Chained Hands (Chained Hearts Duet 1)

If he had any brains, he would hustle.

“You’re the mafia, aren’t you?” Her words stop me in my tracks. She is curled up on the couch, her legs tucked under her ass as she sits there waiting for me in the dark. I switch on the light, and she doesn’t even move. The bottom of her pajamas are covered in blood, but she doesn’t seem to care. When I don’t answer, she stands and gets right in my face. “Fuck you too. You’re just another asshole who thinks he can control me. I’m here for a week, then I am fucking gone.” She huffs. “P.S., give me my fucking phone. I need to work.”

I snap my teeth at her, and she jumps backward. Then I let a lazy smile spread across my face and saunter to the bathroom to take a shower.

No one makes demands of me.

No matter who they are.

Chapter Ten

Sailor

I ended up passing out on his chair. He came back from the shower and climbed into bed, not speaking to me again. But when I woke, I was back in his bed, and I don’t understand why.

He isn’t next to me when I rise, and I’m thankful as I go to my bag and grab clean clothes before I shower. When I enter the bathroom, I see him standing at the sink brushing his teeth. He stares at me through the mirror.

He’s good at not speaking—just staring.

I’ve never met anyone like him.

And I’m thankful for that, I guess.

Believe me, I have met some real shady-ass people in my life.

Turning my back to him, I start the shower and place my things down before I begin undressing. I’m not someone who’s insecure about my body. My parents taught me at a young age that beauty is what you perceive it to be, so if you have a thought going around in your brain that you need to change something, you will focus on it and focus on it until you hate it.

I hated my body when I couldn’t carry a child.

But slowly, I’m starting to love her again.

Even after I blamed her, caused her pain, she is still me and I am still her. And I only have this one body, so I best be good to her.

The steam starts to fill the room, and I feel his eyes on my back, but I don’t bother to confirm it as I get in and wash myself, while keeping myself turned away from him. When I’m done, I reach for the towel and find it not there. Instead, I find Keir holding it out to me.

“Thank you.” I take it, but he doesn’t let it go. “Keir.” I say his name for the first time, and he eyes me with suspicion before he releases the towel so I can wrap it around my body.

“I’ve never wanted to fuck one of my captives before.”

His words shock me so much that I freeze on the spot.

I’m not sure if he’s waiting for me to speak, but when he realizes I won’t, he leaves me to get changed.

And I swear I saw him smirk just before he turned to go.

My phone is on the bed. That’s my first thought when I finally manage to get out of the bathroom. I’m fully dressed and took my time about it. I even sat on the toilet wondering what I’m going to say to him.

I mean, I saw him shoot my husband without so much as a blink of his eye.

This man is clearly not someone I want to piss off.

Keir is the man you stay away from, far away from.

So why when I am near him do I think of things I shouldn’t be?

Sex.

When was the last time I had sex, though?

Two months ago? Probably longer.

I honestly can’t remember what it’s like to be touched with passion. Whenever Dillan and I fucked, it was quick and done. We had no lust, nothing left anymore. Maybe he did me a favor by selling me to Keir. I never would have been strong enough to leave him.

Reaching for my phone, I call my lawyer and ask her to draw up divorce papers stating I want nothing from Dillan but what I have already taken. I sit back on the bed and start to go through my phone and all the messages and emails I’ve missed. I prided myself on being reachable and always on time. So, when I check my messages from my clients and see how worried for my safety they’ve been, I figure they have a right to be. Even when I was in the hospital, I wrote back. It’s just who I am by nature.

Staying on the bed for a few hours doing as much as I can to catch up without a computer, I finally raise my head to stretch my neck, and that’s when I see Roberto standing at the door.