Chapter 3 #2
“Then I guess I’m fucking lucky that I’m not yours, then,” I seethe, even as I imagine myself sprawled over his lap while he punishes me.
Even though a part of me craves the thought of belonging to him.
Warring desire and shock make my body tremble at the thought of him taking me across his knee.
Tied to his bedpost so he can… discipline me.
What other dark and devious things would he do to me?
I want to know.
Oh. My. God.
I can’t deny that the thought both horrifies and excites me.
Is that what being with a man like Thayer means?
How could I ever have a crush on someone like him?
I’m turning away when the sudden memory of what I saw tonight overcomes me. That woman tied up and terrified, dragged between two men like she was nothing but chattel…
I look back to him.
We’re too close.
Too close.
“Are you sure about that, love?”
He’s breathing heavily as his fingers skate up the length of my arm, wrapping me in a cocoon of heavy, heated anticipation.
The touch of his hand sends shockwaves through my body, and when he cups my jaw, my heart threatens to leap out of my chest. Thayer’s sharp blue eyes hold mine. My body vibrates with tension.
No, of course I’m not sure about that. I’m not sure at all.
His mouth hovers over mine. Part of me yearns to submit to this, even as another part warns me to run. I’ve imagined this moment, but it was so different. I wasn’t half-naked, we weren’t arguing, he hadn’t just told me he’d punish me.
I want this. I want him. But I’m afraid of what will happen if he kisses me.
His lips press against mine insistently, and my warring thoughts disappear as suddenly as they came.
My body heats, a fusion of light and longing and a desperate, throbbing need that builds when my lips part and his tongue meets mine.
Strong fingers massage the back of my neck while his other hand strokes my thigh.
I want him. Oh, God, I want him.
A door opens. Voices coming our way.
He lets me go. I jump backward as if scorched.
What are we doing?
My cheeks burn when I hear footsteps heading this way. Thayer busies himself tidying the first aid kit when we suddenly both stare at my legs and apparently realize at the very same time that I’m not wearing any pants.
Thayer looks quickly around the room and grabs a rumpled blanket on the armchair. He throws it at me.
“Fucking cover yourself,” he growls in a heated whisper.
Ugh, the nerve of him!
“You did it,” I snap.
He gives me another look laced with the whole if you were mine speech.
So I do the only sensible thing. I stick my tongue out at him.
My God, what is wrong with me? If tonight has taught me anything, it’s that nowhere is safe. People are violent and untrustworthy, and Thayer has basically just said as much.
So, naturally, I kissed him.
Ugh!
Lyam enters the room with Mario Rossi as I clumsily cover my bare legs and yank my pants halfway up.
I saw both of them when I first came in but was so fraught with nerves, I barely recognized them. I remember Mario now.
Lyam doesn’t even look at me. If he notices anything out of place, or if he cares, he doesn’t let on.
“Get her out of here, Thayer. They haven’t traced her back to us yet, so I called in some favors. They don’t know where she is or who she is, but there’s a posse on the prowl for the tall, pretty woman with the hot-pink hair.”
Mario nods, corroborating this. “Word’s already gone far and wide.” He turns to me. “You were at Avelline’s?”
I shrug, still blushing, but very, very thankful for that damn blanket.
“The Chaberts, Thayer,” Lyam says in a low voice.
“Fuck.” Thayer looks like he wants to torture, maim, and eventually kill somebody.
“You know what this means.”
Lyam and Thayer stare at each other until Thayer finally nods.
“Uh, does someone want to fill me in? Because I have no idea what this means. I don’t know any of these names.”
I try to pretend that I’m very put together, after having fallen and scraped myself to pieces, begging hysterically for help, allowing Thayer to doctor me up, then kissing the man.
Very put together and grown up, indeed.
I want to sob. I want to hide.
I want him to kiss me again.
“You two tell me if anyone’s in the foyer,” Thayer says. When they go, he turns and hisses to me, “Get dressed.”
I quickly yank my pants up over my ass and zip them just as Lyam and Mario come back.
“No one.”
Mario sits beside me and gives me a look of concern. “Do you have anywhere to go?”
I swallow, my predicament suddenly seeming insurmountable. Where can I hide?
“I can’t go back to America,” I begin.
“Definitely not,” Thayer snaps.
I frown at him and lift my chin.
If you were mine…
I draw in a deep breath and continue. “I have a flat here in Paris, which is—”
“Infinitely more dangerous than America,” Thayer supplies.
I grit my teeth so I don’t snap at him. Nervy bastard.
I think. I have no friends I could stay with. If I went to stay with Nicolette and Fabien, I would compromise them. I can’t do that to them. It isn’t fair.
