Chapter Thirty
I had another problem. One that had left me awake into the early hours of the morning while Nico slept on, his arm hooked possessively around my chest so that I could feel every inch of him pressed against my back.
That’s how I knew he was hard.
No surprise there. He was always hard first thing in the morning. More often than not, our first fuck happened before I’d even wiped the sleep from my eyes.
My problem was that I liked him. After everything he’d said, everything that had happened since I’d set foot in Wonderland, and despite how frustratingly inscrutable he could be, I still liked him.
I liked this.
And that scared me.
Nico’s arm tightened around me, a silent indication he was awake. He lifted his head, his breath warm against my cheek. “What are you thinking about?”
“Stuff.”
It had been days since our somewhat heated discussion had ended with Nico making me come twice in quick succession—and we’d never revisited it.
Nothing had really changed in the meantime, aside from Nico arriving home the following day with a bag full of clothes consisting mainly of sweatpants and T-shirts.
I supposed that counted for something. Proof that some of what I’d said had actually sunk in.
At least it left me more comfortable while I spent my days bouncing off the walls.
“Ah, stuff,” Nico said, amusement coloring his voice. “So descriptive.”
“Are you working today?”
“No. I have the day off. I thought we could go out.”
“Out?”
“Somewhere that isn’t these four walls.”
I rolled over so I could see his face. “Where?” I couldn’t think of a single place I’d already visited that I had any wish to return to, even if it was with Nico by my side.
“There’s a park.”
“A park?” I didn’t know why I sounded surprised. Wonderland was supposed to have everything. Just because I hadn’t stumbled across it yet didn’t mean it didn’t exist. “Let me guess, it’s full of poisonous mushrooms and animals that leap out of the bushes and go straight for your throat.”
“How did you know?” Nico asked, sounding amused rather than offended.
“Is there a lake with a whirlpool that drags you under if you go for a swim? Bins full of discarded syringes waiting to stab unsuspecting people?”
Releasing me, Nico swung his legs out of bed and stood. He performed an elaborate stretch, completely unconcerned by his obvious state of arousal.
“None of those things were there the last time I visited. Granted, they may have made some changes. But if you’d rather stay here…”
“No,” I said quickly. “I’ll take the risk.
It’d be nice to get out and get some…” I’d been going to say fresh air, but there was no such thing in Wonderland.
They manufactured the air, just as they manufactured everything else.
Another lie. “Can we do that?” I asked instead.
“Leave here, I mean. Without it causing problems.”
“If we’re careful.”
My eyes drifted downward to where his erection hadn’t diminished in the slightest. “What about...?”
He dropped his gaze. “Good point. You can blow me first.”
“Oh, can I?”
Nico remained exactly where he was, utterly confident that no matter what came out of my mouth, I’d end up kneeling in front of him anyway.
The irritating thing was that he was right. My feet were already on the carpet, and a few seconds later, I was on my knees.
He was close.
I could feel it in the tremor running through his thighs and the way his breath kept catching. The taste of pre-cum coated my tongue when his phone rang.
I expected him to ignore it. I should have known better.
His curt greeting irritated me enough that I doubled my efforts to make him come.
“Right. I see,” he continued.
His hand slid into my hair. Not enough to stop me, but enough that I suspected he was attempting to slow the pace a little. I had no intention of cooperating, only bobbing my head faster.
“Can’t someone else…”
I smiled around his cock as his words faltered, their slight breathlessness giving me life. Whoever was on the other end of the call, my sole purpose became ensuring they suspected something untoward was happening.
“It’s my day off,” Nico said. “I have... plans.”
Even more breathless.
I took him deeper, tamping down on my gag reflex.
His fingers loosened in my hair, the grip turning into something closer to a caress. I wrapped a hand around my cock and stroked in time with the movement of my mouth.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Thirty minutes. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
He hung up, less than a minute passing before he came. I swallowed what I could while working myself faster until I spilled over his calf.
