Chapter 6 #2
I took a step back from the window, convincing myself I was just imagining things.
There was still some lingering doubt Knox could follow through.
Maybe he wouldn't chicken out completely, but I worried he wouldn’t take this as far as I wanted.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d end it when it got too intense.
When I thought of him, I kept seeing the man who still called my mom “Mrs. Rutherford” and blushed when anyone complimented him.
Did I really expect that same man to hold me down and force himself on me until I cried?
With a sigh, I walked over to my dresser and pulled out a thin, sage green tank and matching shorts.
Closing the drawer with my hip, I looked in the direction of my closet door, wanting to see my half-naked body in the full-length mirror.
But I’d left the closet door hanging wide open when I’d left earlier, per usual.
I took a few slow steps to close it, tucking my sleepwear under one arm as I reached for the knob. The old door creaked, but before it was even halfway closed, a hand shot out of the darkness.
There was no time to even think about what was happening.
Because that big, rough hand locked around my wrist like a vice, and a shadowy figure surged forward, driving me forward with terrifying force.
The closet door slammed shut from the impact, and my body crashed face-first into the full-length mirror mounted on the back of it.
One arm snaked around my waist while another hand clamped over my mouth, muffling my cry.
I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t.
I couldn't even suck in a breath.
His big hand covered the lower half of my face, and his hard body threatened to crush mine against the glass. The only sound I could make was a strained, desperate whimper against his palm.
Though I couldn’t see him, the unmistakable scent of Knox’s deodorant filled the space around us.
With both hands, I reached for his arm, trying with all my might to pull his hand off my mouth. My nails dug into the skin on his solid forearm, but there was no use. He was far too strong.
How long had he been here, waiting?
“Fucking hell, Hallie,” he growled, his chin pressing hard into my shoulder. His lips touched my neck as he spoke. “I knew you were depraved, but undressing in front of the window so the whole fucking neighborhood could see? You’re a bigger slut than I thought.”
I wriggled and writhed, struggling to catch my breath. My legs shook violently beneath me. I continued to claw at his arms, but it didn't even seem to faze him.
“You deserve every single consequence I’m going to make you take,” he said, pulling my back flush against his chest with a rough shake.
My knees threatened to buckle. At that very second, Knox’s grip around me loosened, and I managed to drop down and slip out of his grasp.
It was almost like he was letting me go, but I didn’t have time to question it.
I had mere seconds to make an escape, dodging away from his outstretched hand to crawl away.
Though he managed to grab me by the hair, I rose to my feet and slipped away, crying out when a few strands came loose in his fist.
“Get away from me!” I broke into a run, the old, rough carpet practically burning against my bare feet as I sprinted into the dark living room past the tower of unpacked boxes. I made the split-second decision to duck behind the leather armchair in a dark corner.
The front door was right there.
It would've been my escape, but I’d turned the opposite direction.
Knox’s heavy footsteps made the floorboards creak as he entered the room. He wasn’t running. He didn’t have to. I tried as hard as I could to be still and quiet, but I knew he could hear my ragged, shaky breaths all the way across the room. “Oh, Hallie,” he said, his voice low and ominous.
He took a couple of slow steps toward me.
“You really thought you could hide from me?”
Another step. My body trembled, my knees shaking on that scraggly, thin carpet.
There was another heavy footstep in my direction, and I heard Knox clear his throat. “You should’ve run for the door when you had the chance, you little whore,” he said, sounding downright villainous.
Those boots inched even closer to the chair, and for a couple of seconds, he paused. I held my breath, feeling like this was my final moment of freedom. Of safety. There was no part of me that doubted his capabilities now. This man wanted to do sadistic things to me, and panic rose in my chest.
Knox took one more step, and suddenly the leather chair lifted away from me. He flipped it over like it was weightless, tossing it out of the way so he had full access to me. There was a whoosh of cool air in its absence.
I scrambled to crawl away from him, but he was too quick. Too strong. With a maniacal, humorless laugh, he bent down, clamping both his hands around my ankles before dragging me toward him. “Got ya.”
“No, please!” I begged, clawing at the carpet for something to hold onto. But still, my body slid against the carpet, its rough fibers burning the skin on my elbows.
I felt the weight of Knox’s body on top of mine as he released my ankles, pinning me flat against the floor. His hands slid up my arms, holding them both down with an uncompromising grip above my head.
“If you try to run from me again,” he grunted, one of his knees sliding between my legs, “then I’m going to have to remind you of what kind of man I really am. What tools I have at my disposal.”
What was he talking about?
“Confused, sweetheart?”
The hair dangling over my eyes prevented me from getting a good look at his face.
When I tried to blow the strands away, I couldn’t even suck in full breath–he was pressing down too hard on my back.
He mistook my tiny movement as resistance, so he forced his knee even harder down between my legs.
Did he know he was pushing it right against my asshole?
“If you don’t cooperate, I’m going to have to remind you that my gun is never far from reach.”
I shuddered beneath him, a drop of sweat sliding down my temple toward my eye.
Knox regularly had a gun on him–I’d almost forgotten about that.
He was usually nonchalant about it, and I would’ve never known if I hadn’t noticed his shirt riding up every now and then, exposing the dark metal tucked against his hip.
I’d seen it a few times before, just a quick flash that excited me in a way I could never really understand.
And I couldn’t understand why him threatening me with it now was making me clit throb. God, I’m sick. I’m fucked up. I need Brody’s priest on speed dial, because I’m the worst person alive.
I huffed out a breath. “My family would hear it.”
Knox bore more weight down on me, somehow–I hadn’t even realized he was still holding himself up. Beneath him, I gasped for air, my cheek mashed against the musty carpet. And he dragged his nose against my other cheek, his beard rubbing against my jaw. “I wasn’t going to shoot you, baby girl.”
Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck–I couldn’t handle that nickname. If he called me that again, my brain would melt completely. And like he knew the sensation was wrecking me, Knox lightly brushed his beard along my chin again.
“Did you forget I took a man down by pistol-whipping him? I know you remember.”
He lifted one hand from my wrist, and I wriggled beneath him until that hand found my upper thigh. He grabbed the soft flesh just below my buttcheek in a brutal pinch that made me whimper.
My brain screamed danger, but I knew my pussy was already dripping. Knox’s thumb slid along the edge of my panties at the top of my thigh, slowly inching inward toward the swell of my labia. Any second now, he’d know how humiliatingly soaked I already was.
“No,” I begged.
“No?” Without warning, he forcefully dragged his thumb over the wet cotton in the center.
And then he moved it in a circle around my swollen clit, his thumb sliding effortlessly over the slick fabric.
“You can fight me with words all you want, but your body’s already surrendering.
You're a twisted little slut, aren't you?”
“Get off me!” I pleaded, taking in short, shallow breaths. “You’re too heavy.”
He let out a quiet, wicked laugh. “If you’re already complaining, it’s going to be a long night for you.”
A second later, Knox lifted his body off of mine. But he wasn’t releasing me. I wasn’t even given a second to fill my lungs with air before he was grabbing me again, tucking one hand under my arm to yank me upright.
“Don’t get any fucking ideas,” he warned, giving me a shake before holding my half-naked body against his.
During our entanglement on the floor, one of my breasts slipped free from my bra, exposing my bare nipple to him.
It brushed against his soft black t-shirt as he shifted my weight in his arm, and a rush of heat flooded through my body.
With one arm locked around my waist, he reached out with his free hand and caught the thick rope tieback looped around one of the living room curtains. And with one sharp, decisive yank, it tore free, and he held it in his fist like he’d already decided exactly what it was for.
“Why did you–”
“Shut the fuck up,” he said, his eyes dropping to my nipple for half a second before he made me turn away. “Go back to the bedroom.”
I stumbled through the darkness with Knox’s hand firmly grasped around my upper arm. Just when I entertained the idea of running away again, he tossed the rope over one shoulder so he could grab me with the other hand, using it to push my hip.
“Move faster,” he ordered.
“What are you going to do to me?”
“If you keep asking questions, I'm going to make sure it hurts.” He hadn’t even hesitated before responding that way, giving the small of my back a shove so I tumbled toward the bed.
I caught myself on the edge of the mattress. I didn't dare speak again, drawing in a panicked, shaky breath. Knox dropped the rope on the bedspread next to me.
“On your back.”
My pulse quickened as I whipped my body around, his knees pinning me to the edge of the bed. And I caught his menacing gaze as he pushed down on my hips. “Please, Knox.”
I didn't even know what I was pleading for.
One of his hands shot up and clamped around my chin, his thumb digging into the side of my jaw so hard I let out a little gasp. “That's what you're going to do.”
I blinked up at his face. “What?”
“Please Knox.”
And with that, he forced me backward onto the bed, knocking the air out of my lungs as I slammed into the mattress.
Before I could catch my breath, he was already climbing over me, one knee sinking into the thick comforter on either side of my hips.
I tried to buck him off of me to no avail.
He was too strong and completely unrelenting.
“Hold still, dammit.” Knox reached for the rope before grabbing both my wrists.
I twisted and arched and tried to wriggle free as he began to loop the curtain tieback around one of the rungs on my headboard, holding both of my wrists with one hand. “No!”
“Do I need to explain how this is going to work?” Knox asked me with a grunt, pulling the rope taut around my wrists. “I get to do whatever I want to you. Your body and all of its holes are mine.”
Jesus. My head buzzed with the thought of being nothing but an object to him. Just a little fuckdoll with holes to use however he wanted. Stripped of choices. Stripped of control.
My brother’s best friend was tying me to my headboard.
He gave my restraint one final tug before dropping all of his weight on top of me, grabbing a fistful of hair as his mouth pressed to my ear. My chest rose and fell as he let me feel his hot breath on my earlobe.
“Are you starting to understand how wrong you were about me, Hallie?”
I didn’t answer. His beard scratched my cheek, and then his teeth found my earlobe, scraping against it before giving it just a little tug.
My heart was out of control.
“You doubted me. During our little chat at the park, you only gave me a couple of restrictions. That leaves so much on the table.” His voice dipped even lower and darker. “You had no idea what I was actually capable of, did you?”
Knox pulled back just enough for our eyes to meet, amusement dancing in his eyes like he was enjoying my fear and anticipation.
“You didn’t think a man like me could torture you until you beg for mercy.
” As he spoke, one hand slid down the side of my waist, tickling my skin before his fingertips tucked into the top of my underwear.
“You never thought I could break you and ruin you over and over to the point you’ll never be the same again. ”
God, I’d underestimated this man. What dark secrets had he been hiding? Was that whole charismatic, easygoing personality just a mask he wore? For a few seconds, my fear took over, making me wonder if I should say that safe word now and call this whole thing off.
But my curiosity won, so I kept playing.
“I—I still don’t believe you,” I said, squirming as Knox began to tug my panties down on one side. His body was still pressed against mine, pinning me in place. “You’re a good man. You’re not some kind of monster.”
The corners of his mouth lifted in a deliberately wicked smile. And without a word, he reached around to his back pocket before pulling out a small, shiny object. I didn’t even have time to register what I was looking at before he opened the pocket knife, revealing a sharp blade.
I gasped.
I had told him I didn’t want to bleed.
“Red” was on the tip of my tongue, but I held it in. There was a two-hundred pound man straddling me with a knife in his hand, yet I still wanted to trust him. He wasn’t really a monster, was he?
What had I gotten myself into?