“I’ll… I’ll have to find a place,” I supply, mustering up every scrap of courage I have. I’ve got the money. It’s just a matter of flying to somewhere far, far away, where they’ll never think to find me.
“Find a place?” Lyam says with a grimace, less judgy than his brother but still obviously displeased. “Like… a hotel? Fuck that. Maman could even put you up here if necessary.”
I shake my head. “I will not put anyone else in danger. And if they find out that I’m staying with your family, this will not end well.”
“She’s right,” Mario says, nodding. “Listen, we can hide her in America. You know my family has The Castle in New England, and multiple safe houses. No one would find her.”
I blink. For how long? I can’t spend the rest of my life in a safe house… apart from Nicolette again.
No.
I shake my head. “That’s so generous of you,” I begin, when Thayer interrupts me.
“She’ll come with me.”
We all stare at him.
“With you where?” Lyam asks with a wariness in his tone that makes me uneasy.
“You know where.”
A slow, sly smile spreads across Mario’s face.
That doesn’t exactly make me feel better about things.
“Oh, yeah,” Mario says. “Perfect. I mean, hardly anyone even knows it exists. You’ll be near Fabien and Nicolette when they return, and a whole host of guards. You’ll be damn near bulletproof, too.” His eyes twinkle, and I can tell he has a few more things he isn’t saying.
“Um. Hi. My name’s Savannah,” I say, waving my hand at them. “Not sure you remembered I was here, but I am, and my opinion matters in this.”
Thayer’s eyes narrow. “Of course it matters,” he says. “Do you want to live or die?”
Acid burns the back of my throat.
“Why do you have to say it like that?” I ask in a little voice.
Mario sighs. “Listen, kiddo. Thayer says it like it is. Sugarcoating isn’t in his vocabulary. And yeah, he can be a pain in the ass like any of us, but there’s no place you’ll be safer. You have to trust him.”
Kiddo. Oof.
I just witnessed a murder. An unexpected, graphic, very violent murder. I don’t feel like trusting anyone right now, especially not the man who said he’d punish me if I were his.
Especially not the man who has the ability to make me afraid and excited and aroused with a mere look. I could argue that’s even more dangerous than the obvious situation I’m in, but I don’t think they’d buy it.
“Answer the question, Savannah.”
“Of course I want to live. I just… have a feeling that answering that question has strings attached.”
I suddenly realize that knocking on their door—coming here for help, kissing him—has strings attached.
Thayer nods. “You’re in grave danger,” he says almost gently.
“Tonight, you witnessed a murder, and very well might be the only witness still alive. If our suspicions are right, and I’ll have you know Lyam’s rarely wrong, you’ll have people after you that won’t just kill you.
They’ll kidnap you and torture you just for the hell of it before they kill you.
That woman you saw? You just ruined their fun.
And they won’t take too kindly to that.”
I stare, unblinking, trying to process the enormity of this. “So I have to hide for the rest of my life?”
“Not the rest of your life,” Lyam says. “But until you’re no longer in danger. We’ll handle this as it plays out, but for now, your best bet is to go with Thayer. He’ll take you to a place no one knows about. You’ll be very well hidden. We’ll make sure this blows over and that you aren’t hurt.”
Thayer lifts his phone and glances at the screen.
“Fabien and Nicolette have landed.” He turns to me. “They’ve been filled in, Savannah. Do you want to talk to your sister?”
Tears spring to my eyes. I nod wordlessly and reach my hand out, swallowing hard. Thayer slides the phone into my hand. Our fingers touch for the briefest second before I pull away.
“Nicolette?” I whisper.
“Oh, thank God you’re okay.” My sister sounds like she’s crying. “I heard what happened. Savannah, go with Thayer. Please, honey. Go with Thayer, and we’ll take it from there.”
I nod, even though she can’t see me. All of my arguments and reasons for not going with him don’t hold a candle to my sister’s tearful plea. I’d do anything she asked me.
“If you want me to,” I whisper.
“I do, honey. I can’t talk right now,” she says. “Fabien says you have to move quickly, and we can talk more when you’re secure. Okay? Go, Savannah. Go now.”
“Okay,” I repeat. It’s all I need to know.
Nicolette wants me to go with Thayer.
“I love you,” she whispers.
“I love you, too,” I whisper back.
I return the phone to Thayer, drag my shoulders back, and nod. “When do we go?”
Frowning, he looks at my hair. “Now, and the hair has to go. With hot-pink hair, you might as well have a target on your back.”
I turn away from him and swallow the lump in my throat.
It isn’t the hair… hair grows back. Appearances change. It’s the certain knowledge that changing my hair is only the first compromise I’ll have to make.
What else will he make me do?