CHAPTER 39 CADEN #2
Getting back on track, I follow in the direction she darted off.
I couldn’t really believe she’d willingly save my life, gun to her head or not.
It’s hard to imagine her that close to my body, delicate fingers working to sew the vessel for my black soul back together.
It could have been a turning point for us.
But I guess she just wanted to save my life so she could continue to make it hell.
I mean, seriously, she rode me straight after.
Who does that? She either wanted me so badly she couldn’t control herself, or she really is as psychotic as we heard her to be.
Or she actually wanted to make me come to ruin the whole cleanse.
That last possibility makes my blood boil.
When I catch her, which will be soon as I can see her running now, what am I supposed to do with her?
I’m not an idiot thinking she’ll just comply, so it’ll take a miracle – or a lot of time and energy – to beat her into shape.
I don’t want to do that. It’s not even about all the time I’ll waste on her.
It’s the fact that I genuinely don’t want to.
I gave her so many chances to behave, and she fought back every single time.
And to my utter disdain, if I shove the pride away for a split second, I’d say I was impressed.
I could say that I actually enjoy it. A little. Not a lot.
Whatever happens next, it’s not my fault. She made the choice.
I’m close enough to smell her now. The light floral scent that always invades my body with a foreign warmth, floats back to me and makes my bones ache with the need to get my hands on her.
“Elodie, you may as well give it up now.”
She doesn’t even respond to me. She just keeps running.
I chuckle at her silhouette. “You can run, but you can’t hide from me, Elodie. You’re mine now.”
I’m close enough to hear her laboured breaths. To taste that trail of delicious fear floating behind her.
She keeps running.
I have to get back soon. I imagine from the lack of screams now that all five subjects have been caught.
Sighing, I close the distance even more. “It’s over, Elodie, come on. Stop running.” I’m giving her another chance, one last chance.
“Fuck you!”
I can hear the tears of terror in her voice already, the panic setting in now she knows her fate is sealed.
“If you stop running now, I won’t hurt you. I’ll take you back to the house unscathed.”
“No you won’t!”
Oh, fuck this. I take a couple of long strides and catch her by her hair, yanking her to the floor. She cries and thrashes around, so I let her hair go and come round to the front, dropping to my knees and mounting her.
It’s too dark to make out any of her features, but her fear is almost palpable.
Her fists come up to my chest and stomach, one hit getting too close to my stitches for my liking, so I pin her arms above her head and come closer to her body.
“Listen to me, the game’s over. You lost. I’m sick of giving you chance after chance. You’re going to come with me willingly, and you’ll go back into the house while I finish the rest out here. Got it?”
“No!”
“Elodie, this wasn’t part of the deal.”
“Fuck your deal!”
“Really?” I say, flattening my body on top of hers, not being able to resist the need to feel her on me, her hammering heart beating through to my chest, the heat of her skin seeping through mine. “So, tell me, if you had won this bet, you wouldn’t have expected me to hold up my end of it?”
She stills. “I would have made you. A deal’s a deal.”
“Exactly, so you’re just being a hypocrite. I won; deal’s a deal.” My cock’s as hard as a steel rod pressing into her stomach. I could officially come now, my hunt is over. I could do it right now.
“Please, Caden,” she whispers, her chest dipping in a sob, “please let me go.”
The request sends an irritated flame through my veins. “Why do you want to leave, Elodie? Why can you not see you could have a good life here?”
She scoffs, a patronising sound that adds fuel to the fire in the pit of my stomach.
“Because of everything you’ve already done to me!
You’ve hurt me, abused and assaulted me!
You and your fucking friend. How can I get over that?
How can I ever trust you?!” She struggles beneath me, desperate to get away from me.
“This could be a clean slate for us, Elodie. Whatever choice you make now will determine our future together, which is inevitable. What’s malleable is how you accept it. What path you set us on. It’s all in your hands now.”
My nose brushes the tip of hers, making me realise just how close I am to her, our hot breaths now colliding.
I’m completely flat on her, my body pressing hers into the dirt.
It’s frighteningly intimate, testing my self-control every second.
If I didn’t despise her so much, I would have already rammed my cock inside her.
“I will never bow to you, Caden Blackwood,” she sneers my name with such poison it’s like she’s cursing herself just for saying it.
I don’t get a chance to reply as her forehead connects to my nose with such force that all my thoughts are obliterated and replaced with an explosion of pain and deafening ringing in my ears.
She takes the opportunity to shove me off her, and I roll onto my back, consumed by the pain in the middle of my face. But as soon as I hear her footsteps, I’m back on my feet.
“You fucking brat!” I’m chasing after her, white-hot rage boiling over.
I’ve given her every opportunity to feel safe with me, to see how I can be. Now time’s up. Patience is gone. Mr Nice Guy’s fucking dead.
I catch up to her after a few feet, wrap an arm around her waist and haul her off her feet. She’s lighter than the weights I lift in the gym, but my stomach absolutely howls in agony at the strain.
