead.”
Surprised by the options stated, Athena coughed out a stream of smoke. “Wait, are you serious?”
“What about me makes you think I would be anything less than serious?” Quirking a brow, I awaited her response.
She puffed on the joint, staring at me suspiciously. “What’s the catch?”
I laughed softly, plucking the joint from her grasp. “Sexy and smart. I’m impressed. The catch is that if I let you go and punish Andy for his little indiscretion here, you owe me.”
“I owe you?” Athena scoffed. “And what exactly do I owe you, Damon?”
“Whatever I want, whenever I want, for however long I want. Is that a problem?” I shot her a smirk that had her glaring again, enjoying her obvious discomfort.
Several beats passed before she softly said, “I knew you were scum.”
Well, damn, I didn’t think I deserved that. Clearly this girl had formed an opinion of me. Not that I really cared what she thought.
“All right, that’s fine. I’ll just give Andy a call and let him know where to find you.” Picking up my phone from where it lay on the log between us, I made as if to do exactly as I said.
Athena waved her bound hands awkwardly in front of her. “Please don’t. I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll owe you. Although for the record, I think you are a real motherfucker.”
“Noted.” I continued to make my call to Andy anyway.
“What are you doing?” Athena’s voice rose in panic. “I agreed to your terms.”
I waved away her concern. “I’m getting Andy out here. A guy like him can’t be trusted not to try something like this again. That piece of shit wanted me to rape and disfigure you. He has to pay.”
The shit that Andy had described had put him on my radar immediately.
I knew right then that I wanted to hurt him.
While I made the call, I cut Athena free from the ropes holding her bound.
She bitched and complained about the rope burns on her skin.
This princess really didn’t get it. She wasn’t the victim here.
By the end of the night, she would see that.
Andy was all too happy to meet me at the graveyard after I told him that I had Athena. We hadn’t originally planned for him to join me, but when I told him that she would be entirely at our mercy, he needed no further encouragement.
Using the light from my phone, I held tight to Athena’s arm so she couldn’t escape me as we navigated our way back to the graveyard. It took longer than I expected. She’d covered a lot of ground in her haste to escape me.
“I don’t really have to help you punish this guy, do I?” She tried uselessly to jerk her arm free. “Pretty sure you’re bruising me. Do you have to hold on so tight?”
“Since I don’t trust you, of course I do. I’m not having you take off on me now. You’re lucky I untied your hands. Don’t make me regret that.” As an afterthought I added, “And yes, you have to help. Andy is your problem after all. Don’t worry. I’ll do most of the work. You might even enjoy it.”
Athena’s noise of disgust brought a smile to my face. She made it so easy to coax the reaction from her.
“You’re my problem now,” she said, bitterness in her tone. “God, my feet hurt.”
I didn’t bother with a response. As we continued to navigate our way through the trees, Athena kept up the bitching and moaning.
My focus was elsewhere. Lost in thought as I imagined the beating I would lay on Andy.
I would love to kill the fucker. Since he had ties to Athena that may incriminate her, I would have to settle for a beat down instead.
Finally, we emerged from the forest into the graveyard. Andy hadn’t shown up yet. Good. I needed to prepare.
I steered Athena over to a headstone, sitting her down on top of it. “Don’t move a muscle or the deal is off and Andy can have you.”
“You’re so vile,” she called after me as I went to my car to fetch more rope.
“Whatever you say, cream puff,” I chuckled, keeping a watchful eye on her as I went.
This night had been pretty fucking sweet so far. And it was about to get better.