Chapter Twenty-five
I lasted a few more feet before reaching bursting point. “Have I turned invisible?”
I barely got the sentence out before he cut me off. “Don’t talk.”
“Why not?” I asked.
He quickened his pace, as if he thought walking faster might make it impossible for me to hold a conversation at the same time. If he really thought that, he was dreaming.
“I get that wasn’t the best situation,” I admitted.
He wrapped more of the chain around his arm, forcing me so close that I could feel the body heat coming off him.
“I gave you one simple instruction.” He took a sudden right turn, and I recognized the apartment building in front of us as the same one I’d left of my own accord.
Curious looks followed us across the street as Nico pushed through the crowd. I guess even in this place it was still unusual to see one man pulling another by a chain in broad daylight.
“It wasn’t an instruction. You gave me an order as if you owned me.” I snorted. “Which, ironically enough, I guess you do now. Back then, though…” Nico’s expression didn’t change as he jabbed the button for the lift.
It arrived immediately, and he yanked me inside.
“Ow,” I said, rather theatrically.
Nico leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. When I tested the tension on the chain, hoping he might let go, his fingers tightened around it.
Message received and understood.
I didn’t speak again until the lift stopped, and we were back in the apartment.
It looked exactly the same as when I’d left, which begged the question whether Nico had even been back here. The suit looked the same, but I’d already seen that most of the suits were identical, so that wasn’t proof on its own.
“I get that you’re angry with me,” I ventured.
Nico turned to face me, the heat in his eyes almost making me wish he’d go back to ignoring me. “Do you?”
“Yeah.”
He dropped the chain and left the room, leaving me to either pick up the end or drag it behind me if I wanted to follow. I chose the former, tracking him to the bedroom, where he was changing his shirt with quick, economical movements that reeked of frustration.
“Do you know how expensive you were?” he asked as he buttoned a fresh shirt.
I shook my head. “I have no idea how Wonderland currency equates to real money.”
“Of course you don’t,” Nico said scathingly. “Why would you? You’re happy in your world of ignorance.”
“Hey! That’s not fair. I’ve only been here…”
Nico raised an eyebrow when I faltered. “Go on. How long have you been here?”
“A couple of days?”
“Double that. You might have a better idea of the passage of time if you didn’t keep letting yourself get drugged.”
“Mean,” I said.
“True.”
Unfortunately, it was. I’d come to the same conclusion myself earlier.
“How much?” I asked.
“Twenty-five grand.”
I let out a low whistle.
“Of course, it would have helped if you’d sat there meekly instead of driving the price up.”
So he had been there earlier. He’d just chosen not to show himself. Why? Because he hadn’t decided whether to help me? Or because he had a flair for drama and wanted to wait until the eleventh hour? I could have asked him, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.
“I’m grateful,” I said instead.
“Are you?” Nico’s gaze searched mine. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and waved it at me. “This contract says I own you body and soul. That I can do anything I want to you.”
Something tightened in my chest. “But you won’t. Because you’re a good guy. It was a rescue, not a purchase.”
“Was it?” His eyes never left mine. “Are you sure about that?”
I wilted beneath the intensity of his stare.
No, I wasn’t. And that was the problem. It would be foolish to admit that, though.
The small smile tugging at Nico’s mouth suggested no admission was necessary. He already knew exactly what I was thinking.
I jerked my gaze away and cleared my throat. “You can take the collar off now.”
“Can I?”
Before I knew it, he had me backed against the wall, holding the tiny remote a few inches from my face.
I made a grab for it.
He was faster.
“How am I supposed to keep you in line without it?”
Heat flooded my body.
Dread. Arousal.
If I were honest, there wasn’t much separating the two anymore. If only he wasn’t so good at hiding what he was thinking, I might have been able to tell how serious he was. “You don’t mean that.”
“Don’t I?”
“That’s not you.” There was no mistaking the hope in my voice.
My heart hammered against my ribs. What if he never removed it? What if he kept me chained up in his mirrored room, nothing more than a sex slave forced to service him repeatedly?
More importantly, why wasn’t the idea as horrifying as it should have been? This place was making me lose my mind.
Nico brushed a thumb over my cheekbone, the gesture completely at odds with the conversation we were having. “It would be one way,” he said softly, “to make sure you do what you’re told.”
“It would be twisted.”
He smiled. “Everyone here is a little twisted. Some of us just hide it better than others.” His fingertips traced a path over my face. Brow. Cheek. Chin. Lips.
All the while he watched me.
Assessing.
Evaluating.
“I’m not sure how I feel about this look,” he said finally.
Shit. With everything else that had happened, I’d completely forgotten about the makeup. “I need a shower.”
And just like that, he let me go. Almost as though I’d stumbled across the secret password.
He waved a hand toward the bathroom. “Take one.”
I glared at him. “I’m not taking a shower wearing a shock collar. I’m not suicidal.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the key, holding it up the same way he had the remote. Whatever price he named, I’d pay it.
Blow job.
Fuck.
I was prepared for either. After all, it wasn’t anything I hadn’t already done with him. Done and enjoyed.
