I woke to something heavy on top of me. An arm curled around my waist, tugging me upward so the chains were taut and manacles dug into my flesh.
Cold lips on my neck.
No. No.
The naked heated skin on top of me smelled of mint … Oh God it was him. My stomach revolted and I swallowed, trying to keep the water down as the heavy body pulled me in tight against him.
It was his whisper against my ear that sent me wild. “This time we have lots of time and no one to hear you scream.”
I screamed anyway. As loud as I could. Fighting. My arms straining against the immoveable chains. He was too strong, and I was like a tied-up rag doll, pathetic and weak. Unable to get free. Unable to do more than cause him to get more turned on by fighting.
I felt his cock swell and jerk as he rubbed it up against my ass. His thighs pinned me between his legs like tree trunks. “Oh, Jesus, yes, you’re better than Alexa promised. A real fighter.” He kissed the back of my neck, his tongue sliding down my flesh to my shoulder. He circled and kissed the spot and then bit down hard.
I yelled as the agony of his teeth tore into my skin, my body straining with tension.
“You know I fucked your boyfriend in this same bed. He screamed too.” I gagged on the bile that rose in my throat and stuck my face into the pillow. “He fought like you, at least he did the first few months. And then … then I think he enjoyed it. He especially loved it when I went down on him. Of course that was after he took care of me.”
No. Ream. No. That was why. Oh God.
I love you.
I love you, Ream.
“You’ll stop fighting me too. And then we will have to try some new … things.” He nibbled on my ear, his breath heavy as if his weight caused him to have trouble breathing.
The loud crash had both of us jerking, except I had nowhere to go and I couldn’t see the cause of it, but I heard it.
“Get the fuck off her.” Ream’s voice was laced with so much rage that it was barely recognizable.
The weight lifted. “Who the fuck are … Jesus, you’re the boy. Look at you, all grown up.”
“Yeah, and you’re Uncle fuckin’ Ben, the bastard who is going to die begging me for mercy this time.”
The elation and fear hit me like a parade of fireworks. It was relief at him being here and then terror that if he was here then maybe he was a prisoner too.
“The key. In the drawer of the nightstand. Undo her manacles.” I couldn’t see him, but the laced venom in his voice would’ve made anyone do as he said, even if he didn’t have any weapon. “Now!” I heard the door slam shut.
The cutting metal fell from my ankles and then my wrists, and the first thing I did was curl up in a ball, my knees to my chest and my arms wrapped around them. It was protective and instinctive, like my body needed to feel itself after being forced apart for two days.
“Kat. You need to get up.” I closed my eyes, letting his voice trickle over me like cool water. “Kat. Do it now, baby. Go to the bathroom and shut the door,” Ream ordered.
Silence.
No one moved.
Then I uncurled and lifted my head and searched the room for him.
It was my strangled sob ripping from my throat that broke through the silence. Standing with nothing but a knife held in his hand at his side and a deadly darkness in his blood shot eyes. And it was terrifying. He was terrifying and beautiful all at the same time.
There was nothing in his eyes except coldness, an iciness emanating from every part of his body as he slowly scanned mine. It was like his hands were running over my skin and goose bumps rose from his cool gaze.
“Go in the bathroom and don’t come out until I tell you.”
I nodded and slipped off the side of the bed and backed slowly away from Ben, at least that was what everyone called him, and I suspected no one used their real names in this place.
Ream’s eyes were locked on the fifty-year-old, naked piece of shit. There was a look in his eyes that was filled with hatred for Ben. It was encompassing. Driven. It was like a dam had broken and all the pain he’d suffered at the hands of this man was revealed in his eyes.
Hatred. Pure hatred so deep that it could only go one way.
I stood in the doorway, afraid to leave Ream, afraid to close the door and have him disappear.
He didn’t even look at me as he said, “Run all the taps.”
His stone-cold voice still managed to flutter across my skin like butterfly wings. “Ream.” His eyes remained glued to Ben. “I love you. No matter what happens.”
I saw the slightest ease in his stance, nothing anyone would notice, except I did. I could. And I knew exactly what he was going to do to Ben and it didn’t matter. He needed to know that. Ben deserved the consequences for what he’d done to Ream and how many others over the years.
“You love this man-whore?” Ben laughed, but it was an uneasy sound with a slight quiver to it. He was scared of Ream. As he should be. “That’s all he is. A whore. And he liked it. He screamed my name when it—”
“Close the fuckin door, Kat,” Ream shouted.
I slammed it shut then turned on the taps full blast. I sat on the floor as far away from the door as I could.
“I’m going to rip you apart, you little fuck.”
“And I’m going to let you try. But know that you’re going to die for what you did to me and to Kat.” Ream’s voice was steady and slow, each word pronounced with obvious threat.