Her knee connected with mine again.
“You’re hurting yourself.” I tsked.
“Get off me!” she screamed in my face.
“I thought it might come to this.” I reached into my suit pocket and pulled an embroidered handkerchief from it.
A cloying smell swirled in the air, and she stopped struggling, her eyes searching for the source of the scent. “Don’t.”
“I fear I have to.” I pressed the cloth to her face. “But don’t worry. You’ll see me again soon.” She tried to turn her head away and managed to hold her breath for a few seconds. But her exertions had her breathing too hard to stop. She inhaled, and her eyelids fluttered.
“Let me go.” Her words slurred on their way to me.
“I told you.” Her eyes closed, her breathing slowing as I stroked her hair. “Never.”
When she was out, I wiped the blood from my nose, then pulled Camille into my lap. She was limp, like a perfect doll. I tucked her head under my chin and wrapped my arms around her.
She slumbered peacefully as the monster in my chest hummed in anticipation of its next meal.
11
Camille
Soft sheets. I rolled over and buried my face in my pillow. But something was off. The pillow smelled different than usual. Instead of my shampoo, it had the scent of woods and leather and something sophisticated.
I opened my eyes and sat up. Him. The pillow smelled like him. The sheet fell off me, and I realized my skin was bare. Panic hit me like a blow to the chest. I yanked the sheet back into place and peered around into the gloom.
“You’re awake.” His deep voice slithered around me, but I couldn’t see him.
“Where am I?”
“Our room.” He was sitting somewhere off to my right.
“Did you take my clothes off?”
“Yes.”
I cringed and eased toward the edge of the bed opposite him. Panic blared in my ears, and everything seemed to go cold. I’d awoken naked in his bed. What had he done to me while I was out? I did a mental check, and my body didn’t feel any different.
“Did you—” I choked on my own question.
“What?” Had his voice moved closer?
I squeezed my thighs together, searching for any pang of pain. There was none.
I caught movement in the darkness. He was walking around the bed toward me.
Scurrying back, I hit the headboard and clutched the sheet to me. “What did you do to me?” I tried to inject hatred into my voice, but it still shook.
“You mean, did I rape you?” He came into view, his bare body illuminated by a faint light through a door at his back.
He was strong, well-muscled and loomed huge like a recurring nightmare. His eyes pierced through the shadows, a slight glint telling me that he was enjoying this too much.
“Did you?”
He put a knee on the bed. “No.”
“Let me go.” I wanted to look away from his nudity but was too afraid to let him out of my sight.
“No.” He moved closer, the wide bed shifting under his weight.
I bolted away from him, but I didn’t even set foot on the floor before he grabbed my ankle and yanked me back. A scream ripped from my lungs as he covered me with his body.
“Shh.” He clapped a hand over my mouth. “No one can hear you anyway.” His thick cock pressed into my thigh, but he made no other move, just restrained me as fear thundered through my being. He pulled his palm away and stared down at me. “That’s better.”
My eyes burned as tears welled. “Why are you doing this?”
“I told you.” He cocked his head, as if surprised he had to explain. “Because you’re mine.”
“I’m not yours.” My voice cracked.
“You’ll see.” The certainty in his words chilled me. “We’re bound, you and me. You’ve felt it. I could see it in your eyes when we danced, when I visited your classroom. Every time you’re near me, you give yourself away.”
“No.” I burned with shame that some part of his words rang true. But that was before he’d drugged and kidnapped me. Those embers were now dark and cold. “You can’t keep me here.”
“I can. You haven’t noticed yet, but you’re wearing a stunning accessory. An anklet with a tracker. If you take it off, I’ll know. If you try to leave the house, I’ll know. This estate has been in my family for a hundred years. There are over five-hundred acres around the house. You won’t get far before I catch you and bring you back here, where you belong. You can’t escape. There are no phones, no internet, no one who will help you.”
Every word that left his lips sent a shard of ice tearing through my heart. “You’re a monster.”
“I know.”
“Someone will find me.”
He leaned closer, the tip of his nose brushing mine. “Someone already has.”