Chapter Six – Silus
I’ll admit, this was not how I imagined Thea taking off my pants for the first time. Although she’s not so much taking them off completely as she is undoing the belt and my button and zipper, but it’s pretty damn close. She sets the gun down on the small sink next to the toilet, standing between me and the old porcelain, refusing to meet my gaze as her slender fingers fiddle with my belt.
“Relax,” I tell her, and she tenses up. “There’s no need to be nervous. I can walk you through it.”
That gets her to look up at me, and the fire in her blue gaze is enough of an indication. She’s annoyed, yes, but also flustered. She doesn’t want to admit it to herself yet, but she will soon enough.
She’s attracted to me. That much should be clear already, since she picked me out of everyone else at the club to approach. And more than that, she’s willing to give into the heat inside; I learned that from when she kissed me back, when that tight little body was on my lap and we put on a good show for the creep at the bar.
Without looking at my belt, she finally undoes it, and she narrows her glare up at me as her fingers move to my pants’ button and zipper.
Honestly, it’s hard to stare down at her while feeling her hands around that area—pretty much impossible for my mind not to wander. My dick isn’t hard, but it’s getting there, and I can’t stop it, not when Thea is so damn sexy with the way she huffs and glares at me like she wants to both kill me and fuck me.
My pants are undone. All she has to do now is reach into my briefs and pull me out. Simple. Easy.
Or it would be if there wasn’t so much tension in this small, confined space. It’s almost enough to make me forget I really do have to take a piss.
“Go on,” I tell her. “We’re almost there, now.”
Thea’s cheeks puff up in defiance, and I can tell she wants to skin me alive for making her do this. In the end, however, she says not a word as she slips her hand past my open pants and into my briefs. Her hand curls around my cock, and she swallows so hard I can hear her do it as she pulls my length out.
I told her it wasn’t small. I don’t think she believed me, but now she’s forced to reckon with the size of my semi-hard dick.
“It only gets bigger from here,” I say with a smirk.
Thea manages to roll her eyes and huff, “Just pee already, will you?”
It’s not the easiest thing to pee while being plagued by a hardening cock, but I pull through, and Thea is all too happy to stuff my cock back in my briefs and fix my pants. If I don’t know any better, I’d say she’s dying to get me back on that chair, restrained, so she doesn’t have to worry about me any more.
The problem with that train of thought is, of course, that I won’t be on that chair for long. I told her if I’m sold to Cormac, I’ll kill whoever I have to in order to reach her again, and I meant it. Thea is on borrowed time. Soon enough her time will be mine.
Thea grabs the gun once I’m fully put back together, and she gestures for me to step back, which I do. I return to my uncomfortable chair in the living room and sit down on it, though I am unable to fight the smirk on my face as I watch her set the gun down and retrieve the roll of duct tape.
Who knew duct tape was so useful?
“You don’t have to tie me back up, you know,” I say as she steps around me. “I’ll be good for you. The handcuffs work just fine. Or, better yet, you could simply undo the handcuffs and we could get to know each other intimately on that couch.”
“You’re asking for another piece of tape over your mouth,” she whispers.
I don’t say anything else for a while, letting her walk around me as she proceeds to tape me to the chair once more. Around and around she goes, when she’ll stop, no one knows—or, rather, the roll of tape knows, because she finishes it before she can tape my ankles to the legs of the chair.
“Shit,” Thea says once she realizes the roll is out.
“I’m sure that’s enough tape,” I remark. “There is something I’ve been meaning to ask you. I overheard you and your brother talking, and I want to know: do you really think Cormac will simply buy me off you no questions asked? And, assuming that goes without a hitch, do you think my men would let you and your brother run off? They’ll be looking for me, and the trail will lead straight to you before it ever leads to Cormac. My brother will be leading the charge, so to speak, and unlike me, Roark won’t hesitate to put a bullet inside that pretty skull of yours.”
Thea drops the empty roll of tape onto the coffee table, sits on the couch, and buries her face in her hands. “I know all that. Well, not about your brother, but the rest… yeah, it’s crossed my mind.” She pulls her hands away from her face, pensive. “This wasn’t my idea, just so you know. I thought it was stupid the whole time, and when Max told me who you were, I knew it was more than stupid. It’s dangerous. I don’t need you telling me the same thing.”
