Cruel Seduction (Underground Kings 2)
He waves a hand behind him, not wanting to look at me because he knows I am laughing at him. At him.
Not with him.
Men. They are so proud. It is their downfall.
I unzip my backpack, the zipper loud in the silence of the giants. I take out a granola bar and grab my water bottle. I lean back and sigh, relaxed for the first time in a long time. I could live out here. Everything is so beautiful. The way the moss hangs from the branches, the mushrooms that pop out of the ground, the tiny insects that dig their way in the dirt, and the way the stream flows behind me, splashing onto the rocks silently.
It is peaceful. This is the definition of peace.
I close my eyes and leaned my head against the log, chewing my dry granola bar and listening to the sounds around me. Crickets. Frogs. Birds.
Twigs snapping.
I snap my eyes open and look around, peering into the quickening darkness of the forest. We are losing sunlight. I wasn’t nervous before, but I am now. “Sebastian?” I call out for him, but I can’t see him through the thick brush and shadows.
Another snap.
“Sebastian? That isn’t funny. Come out from where you’re hiding.” My voice echoes off the tree trunks and a few birds fly away from the anxiety riding my tone.
Snap.
My heart sledgehammers against my chest and spins in circles to pinpoint the direction the sound is coming from. “Sebastian? Please, come on. Let’s go. This isn’t funny anymore.”
Silence.
“Stupid ‘living in the moment’ bullshit. We should have stayed home,” I grumble to myself. What if it is a bear? Or a mountain lion? God, I did not survive all that abuse with Kendrick to be some cat’s dinner. “Sebastian?” I try again, but he isn’t answering me.
Snap.
Snap.
Snap.
The sound of twigs breaking grows closer, but I still can’t tell which direction it is coming from. I lean against the tree and wait.
Snap.
It isn’t Sebastian. He wouldn’t make me nervous like this.
“You’re boy toy isn’t going to come out and play, my sweet,” Kendrick’s voice sucks the air out of my body, and my blood pauses in my veins.
I can’t think.
I can’t breathe.
I am frozen with terror.
No. Sebastian has to be okay. This is all in my head.
“You think I wouldn’t know my brother had you? I knew he lived here.” Kendrick sounds like he is coming from every direction. “I loved knowing I was so close while he searched for you. I loved knowing you were right under his nose, just out of reach, my sweet.”
“I’m not your sweet!” I shout on a cry when a hand covers my mouth, and dry, chapped lips rub against my ear.
“I think someone has forgotten who they belong to, pet.” He licks the side of my face from my jaw to my temple, leaving my skin damp with his rancid saliva. “I’ve been watching you. You don’t think I saw him at the market? I k
new he’d stop at nothing to get you, but then you went and jumped off the fucking cliff like the stupid bitch that you are.” His hand moves to the base of my throat and squeezed. Something jiggles in his hand and when I look down, I see the familiar strap of the collar.
“I’ve always known where my brother has lived. I’ve always kept an eye on him. Do you know how many times you were in the same area as him over the last year? I dangled you like a carrot. I loved seeing the sweet torture. His prize possession was so close, yet so far.”