“There,” he said. “Better than nothing.”
He turned the phone off and slipped it into his pocket.
“I don’t get why you let me do that,” I said.
“Maybe I’m not the monster you think I am.”
“You definitely are,” I said. “And you don’t do anything without a reason.”
He gave me a little grin. “That’s true,” he said. “I really don’t.”
I shook my head and pushed back the anger that threatened to spill over me. “I want to go to bed,” I said.
“Go ahead,” he said. “You know where it is.”
I sat forward on the edge of the couch. I was tempted to get the hell away from him… but the thought of being locked in that room all night again kept me from moving. I stayed there and glared at him before falling back against the couch and crossing my arms.
He laughed and sat next to me.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I think your job will be fine. And if it’s not, I’ll find you something better. I know people in law firms all over the city.”
“I don’t want some mafia job,” I said.
“You couldn’t handle one,” he said with a laugh. “No, I’d get you a real job at a nice place. Set you up, get you taken care of. When this is over, I promise, you can find anything you want.”
I gave him a look and shook my head. “You’re crazy.”
He smiled and leaned toward me. “Maybe,” he said. “But I don’t lie to you.”
“I don’t trust you,” I said. “I don’t trust anything you say.”
“You will.” He leaned back again and sighed. “As much as you hate to admit it, my Colleen, I’m taking good care of you, and I’ll keep on making sure you’re happy.”
I couldn’t find any words to express how I felt. It was a mixture of anger, revulsion and a strange desire pulsing up from my core. He was a handsome man, muscular and intense, and I felt drawn toward him in ways I couldn’t explain. But I hated him just as much, hated how he kept me locked up, hated how he rushed into the bathroom, pulled me from the water, and looked at my body.
Or maybe I didn’t hate that part.
Maybe I couldn’t stop thinking about that because I liked the way he stared at my breasts, at my lips, at my dripping wet hair.
I crossed my arms and stared at the TV, willing myself to stay calm and to ignore the hulking monster sitting next to me on the couch.
We didn’t talk for a while. He got up and got a beer at some point, but didn’t offer me anything. He sat down and kicked his feet up, content to watch whatever I put on, and never once complained.
I wanted to scream at him to go away. But it felt nice to have some company after being locked away in that room. I knew I’d have to go back up eventually and he’d snap that padlock closed again, but I wanted to push it for as long as I could.
It was strange how normal things could start to feel, like we were together in a nightly routine. We sat in front of the TV, and I started to think of him as just another person instead of the monster that locked me up and stole me away from my life.
That’s the scary part of it all, how quickly he could stop being a nightmare, and start just being a man.
I stood up abruptly after a couple hours. I couldn’t take it anymore. The tension was driving me insane.
“What are we doing here?” I asked.
He looked at me with a frown. “Watching The Big Bang Theory, I thought,” he said. “Although this show is really bad. It’s like the most insulting parody of a nerd possible.”
“What?” I asked. “No, I don’t want your hot take on this stupid show. I mean, what are we doing? We’re just sitting here on the couch.”
“Looks like it,” he said.
“Why aren’t you locking me up?”
He tilted his head and a little smile came to his lips. “Do you want me to lock you up?” he asked. “Maybe I can tie you to the bed. Would you like that?”
“No,” I said, glaring at him. “I just mean, why are you letting me stay down here?”
He shrugged. “You were good today. You didn’t make trouble, you did what I asked. You deserve a little break.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment to steady myself. When I opened them again, he was smiling at me, his handsome lips parted ever so slightly.
“I’m not some… some dog you get to reward for being obedient.”
“That’s not how I think of you,” he said.
“Then why are you treating me like one?”
He frowned a little and picked up his beer. He took a long pull from the bottle then put his arms along the back of the couch.