“Fuck!” Nico said as I sat back on my heels. His hand drifted from my hair to my cheek. For a moment, it lingered there before he seemed to realize what he was doing and pulled away. “I have to work.”
I stared up at him, still trying to process that brief flash of tenderness and what it might mean.
“Yeah, I got that. I guess that means no park trip then.”
“Yeah. No park.”
The disappointment surprised me as I followed him to the shower. Apparently, I’d actually been looking forward to leaving the apartment.
“How come you have to work?” I called over the sound of running water.
“I don’t know. Some sort of emergency no one else can handle. They weren’t exactly forthcoming with the details.” A pause. “And my attention was mostly elsewhere.”
“You could have stopped me.”
“I didn’t want to stop you. I wanted to come.”
“A polite man would have let the call go to voicemail.”
“Not a good man, remember.” I could practically hear the smirk. “You only got to come because you did it yourself.”
While his shower was brief, everything after that happened at record speed. He dressed and headed for the door within minutes, seemingly unconcerned by his still-damp hair.
Then he was gone.
And I was alone again with only my own thoughts for company.
It was mid-morning when I heard voices outside the door.
At first, I paid them no attention. Other people lived in the building. I’d never actually seen any of them, but I heard doors opening and closing occasionally. It would’ve been absurd to assume an entire apartment block existed solely for Nico’s use, no matter how important he might be.
When the voices lingered, I muted the television.
Something about them had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. I crossed the room quietly and had only made it halfway to the front door when something slammed into it.
Hard.
I froze.
A boot?
A battering ram?
Did people even own battering rams?
Instinct took over, and I backed away, my heart pounding.
The door held.
Another impact followed.
Then another.
And another.
On the fourth strike, the door surrendered entirely—wood splintering and hinges tearing free. It reminded me of Warren’s apartment, which had never really been his.
I almost laughed as the remains crashed inward to reveal two familiar men standing in the ruined doorway. Of course, it reminded me of that door.
The men responsible for this one had probably been responsible for that one too, even if it had only been set-dressing to lull me into swallowing their little drama. They’d done it prior to bundling Victor into a van as their abduction pièce de résistance.
“Have you ever heard of knocking?” I asked. My voice sounded remarkably steady, considering the panic clawing at my chest.
“Funny guy,” one of them said as he stepped inside. He wore a black T-shirt, his muscles bulging. The other followed close behind, cracking his knuckles in a gesture that didn’t exactly fill me full of confidence. Perhaps I was going to be sold again.
“The Harts want to meet you,” the first man announced. “And whatever the Harts want, the Harts get.”
My stomach dropped.
Funny how something could sound worse than being sold.
I backed up.
They advanced.
It made me feel like a hyena being stalked by a pair of lions.
Every escape route I considered fell apart almost immediately. The bedroom had no lock, and there wouldn’t be time to pull something across as a barrier. There was nothing nearby that qualified as a weapon. Even if there had been, there were two of them, and I doubted my ability to stab someone.
That left me with nothing but words. “You need to speak to Nico,” I blurted. “You can’t just come in here without his permission.”
For the briefest moment, I thought I’d uttered the magic words. Then Black T-shirt laughed. Actually laughed. “I didn’t realize some tragic accident had wiped out the entire Hart family and left Nico in charge.” He turned to his companion. “Did you realize that?”
“I did not,” he said with a smirk.
They kept coming.
When the wall met my back, I had nowhere left to go.
“Here’s the thing,” Knuckle-Cracker said. “You can either come with us meek as a kitten, and we won’t harm a single hair on your head…”
He paused.
I knew I shouldn’t ask.
I did it anyway. “Or?”
“Or we knock you out and carry you.”
It wasn’t much of a choice. But common sense dictated that conscious was better than unconscious. A conscious man could look for opportunities. A conscious man could run.
An unconscious one was just cargo.
I took a breath and let it out slowly.
“I’ll come with you.”
“Good choice,” Black T-shirt said. His smile was deeply patronizing. “Very good choice.”