Buttons and Shame (Buttons 4)

“Nothing,” I said quickly, thinking about my breakdown in the car. I turned back to the parsley on the cutting board and grabbed the knife again.

“I’m talking to you.” He snatched the knife out of my hand and slid it across the counter where I couldn’t grab it again. “Now look at me.”

I hesitated at the authority in his voice. I was used to the gentler side of him. It was ignorant to think he wasn’t ruthless like all the others. If Tristan respected him, he had to be a barbarian too.

When he didn’t get his way, he snatched me by the neck and forced me to look him in the eye. His grip was hard like steel, and he yanked on me as if I were a stuffed animal. It was the cruelest he’d ever been. He stepped closer to me, his gaze burning into my face. “You were crying. Why?”

“I wasn’t crying—”

“Don’t lie to me. I don’t lie to you, so give me the same respect.”

His fingers were still tight against the vein in my neck. I could feel it throb against his fingertips. “You wouldn’t understand.”

He finally released my neck now that he had my full attention. His hand slid down my back until it rested against the steep curve just above my ass. “You’d be surprised. Now talk to me. You know, I can be your friend if you give me a chance.”

My friend? I was loaned out to him for a month. It was a weird foundation for a friendship. “When I went to the grocery store…I remembered what it was like to be free. The sun was warm on my face, I had keys in my hand… I had a life again. I never thought I would feel that again.”

Cane’s hard features slowly softened until he looked at me differently. It was the same expression he wore when he sat across the table from me at Tristan’s house. When Tristan punched me, he pitied me. When Tristan took my food away, he encouraged him to let me eat. That compassionate man had returned. “No one should ever have to feel that way… I’m sorry.”

I heard the sincerity in his voice because it was unmistakable. And he told me he wouldn’t lie to me again. “You think I should be free?”

His fingers slowly rubbed against the back of my shirt. His face turned until his mouth was directly next to my shoulder. He seemed to contemplate kissing me but changed his mind. “I’m not a big fan of the practice, I’ll say that much.”

“Then why did you take me?” If he was so averse to it, he could have denied Tristan’s offer. Maybe he took me just to spare me a month of extra torture. But that seemed too selfless for a man who had other things to worry about.

He stared at me with his dark eyes, his powerful shoulders stiff with his impending response. “I wanted you the moment I laid eyes on you. If I were a stronger man, I would have turned down the offer. But I’m not.” His hand wrapped around my waist, and he positioned me into his chest, my tits against his muscular torso. “I took you because I wanted to fuck you. Plain and simple. When it’s time to return you, I’ll drop you off without looking back. While I’m sorry this has happened to you, there’s nothing I can do to help you.”

“Nothing?” I whispered.

He shook his head. “I can’t buy you from him. You aren’t for sale. And I can’t help you escape because of your friend. There’s no solution.”

No, there wasn’t.

“If I were you, I’d forget about your friend. She’s either dead or has been sold to another man. In either situation, Tristan has no power over her.”

I flinched at the cold comment he just made. The fact that he was probably right just made me feel worse. A knot formed in my stomach.

“You should slit my throat in the middle of the night and run. That’s what I would do.”

I stared into his eyes and believed every word he said. “You’re encouraging me to murder you?”

“I’m encouraging you to fight, Bellissima. I know a woman who was in the same situation you’re in now. And she never gave up—not once.”

“Did she escape?”

He nodded. “She found her home.”

I knew how this night was going to end.

Cane was finally going to have me—because I was going to let him. I couldn’t drag out the inevitable much longer. Everything else we’d done together, I’d enjoyed. Maybe he could perform a miracle and make me enjoy sex too…even though I doubted it. I’d been fucked cruelly since the day Tristan bought me, and anytime I thought about having sex with a man, it made me shake. I knew Cane would be different, but that didn’t chase away the anxiety. I had post-traumatic stress disorder from the incidents. Anytime I even thought about it, I had a panic attack.