Chapter 13
Thirteen
Hallie
“Where are you taking me?” I asked Knox when the car slowed down.
On the highway, it felt like we were flying and weaving through traffic.
I’d once heard Knox brag that he’d never had a single traffic violation, but he’d sped down the freeway like a damn outlaw that night.
Now, however, I could sense my car winding through quiet streets and making a lot of stops.
“If I told you, wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of the blindfold?” Knox asked.
My back straightened when the car came to complete stop.
Knox killed the engine, and I heard him pull my keys from the ignition.
I knew we must have arrived at his apartment, but there was something unsettling about not knowing how to describe my location to authorities if this happened to be taken too far.
Adrian had always said Knox lived on the north side of Chicago, but that was all I knew.
He’d driven me miles from home—I knew that. He’d taken me to an unknown location, where nobody would be able to find me. Nobody in my life would suspect I was with Knox Ballard that night.
He could do whatever he wanted and get away with it.
I felt his hand graze my hip as he unbuckled me. “Listen to me,” he said, his low voice cutting through my frantic thoughts. “When we get out, you’re going to do exactly as I say so we don’t arouse suspicion. You’ll walk where I lead you to walk, and you’ll keep your mouth shut. Got that?”
I nodded.
Knox got out and walked around to my side to open the door. “Come on. Let’s go.”
“Where’s my phone?”
He let out a dark chuckle as he shut the car door behind me, hooking one hand around my upper arm. “You won’t be needing that.”
“But—”
He jerked my body toward him and I lost my footing, falling against his chest. With both hands, I grabbed fistfuls of his t-shirt to steady myself, taking in his clean, masculine scent.
“Hallie,” he said, gripping my chin with force.
I let out a quiet whimper as his thumb dug into my jaw.
I wanted nothing more than to see his eyes, but I wouldn’t dare lift the blindfold.
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be.
If you don’t shut the fuck up, I’m going to have to gag you.
And that’ll take away your safe words, won’t it? ”
I gave a little nod.
“Good. The more you obey, the less this is all going to hurt.”
And with that, Knox led me down the sidewalk, his body pressed against the side of mine as he nudged me along.
I heard a few beeps and then a door opened.
He guided me down an air-conditioned hallway, where the only sound I could hear were our hollow footsteps, and the faint smell of laundry detergent filled the air.
As we walked, I ran one hand along the wall, grounding myself with the rough texture of the wallpaper. Knox lives here, I told myself.
It was like stepping into a corner of his private life I’d never been able to see before. Of course, I still wouldn’t be able to see it, at least not right away. But my excitement outweighed my fear.
We stopped, and I heard the jingling of keys. A doorknob turning. I was thrust into a cool apartment that smelled just like Knox, his familiar scent enveloping me like a hug. For one dizzying second, I basked in the comfort, knowing I’d be safe within these walls.
The lock on the door clicked behind me, and I heard Knox clear his throat. “Remove your clothes.”
I blinked under the blindfold. “All of them?”
His keys dropped onto a surface nearby. “You fucking heard me.”
I hesitated, my fingers curling into the hem of my shirt as heat crept up my neck.
It shouldn’t have mattered, considering he’d seen me stripped bare before.
But standing there before him blindfolded made me feel even more vulnerable and exposed.
Slowly, I began to peel my tank top upward, knowing he was watching me closely.
I hated that I couldn’t see his eyes.
“You’re wearing the gift I left for you,” he said, sounding pleased as I tossed my top on the ground. I moved my hands to the back of the white bra from Solène, unhooking it one clasp at a time. “Looks like it fits.”
“It does,” I answered, licking my lips. I slid the straps of my bra down my arms, exposing my breasts to him. I dropped the garment to the floor and stood still for a second, my heart racing in my chest. A rush of cool air from a nearby vent made my nipples taut.
“Keep going,” Knox said. “I need you naked for this.”
I wondered if he could see the goosebumps on my skin as I slid my denim shorts down my legs and kicked them off, along with my sandals. I shimmied my panties down next, acutely aware of his gaze on my nude body despite the blindfold covering my eyes.
For a moment, he said nothing. My arms dangled loosely at my sides, and my mind raced with thoughts of what he might be about to do to me.
The power imbalance between us had never been so evident.
I imagined him leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, taking in my nakedness.
I couldn’t help myself—I let one of my hands drift down my lower abdomen, sliding over the soft, freshly-groomed skin just above my pussy.
But before my fingertips could reach between my legs, Knox’s strong hand pulled mine away.
“No. Get down on the floor.”
“What?”
“On all fours. You’re going to crawl.”
Shit. I couldn’t think of anything more humiliating than crawling across the floor like a dog, my ass and pussy even more exposed to him than they were now.
Knox wanted to turn me into a pet for his entertainment and amusement, and it was the most degrading thing I could imagine.
My body trembled, but I knew I couldn’t say no.
“Okay,” I whispered, lowering myself to my knees. My body trembled as I knelt there, mentally preparing myself for this. How would I be able to look him in the eyes at one of our family celebrations after this? Would I ever?
Knox shifted beside me, and a second later, I felt the bottom of his shoe against my back.
He drove my body down until my palms slammed against the floor.
The sudden impact tore a raw, sharp gasp from my lungs.
“I’m not playing games,” Knox growled, his foot still pressing down on my back.
“You’re going to do as you’re told or face the consequences. ”
“I—I’m sorry,” I cried out, my elbows shaking.
He lifted his foot off of me. “Crawl. Straight ahead.”
I did exactly as I was told, inching forward on my hands and knees across what I assumed was Knox’s living room. I didn’t hear his footsteps behind me, which had to mean he was staying back to savor the view.
“Veer left.”
I followed his instructions, shifting to the left.
My breasts swayed as I crawled, which only added to my humiliation.