She screams, kicks her legs wildly, hammers her fists onto my forearm, but the anger’s so powerful now the assault becomes a distant sensation in the back of my mind.
“You’re a disrespectful little brat, Elodie, you really are. You’ve fucked this all up. Just remember this whenever you think I’m being such a mean little boy to you. Remember I gave you so many chances.”
“Get the fuck off me!” She fights back with all her might. Her head flings back a few times and almost catches me, but my senses are back now, my instincts are in place. She’s not catching me off guard again.
We’re so deep into the forest that my grip starts to slip from all the writhing and thrashing before I even see a clearing. She feels the gap in my hold on her and abuses it, cranking up the effort to get free of me.
It works and I drop her, but I’m on top of her in the mud in a blink.
We become a bundle of limbs, claws coming out and scratching at my naked skin.
From the frenzy and lack of visibility, I struggle to find and grab hold of her hands.
Her grunts and growls of effort and disdain reverberate through me.
I’ve taken kicks to my legs, ribs and shoulder. Punches and scratches to my face, neck, and chest before I can get a hold of her. In all honesty, it’s turning me the fuck on, but the frustration is still overpowering it.
“I’m so sick of your fucking behaviour, Elodie, I swear to God I’m trying so hard not to fucking kill you and be done with it.”
This makes her fall still. Her outstretched arms drop to her sides. “Then do it.”
Everything goes silent. Nothing but our heavy breaths fill the air. She said it with such defeat it slices clean through my cloud of anger. Is that what she wants? Is it really that bad for her? She’s just giving up?
I haul her back onto her feet and hoist her over my shoulder. Seems she’s expended all her strength as she flops over my shoulder with no resistance.
“That’d be a mercy to you, Elodie. You don’t get off that easy.”
I hear a couple of sniffles. “Then I’ll do it myself.”
I sigh. “You can’t. Not until you give me a baby, anyway. Remember, my darling fiancé, we get to become parents together. Won’t that just be a wonderful thing? A little Blackwood-Valor running around. Maybe your own child will teach you some manners and respect.”
“I’m never having your baby, Caden. I’d rather rot in these woods.”
“Tough shit, sweetie. All you’ve accomplished here is getting yourself put on suicide watch. You’re going to have eyes on you every second of every day.”
She starts quietly crying then, just as the clearing comes into view. Finally. As soon as I see the flicker of the bonfire, my whole body weakens. Adrenaline trickles out of me, rendering every muscle in my body sore and aching.
“You make me sick,” she whispers it so quietly, but somehow it carries the volume of a siren through my ears.
“Yeah, well, we’re a good match then, ‘cause I can’t fucking stand the sight of you either.”
I get through the clearing and drop her down to her feet. She’s a fucking mess, the tussle on the ground has ripped my clothes on her body, there’s small blood smears everywhere I look.
“Go get yourself cleaned up. And eat something. You’ll be famished once the adrenaline fully wears off.”
“Fuck you,” she spits, but turns on her heels and walks away towards the house.
I roll my eyes and go over to the few boys left around the bonfire. “What’s happened, where is everyone?”
Milo slaps me on the shoulder, and I can just feel the belittling sympathy rolling off him. “It’s nearly midnight, man. It’s all done with.”
It took me that long to catch Elodie? “It’s all done?”
“Yeah,” Milo says, moving his arm around my neck and guiding me back to the house. I must look awful if he feels the need to help me. “All done and dusted.”
“Fiz and Alf catch anyone?”
He nods. “First ones back, then me, and then two driver boys caught the other two. Should’ve seen Fiz’s face, being the first one back since you weren’t there.”
I laugh despite the cauldron of mixed physical and mental feelings I’m currently drowning in. “I bet he’s basking in all the glory. They’re celebrating already, I’m guessing.”
We climb the few steps to the front doors. “Well, in their own rooms, yeah.”
“Already?”
Milo arches a brow at me. “You’re the only mad one who isn’t. I saw that sweet piece of Valor pussy you got there. I’m surprised you’re not balls-deep yourself. Or did you already do that in the woods?”
I can’t help the irritation twisting in my gut. His face has suddenly become very punch-able. “Nah. Can’t bear touching her right now.”
“I get it. I still don’t know why she’s the one your dad wants you to marry,” Milo says, finally releasing me as we enter the house, the party in full force.
“But you already know how good this will be for the business. Her skills will come in handy. You just need to swallow your pride. Listen, it’ll be even more satisfying destroying that little body and owning it rather than just letting it sit there. ”
I’ve already thought about this a thousand times. How much sweeter it’d taste knowing I own her than leaving her there to rot. But I can’t do it.
“I’m gonna get cleaned up, my body’s fighting every step I take right now. I’ll shower and be back down.”
“Alright, man, take it easy.” Milo offers me a sad smile.
Jesus, how bad do I look? This is what a woman does to me. Breaks me down, makes me weak. Now it’s time to change that.