Chapter 8
POV: Dane?
I took a long hot shower before dinner—memorizing the way her cheeks reddened—the way she squirmed but still remained defiant to my touch—to her own emotions.
I was intrigued.
But beyond that I was obsessed. I was obsessed with the thought of breaking her into a submissive. I was obsessed with the thought of her passing all of my carefully constructed tests. I was obsessed with the thought of her being ‘the one’.
As the water cascaded down my skin, tinting it a dark color from the warmth, I let out a heavy sigh.
My cock was still hard from the mere thought of her. Blue balls served as a painful reminder that I was sexually frustrated and had little to do to cure it.
I couldn’t touch her—I wouldn’t want to touch her without her consent.
And jacking myself off only helped so much.
But it did little to cure the lingering thought of her—-that was nestled deep inside my mind—stuck there like it belonged.
And in a way it did. In a way she did belong—here—with me—even though she didn’t think so.
After 10 more minutes of standing in the shower and waiting for my cock to go limp, I turned off the water, dried myself, then dressed myself for dinner.
I dressed myself in a pair of grey sweatpants and a black v-neck shirt. I dried my dark hair with a towel, loosely combing it back and went without shaving. A little stubble would do me well.
When I went to get Gabrielle from her room, she had that same disgusted look on her face as she always did.
“Glad to see that you’re in a happy mood,” I joked, only causing her to shoot daggers at me with narrowed eyes.
She held out her wrists willingly in order to be cuffed.
Both my eyebrows raised in surprise.
For once, she decided not to resist, which surprised me but left me suspicious.
I glanced down at her. “Done trying to escape?” I asked as I led her along the hallway.
She didn’t respond, which was typical of her. Her gaze was fixed on the hallway ahead of us.
“Cat got your tongue, Belle?” I smirked, twisting my grip on her handcuffs.
“What? Are you going to force me to talk to you now?” she spat out, “It’s bad enough I’m kidnapped, now I’m an unwilling companion, too.”
I laughed so loud my hands shook along her restraints. “You’re something, Belle.”
“Stop calling me that,” she muttered, as I set her body down in her chair, bending low enough that my breath warmed her skin.
She shot back in her chair, pressing her back into it and moving her face far away from mine.
“Suit yourself, Belle,” I whispered, running my fingers through her blonde hair.
She used her newly free hand to swat at me.
The smack landed hard on my left cheek, unexpected, but also not unwelcomed. I expected her to try something eventually and dare I say I even let her get close enough to do it. I wanted to see if she had it in here and damn that girl did.
“Ouch,” I laughed, fire rising in my eyes as I towered over her with my fists bunched. I grabbed her wrist in mine, twisting it down and into her lap then brought my lips back to her ear. “I might’ve liked that.” I released her arm and took a step back, a smug look on my face.
Her lips curled into a frown as she jolted forward, trying to smack me again but missed. “You’re sick!”
“That may be true princess, but so are you.” I turned on my heels and walked away from her towards the kitchen stove.
I could hear her moving the chair with her weight, trying to break free in the distance.
It only made me laugh louder.
And I knew that must’ve pissed her off beyond belief.
I carried over two plastic bowls filled with rigatoni vodka and fresh grated parmesan and set them at our place settings, then I brought back two plastic cups of pinot noir and set them down.
“What’s your name?” she squeaked out, staring up at me with those innocent eyes, even though I knew they were far from it.
I smirked. “Someone is curious.”
“Vastly,” her lips twisted.
I thought about lying to her but then I figured she wouldn’t remember anyways if this didn’t workout.
“Dane.”
“Dane?”
I nodded.
For a moment, Belle said nothing, instead she just stared down at the plates as if it was astronaut food, a confused look on her face as she tried to figure out what to make of it.
“It’s like you’ve never seen vodka pasta before.”
She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.
“You’ll have to let me know how you like it.”
She stuck her plastic fork into a noodle, forking it and shoving it in her mouth.
I looked at her as she chewed and watched her eyes lighten and her lips curl into—was that the outline of a smirk? “Your verdict?”
She glanced up with tight lips as if she didn’t want to tell me the truth.
“Might as well tell me the truth, Belle.”
She shot me another glare. “It’s okay.”
I leaned forward, pressing my forearms into the table. “Okay? Like disgusting okay or delicious okay?”
She shook her head letting out a scoff. “It’s good, alright? You can cook. Too bad you’re a psychopath or you actually might make a decent boyfriend.” She quickly went tight lipped after the words left her mouth.
I smiled widely. “Boyfriend, huh?”
“I didn’t mean it.”
“Oh, I’m sure you didn’t,” I laughed loudly, “I’m sure you’ve never thought of me in that manner—not when you looked at my arms—or my abdomen—or the outline of my cock.”
“Fuck you!” she seethed, getting to her feet and using all of her weight to move the chair.
Once she realized she actually had moved something, she only kept going, taking the chair along with her as she tried to make a run for the other side of the hallway.
I stopped her in place with a simple tug, taking her and the chair with me as I pushed her into the wall with brute force.
She let out a squeak as I slammed her back further into the wall, pinning her by her throat.
My hand tightened around her throat as I stared into those shocked blue eyes of hers. “Where do you think you’re going, princess?”
She could barely move from the weight of my grip.
I towered over her, looking down at her, as I kept my grip on her neck. “If you keep this up, there’s no telling if we’ll ever get along, Belle.” I used my free hand to stroke the side of her face, causing her to wiggle. “You should stop fighting, it’ll be easier for you, baby.”
She bucked forward, trying to destabilize me with her hips.
I only smiled. “But if you must, I do enjoy a challenge.”
With that I released my hand from her neck.
She gasped for free air before I dragged her along and back to her room, unlocked her cuffs and closed the door without sparing her another glance.
If she wanted to play difficult, then so could I.