Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Gianna
Will returns after a few hours. I can’t stop myself from glaring at him as he unties me. He doesn’t even comment on it.
“Why can’t you just let me leave?” I ask. “Why keep me here?”
“Because it’s not safe.”
“It would be if you returned me to my brother.”
He turns his back to me. “You should take a shower. It’s been a long day. We both could use some sleep.”
“You’re going to sleep with me untied? You trust me not to run?”
“I don’t know, Gianna. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing,” he admits, running his hand down his face. His confession startles me.
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s nothing,” he grumbles. “Just go take a shower. I won’t tie you to the bed tonight.”
“You confuse me. You saved me from Marco and yet, you won’t let me go. None of that make sense. You don’t care for me.”
“You think I don’t care?” He finally turns to me and looks me in the eye.
There’s an intensity to his gaze I’ve never seen before.
It makes a tingle move down my body. “I wouldn’t have kissed you if I didn’t care about you.
I wouldn’t have saved you from Marco if I didn’t care.
I risked everything by saving you from him. What the fuck am I doing?”
Slowly, I stand up and approach him. For once, Will doesn’t seem terrifying. He just seems… lost. And that’s a feeling I can relate to. “Why did you save me?”
“I care for you,” he admits. “Maybe I shouldn’t. Hell, I know I shouldn’t and yet… I do.”
“Why do you care for me?”
“Because you’re innocent. You don’t deserve this. I couldn’t stand back and let you get married to Marco when you would be miserable your entire life. I just couldn’t do it.”
“So then why not let me go? If you want me to be happy, just give me back to my brother.”
“Because I don’t want to let you go.” His words draw me up short. They’re powerful and intense and real.
“You don’t?”
“No. Selfishly, I want to keep you with me. I want…”
“What do you want?” I take a step closer to him. When he doesn’t respond, I blurt out something I’ve never told anyone before. “I used to throw up because my aunt controlled my life so much.”
He blinks before slowly frowning. “What?”
“My aunt… she would control every aspect of my life. Who I could talk to and how I could dress and it was exhausting. She claimed it was what was best for me but it was stifling. It was slowly killing me. But I had no way out so… I would throw up. Not every day because I knew it wasn’t good for me.
But I would throw up on occasion just to find a release.
To find a way to deal with the control she had over me.
That’s my secret. It’s one not even my brother knows about. ”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you’re being open with me. I want to be open with someone in my life.
Even just once. I don’t know what the future holds.
Marco could find us here. He could kill me.
Or kidnap me again. But I want someone to know this about me.
I’m tired of being controlled. It’s why a part of me hates you. You’re controlling me.”
“A part of you hates me. What about the other part?”
I hesitate before I finally confess everything.
There’s no point in holding things back now.
“The other part… cares for you too. I don’t want you to die for some reason.
But I don’t want to be controlled by you.
If you claim you care for me, you wouldn’t control me.
I’m tired of it and I’m done being a pawn in someone else’s game. Just… done with it.”
“You really did that? Threw up?”
“Yes. I hid it well. Not even my aunt or brother knew. The only person who figured it out was my sister-in-law, Kira. But since I’ve been kidnapped, I haven’t even had the chance to talk with her.
I didn’t even have the chance before I was kidnapped.
My aunt hates Kira and kept me from her.
I’m… alone. And I have been for a long time. ”
Slowly, Will reaches out and touches my arm. I don’t move back. His touch is soft on my skin. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. It must have been tough. No wonder you hate me. I would hate me too.”
“Just don’t control me,” I whisper. “I’m tired of it.”
“You won’t leave? If I were to walk out that door, you would remain here? Until I can figure everything out?”
“Yes.”
“How do I know you’re not just saying that?”
“Will, you have to learn to trust people. You’ve been on your own too. That much is obvious to me,” I say. “I won’t leave. Only if you promise to return me to my brother one day. I will wait for you to figure things out. But you have to promise to give me my freedom.”
He looks me dead in the eye for a long moment, like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. And then finally… he nods. “I promise. I’ll get you back to your brother. That’s what you deserve.”
I let out a sharp breath. “Thank you.”
“Take a shower. I’ll keep watch. We should leave the motel in the morning. Find another place to take you. Marco will be out hunting for us. Your brother is out hunting for me. I need to find a way to get you to him without risking my own life.”