I felt like cattle being herded or auctioned off, with no dignity left to cling to.
Yet beneath the shame and embarrassment, there was a flicker of arousal.
All I could think about was how badly I wanted him to grab me and fuck me right there on all fours, but I should’ve known I wouldn’t be that lucky.
“Left,” he said again, his voice sounding closer now. I felt his leg press against my right side. “Turn.”
I turned left, my shoulder brushing against a doorframe. I shivered when Knox gathered my hair up in one hand and yanked me upward without speaking a word. Before I could even find my footing, he shoved me down on a bed.
I fell flat on my face against the mattress, struggling to catch my breath.
When I tried to lift myself up with my palms, his palm found the back of my head, pressing my face down into the bedspread.
He straddled me from behind, lowering his mouth to his ear.
“Ready to find out what happens when you trust a monster?”
His thick comforter muffled my whimpered response. I bucked on instinct, and Knox’s body lifted—only for his hand to rear back and come down on my ass in a loud smack that echoed across the room. Stinging, fiery pain radiated across my skin, and the second it let up, he slapped me again.
Harder this time.
“Aaaggghh!” I yelped into the mattress.
I braced myself for a third slap that didn’t come. Instead, he shifted on top of me, his hands grabbing my hips to flip me over in a brutal motion. My body flailed like a ragdoll, reduced to nothing but an object for him to toy with. I had no will of my own left to fight back.
Before I had a chance to recover, Knox grabbed one of my wrists, slipping it into a cold, leather cuff faster than I could realize what was happening. He pinned my opposite wrist down next before tightening a cuff around it, too.
“Much more effective than curtain tiebacks,” he muttered, sliding all the way down my body. I tugged on the restraints, realizing they had very little give.
My ankles came next. He forced each one into a cuff, buckling them down and pulling the straps until my legs were locked open, my pussy completely on display. I tried to draw my knees together, but there was no use. I was spread-eagle on Knox Ballard’s bed and completely at his mercy.
All because he saw the stickers on my Kindle.
“Perfect,” Knox murmured from the foot of the bed. “No kicking or fighting back. Just a wet, helpless little cunt tied down for me to fuck.”
The warmth that washed over my entire body was equal parts terror and arousal.
The mattress dipped as he crawled up over me again, his knees on either side of my hips.
His weight settled gradually, his chest hovering just over my bare breasts, until I could feel every slow exhale across my collarbone.
I’d never been more turned on, blindfolded, restrained, and spread wide open beneath him.
He leaned closer, his lips brushing the bottom of my earlobe. “Hallie,” he said, his voice alarmingly calm. “How long do you think it will take for them to notice you’re missing?”
“Missing?” I tilted my head back, trying to see his face from the bottom of the blindfold. “What?”
Knox let out a slow, quiet laugh, one of his hands roaming up my side until it found one of my nipples. “Who do you think will notice first, your mom?”
He rolled my nipple between his thumb and forefinger with gentle ease, barely pinching.
“Let’s see, it’s Sunday now, right? She’ll know something’s up by Tuesday morning.”
My first instinct was to smile from one side of my mouth. “I’m not going to be here until Tuesday.”
Knox’s fingers twisted my nipple hard enough to make me gasp, arching my back away from the mattress.
“Oh, Hallie,” he groaned, his voice laced with pity.
The shift in his tone set off alarm bells in my mind.
“Sweet, na?ve, little Hallie. God, are you really that stupid? You think I’m still playing? ”
Dread coiled in my stomach, but a stubborn part of me still believed he’d never actually hurt me.
I lay still, awaiting his next move. Knox’s hand clamped around my jaw, his thumb forcing my mouth open.
The pressure of his fingers on my skin was so intense I worried they’d leave lasting marks.
Didn’t he remember the boundaries I’d set?
Or… did they not matter to him anymore?
“Please—” I began, but it was the only word that managed to slip out before Knox wedged something round and rubbery between my lips. A fucking ball gag. I wriggled and turned my head as he tried to force it in, only for him to grab a fistful of my hair and give it a hard tug.
“You’re going to take this gag, you fucking brat,” he snarled. “The last thing I need is for my neighbors to hear your screams.”
I sucked in a deep breath, preparing to let out the loudest scream I could manage, but he was too quick.
He gave the ball gag a firm push past my teeth until it settled on my tongue.
He ignored my desperate whimper, bringing his mouth to my earlobe again.
“Let’s hear what it sounds like when you try to say that safe word. ”
I tried. Really, I did. But the sound that came out around the ball gag was a pathetic, muffled, “Errrrgg.” Drool was already pooling at the corners of my mouth, and there was nothing I could do about it.
“Perfect.” Knox let out another sinister laugh, one that made my stomach turn. Was this still part of the game? Was he just testing how far he could push me until I’d break? Or was I really his captive prey, too trusting of the man who’d been pretending to be someone he wasn’t all these years?
“Hmmm,” Knox hummed as his mouth closed around my nipple.
His tongue traced slow circles before his lips sealed around it, sucking hard enough to make it ache.
He released my nipple with a pop, the sting lingering long after his mouth pulled away.
“What is it they always say to young women when they warn them about being abducted?”
I couldn’t even answer if I wanted.
“‘Never let them take you to a second location,’ right? My god, Hallie. It barely took you any coaxing at all. I actually convinced you to trust me, even after torturing you and admitting I’ve been stalking you. That didn’t set off any red flags?”
Tears welled in my eyes, the blindfold hiding them from Knox’s view.
I’d never felt so ashamed. So stupid. I willed myself not to cry aloud, but I knew he could see my chest heaving and shaking.
Instead of stopping or showing me a little softness, my fear only made him let out that same, low, wicked laugh that had excited me before.
Before I knew he was someone I should be terrified of.