“So then why not let me go, hmm? I already told you I could help you.”
The way she looks at me tells me enough: she doesn’t trust me. She has no reason to. She’s clearly never dealt with someone like me before; this is all new to her, and I am the most untrustworthy person she’s ever met.
But I’m not lying. I would help her… after she pays me what I’m owed: her time.
“I can’t,” Thea says after a while. “My brother would kill me if I let you go.”
“Your brother will die if you don’t. Is that really a risk you want to take? Think long and hard about it, Thea, because time is running out. By now, my brother will have heard I didn’t come home last night, and he’ll be organizing the men. Rallying the troops, so to speak. He’ll go to the club, demand access to the cameras, and he’ll see you come over to me and sit on my lap. You will be his prime target.”
A minute passes before she says, “Then I guess Max better have you sold by then, huh?”
Feisty in spite of it all. I love it. Still, it’s stupid. If what she’s after is money, there is a much easier way to go about this. Her pride must be bigger than I thought, and that’s a dangerous thing. I would know. For a man in my profession, nothing’s more dangerous.
My smile must irritate her, because she huffs, “You smile a lot for a man that’s kidnapped.”
“I suppose I do.” I shrug as best I can. “Does my smile bother you?”
“Yeah, actually, it does.”
“How?”
“It—” Thea stops herself, her blue-eyed gaze narrowing in my direction. “A man like you, in a situation like this, shouldn’t be smiling. You’re up the creek without a paddle, buddy.”
I chuckle. “I could scowl for you, if you want, but let me warn you: it’ll be half-hearted. It’s impossible to scowl when I’m with you.”
“You don’t even know me. Shit. Does that work on other women?” Thea isn’t afraid to swear. I like hearing her curse. I like her mouth too, now that I’m looking at it. Her lips are supple, and I know just how soft they are. The kind of lips that pucker without even trying, the kind of lips that would feel a-fucking-mazing wrapped around my cock.
“I already told you, other women throw themselves at me. You’re not like them.”
Thea gags and rolls her eyes. “All offense meant, but I don’t think every woman in this city throws themselves at you. Besides, I’m really nothing special—” The moment those words leave her lips, my smile fades, and she stops herself from saying anything more.
“Don’t say that.” The words leave me with hushed tones, a startling contrast to how I’ve been speaking to her, but I can’t help it. Something about her off-handed dismissal of herself I don’t like. I can’t explain it.
She must sense the change in me, because the next time she speaks, she sounds genuinely curious: “If so many other women throw themselves at you, why aren’t you married? I thought for people like you it’s all about family and bullshit like that.”
“I haven’t found the right woman to put a ring on.” It is way too early to be on that line of thinking, but images of Thea wearing a beautiful white gown rise in my head. She would make a gorgeous bride, wouldn’t she? “What about you? Any boyfriends I should know about? Besides me, of course.”
The way she rolls her eyes again, I can tell she thinks I’m joking, but I’m not. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“I’m serious, love. Are there any out there? If there are, you might want to give them a heads up and tell them to leave the city, otherwise they’ll go for a long walk off a short pier.” When she only stares at me, I add, “I’m saying—”
“I know what you’re saying,” she interrupts. “And stop it! You have no right to say any of that. You’re not my real boyfriend. I just needed you to pretend so that guy would leave—so I could focus on casing out my target, which just happened to be you . One big coincidence. That’s all. Now shut up before I go searching for more duct tape.”
How could I possibly argue with that? I don’t say a word more, but I do continue to smirk.
My lips are dry and I’m fucking starving for a real meal—not to mention that headache that’s bouncing around in my head after a night of hard drinks and getting drugged—so I know I’m not the epitome of handsome right now. That said, I do believe, with the way she tries to avoid eye contact and that constant blush on her cheeks, she finds me attractive. A good thing, certainly, for what I have in store for her once I’m out of this dump.
Everything about Thea’s life will change.