Twelve Kassen #4
“You guessed correctly about me. I am here alone. And, until you smashed my PLB, I potentially had people coming to find me.” She shrugged.
“But now, I’m truly alone. I probably shouldn’t confess that to you.
I definitely shouldn’t have shown you how much my phone and PLB meant to me.
That was an idiotic move on my part. Unbelievably moronic.
But I’m slowly learning how to navigate this.
You see, I’m not like you. I’m not used to ultimatums and such black and white.
I’m used to decency and kindness. I’m used to being safe and come from a world where ‘NO’ is a shield that protects you. ”
“That word doesn’t exist in my world.” Shadows gathered on my thoughts, swirling with memories of how many times I’d yelled no and been hurt anyway.
She continued as if I hadn’t spoken, blurting out more sentences in a few seconds than I’d heard in eleven years.
“I know I should tell you that I have friends who, at this very moment, are searching for me. I should tell you that I have a brother who will turn the globe upside down to find me—which I do, by the way. He won’t stop. I know he won’t.”
She sighed sadly, her gaze ripping out my pieces one by one.
“And who knows, maybe that’s exactly what they’re doing right now.
Your private paradise might be invaded by more than just me.
But...here’s the thing. I know things about you too, you bastard.
I know you’re sheltered and very secluded.
I’m beginning to guess you’ve lived here on your own for a while.
Long enough for you to forget some very important things. ”
I froze. “What things?”
Pushing off from the wall, she dared step closer to me. Her breasts rose and fell beneath her grubby jacket. Her legs flexed beneath tight leggings. My belly coiled to rip off her clothing and command her to her knees.
She stopped only once her body heat kissed mine.
My skin scorched with flames, electricity crackled up my legs and into my balls. My heart lost its structural steadiness and turned demonic instead. It took everything not to sink my hands into her hair and drag her closer.
“I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know why you’re keeping me prisoner, but I do know that you’re different.
” Her hands landed on my naked chest, sending bolts of lightning through my ribs, electrocuting my racing heart.
“I will never forgive you for strangling me. Twice. I will never let my guard down around you. I will make it my life’s work to ensure you pay for everything that you’ve done to me.
But...I also can’t admit that you’re evil.
You’re messed up and clearly have trauma.
You’re mean and cruel and believe just because I’m a woman that I was put upon this earth to serve you. But I also know things you can’t hide.”
My back filled with icy lead. “What—”
“Where I come from, people have mastered the art of lies. Social media has taught us to hide our true parts and only show what we want people to see.” Her head turned to the side as if she studied me, judged me, and found me lacking in every fucking way.
“And you...whoever you are, you don’t possess those skills. ”
“What fucking skills?”
What the hell is she talking about?
My ears rang.
My head swam.
She provided more entertainment and stimulation than any animal, tree, or chore in the decade I’d lived here. She made spaces come alive, she made air tingle with power, she made me wake up from the wordless beast I’d become to a man slowly stretching back into humanity.
But she also confused me, frustrated me, made me furious with her very existence.
Was I supposed to find her this annoying? This fascinating? Was it a by-product of living alone for so long?
I didn’t like it.
I don’t like her—
Her voice lowered to a whisper, made huskier by my second strangulation.
“You reveal everything that you’re feeling.
I know you want me. I know you think you deserve to hurt me.
I know I’m driving you crazy, talking about things you can’t understand.
And I know you’ll rationalize raping me because, in your mind, making me live in this damp prison is entirely justified—”
I slapped a hand over her mouth, shutting her up.
I couldn’t listen to another syllable.
My head hurt from her accusations. My body trembled with the war she was determined to have. She backed up, slapping my hand away and sucking in a breath, ready to launch another torrent of words, despite her bruised throat.
No way.
I was done listening to this shit.
I was too quick.
Rushing her, I snatched her around the waist and plucked her from the floor. Up close, she didn’t smell as fresh as my valley anymore. She smelled stale and sad. A cloying despair that did nothing for my desire.
Almost everything she’d said to me was bullshit.
She didn’t know a goddamn thing about me.
But she was right about one thing.
She needed a bathroom.
A shower.
To be clean.
And then, once she was clean, she owed me.