“I get that. You don’t want to die and I can’t blame you for that. As long as you find a way, I’ll be grateful. I already am. You saved me from Marco when you didn’t have to. So… thank you for that.”
A light enters his eyes that I don’t fully understand. “Of course.”
I walk away from Will to go to the bathroom but the urge to remain standing before him, talking with him, being in his presence, is stronger than anything I’ve ever experienced before.
After taking my shower and changing into the pajamas he brought for me so I don’t have to wear the wedding dress Marco forced me into, I leave the bathroom to find Will in a state of undress. He only has his pants on. No shirt.
I stop in the doorway and let out a squeak.
“I prefer to sleep without a shirt,” he explains, nodding at the bed. It’s then that I realize there is only one bed in this room. Not two. Which means Will and I will have to share one. I will have to sleep beside Will for the very first time.
My first time ever sleeping beside a man that wasn’t my brother.
“Could you… put it on? Just for tonight?”
“Does my bare chest bother you?”
“No,” I say quickly, my face on fire. “It’s just…”
He quirks an eyebrow. “It’s just what?”
“It’s just… I’ve never been around a half-naked man before.”
“You’re a woman, Gianna. I think you can handle it for one night.”
It wouldn’t be a big deal if Will wasn’t… Will. If he didn’t mean anything to me. But for some inexplicable reason, he does mean something to me and seeing him shirtless is distracting. It makes me feel things I shouldn’t be feeling for the hitman who kidnapped me.
“Of course,” I mumble. “I can handle it. But you could also respect me and put your shirt on.”
“You’re talking back.”
“I’m not afraid to speak my mind with you.”
“Why is that, exactly?” He stands up and walks over to me. Still shirtless, I might add. “When you were so afraid of your aunt that you threw up, why is it that you’re not afraid to talk back to me – the man who kidnapped you?”
“I have no idea,” I admit. “Maybe because… I don’t have history with you. There’s no baggage. I can just… be my true self around you. I think life and death situations bring out the real us.”
“I have to say, I like that you’re not afraid to talk back to me. When I first met you, you were so quiet, it was almost painful. But I like that you have teeth now.”
“Are you afraid I’ll bite you?”
He smirks and it makes my face flush. There’s something just so…
sexy about Will that confuses me. His power and strength and confidence.
Also the fact that he saved me from Marco wins him favor in my eyes.
“No. I don’t think you could hurt a fly.
That’s what makes you a good person. It’s the reason why I didn’t want Marco getting his hands on you. You deserve to be free. I see that.”
“So let me go.”
“I will. I promised and I’ll keep my promise. But…”
“But what?”
“But there’s a part of me that wants to keep you to myself. That wants to kiss you again.”
I suck in a breath. “You want to kiss me again?”
“Yes. I won’t deny it. There’s no point. Do you want to kiss me again, Gianna?”
“If I say no?”
“Then we’ll go to bed. I won’t touch you. I’ll leave you alone. But tell me you don’t want me to kiss you again. Just tell me.”
I stare into Will’s intense eyes and I know that I can’t tell him lies. Not after how open I was with him about my problems with my aunt. I can’t tell him that I don’t want him to kiss me… when I do want him to kiss me again. I want it more than I can breathe.
I don’t say a word.
“Tell me,” he says, sounding desperate. But I can’t tell him no. “You’re in my head. I can’t get you out of it. I wish I could. I wish I fucking could.”
I place my hands on his face, needing to touch him. Needing some form of connection. “You’re in my head too.”
He lets out a gasp right before he kisses me. I let myself sink into his arms. His bare, strong arms. My hands rest over his bare skin, feeling every ridge and muscle of his body.
Will presses me against the wall, kissing me harder and stealing my breath away. I could let myself get lost in him if I wanted.
And I want to.
I know I shouldn’t be doing this. I should be pushing him away and screaming at him not to touch me and yet, I don’t want this to stop. I don’t want my life dictated by other people.
I want to make my own choices and right now, what I want is to kiss Will.
His hands squeeze my waist, pulling me in closer, and making me gasp. “I need to touch you,” he murmurs against my lips. “I need it. Let me.”
He’s giving me the choice. That warms my heart like nothing ever has and I know what my answer will be.
“Touch me,” I say, cementing my fate.