Instead, he tossed the key to me. Surprise almost had me fumbling it. An unfamiliar feeling hit me square in the gut. Was I disappointed? Had I wanted him to ask for something? Current evidence suggested I had.
I paused at the bathroom door. “What about clothes?”
“Help yourself to something of mine.”
I nodded and stepped inside. The bathroom door closing behind me felt like a release, despite it not having a lock. There was a mirror above the sink. When I finally forced myself to look at it, a stranger stared back.
My eyes looked bigger. My lashes darker. My cheeks flushed. My skin smoother. I looked pretty. Ridiculously pretty. Twenty-five grand, pretty, apparently.
The tiny keyhole sat on the side of the collar.
It was fiddly, but the lock released immediately when I inserted the key and turned it.
I felt better once it was off, and positively euphoric after I opened the small window and launched the collar through it.
If Nico had plans for it, he’d have to find it.
I tackled the makeup first, scrubbing until my skin was red and every trace was gone.
Then I examined the scar on my chest where they’d removed the tattoo.
Presumably, they’d done it so prospective buyers didn’t balk at Nico having branded me.
They must have been furious when he turned up and undid all their hard work.
Or maybe not.
Twenty-five grand probably soothed a lot of hurt feelings. Would he expect me to pay him back? A nagging sense of responsibility said I should at least offer, even if I had absolutely no idea how I’d manage it.
After showering in water as hot as I could tolerate, I wrapped a towel around my waist and headed for Nico’s bedroom.
He wasn’t there. Sounds from the kitchen suggested he was busy doing something. Hopefully, something involving food. My stomach had started filing formal complaints. Opening Nico’s wardrobe provided exactly as much variety as I’d expected.
Suit.
Or suit.
It felt ridiculous as I grabbed a crisp white shirt and a pair of pinstriped trousers.
Like I was dressing for a job interview.
But it was still better than putting the leather harness and shorts back on.
Those could stay in the bathroom where they’d been abandoned.
I helped myself to a pair of Nico’s dress shoes as well.
We weren’t quite the same size, but we were close enough.
I found Nico still in the kitchen. A cheese omelet sat waiting for me on the table. The empty plate in front of him suggested he’d already eaten. I wolfed the omelet down in what felt like only two or three bites.
“Not drugged,” Nico said after my last bite, “in case you were wondering.”
“Very funny.”
He shrugged. “You do seem to have a talent for finding illicit substances. Perhaps you enjoy surrendering control.”
“I don’t.”
His raised eyebrow said he didn’t believe me. He shifted his chair closer.
Far too close. It made me―
No. Better not to finish that thought.
“Why did you leave when I explicitly told you to stay put?”
“I thought I saw Warren.” I shook my head. “No. I did see him. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure at the nightclub, but it was definitely him this time. What was I supposed to do? Just ignore him?”
“You were supposed to do what I told you.” His voice sharpened. “Then you wouldn’t have ended up on the auction block, and I wouldn’t have had to take on a role that doesn’t exactly come naturally to me.”
“A role?”
Nico pulled a face. “That of a rescuer.” He said it as if it were something offensive. “I’m nobody’s hero. Anyone who thinks otherwise is setting themselves up for disappointment.”
“But you did rescue me.”
“I did.” The intensity of his stare became almost unbearable. So much so that it was a relief when he hooked a hand behind my neck and dragged me so close his features blurred.
I blamed that moment of relief for why I didn’t pull away before his mouth found mine. The kiss wasn’t rough or demanding. Which somehow made resisting it even harder. It took every ounce of willpower I possessed not to melt into him and stay strong.
When he finally pulled back, he had a shuttered expression.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “You’re an incredibly attractive man. I’m grateful for what you did. And I know this probably sounds ridiculous considering everything that’s already happened between us.”
“But?” he asked coldly.
“But I have a boyfriend.”
Nico leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. And then he laughed.
I frowned. “I don’t think that’s funny.”
“I do. I think it’s hilarious.” His smile held no warmth. “You still don’t get it.”
I bristled. “Get what?”
“You’re like a newborn deer trying to find its legs.”
I didn’t appreciate the analogy and opened my mouth to say so. Unfortunately, he still had more to say.
“A sloth in a sprint. A dog chasing its own tail. A―”
“I get it. You can stop.”
“Do you?”
“You think I’m useless.”
“Not useless.” His expression turned thoughtful. “Just blind. I guess you don’t want to see.”
“See what?”
His gaze locked onto mine with all the precision of a missile finding its target. “You don’t have a boyfriend.”
The words landed like a slap.
“So all this sickly sweet loyalty is completely misplaced.”
“I do have a boyfriend. Warren and I had plans. A future. He was going to move so we could be together. He and I—”
Nico shoved his chair back so violently that I flinched. The rest of the sentence died in my throat.
“I suspect if I tell you, you won’t believe me.” His voice had gone frighteningly calm. “He’s done too good a number on you.”
I stared up at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I’m going to have to show you.”
“Show me what?”
He headed for the door. “Come.”
I should have told him exactly what he could do with an order like that. Instead, I got up and followed.