Page 56 of His Keepsake

“Say what?”

“You’re going to kill me. Those…” I jerked my head in a vague direction. “Men. They wouldn’t let you release me. I know too much.”

His sigh was harsh and tapered into what I would call an ironic laugh. “No, I am not killing you. Get in the trunk. I have your address from your phone. I am not killing you.”

What use was struggling? If he wanted to, he would.

“Listen, Emme. I am a despicable deviant cunt of a man with a taste for fucking over girls like you, and fucking them while they cry. However, I don’t kill people. I’ve never even shot a gun.”

“I have,” I muttered, though unsure why. A threat? I laughed at myself. Nice try.

“Good for you. Who the fuck cares. Those people tonight, they creeped me out. Seriously, and that is the best you’ll get from me. Want to go home? Get in.”

I took some small steps, tripped, almost faceplanted. He grabbed my upper arm, laid the back of his hand on my cheek.

“You’re freezing.” His frown was monstrous, looming. His gaze flicked over me. “No trunk ride for the trip then. I’ll put a blanket over you on the back seat, so you don’t die from hypothermia, because wouldn’t that be a joke. But first, get in, while I fetch the clothes you came in, the handbag, and whatever else is yours that I should get rid of—”

“Like my phone.” Too tired to protest and remind him he’d torn up my dress and underwear, I let him roll me into the trunk, then he closed it.

Darkness and uncertainty, again. The same as when he took me, what…two days ago? It seemed forever before I heard him return.

Although I was resigned to him doing something awful, he did let me out. With the garage door closed to keep out the wind, I quickly shucked off the cat-girl costume and dressed in a pair of trackpants, a shirt and jacket, then my old shoes—those were the only pieces of my outfit he had not destroyed.

“Did you f-f-f-forget you shredded everything.” Asshole.

“I did. Sue me. In.” This time he gestured at the back seat. “Get under the blanket. I’ll throw more over you. If you stick your head up to look at signs, I’ll put you in the trunk, so don’t.”

It wasn’t until we were a few miles down the road, turned onto a highway, and were humming along that I dared to sat more. I knew it was stupid but could not resist asking him the obvious.

“If you’re letting me go, won’t Axl hate that?”

“I’ll deal with him.” He reached and turned up the heater, making a whole extra wash of hot air sift through into my bones. It didn’t make the ill feeling in my stomach go away, but it was good. Better than dead.

“I guess you’re going to tell me not to say anything? I know you are not the Dom.”

“Have you got a death wish, Emme?”

Maybe it was him using my name more and more that made me feel I could say that. Maybe it was that he seemed appalled by what happened at the party. Maybe I did have a death wish? Wanting CNC was close to that.

“No.” I shifted the blanket he’d thrown over my head and peered out at him, sitting there all big and masculine. Men smelled good when they weren’t overly sweaty.

I narrowed my eyes, thought some. I wanted to know the whys. I had to know.

“Why did you give me these clothes? They do forensics on threads, look for hairs and DNA.”

“You would rather I release you naked?”

I waited, but he said nothing more, and I listened to cars passing us, going the other way. The rock of the vehicle from the wash of their passing was weirdly comforting and reminded me of long car trips with my father when I was a child.

“Axl wants to keep you. That’s the truth. If you tell what happened, bad things will probably happen to all three of us. You might end up like one of those women at that party. Or maybe I’ll come and grab you again and lock you in my cellar, forever.”

I let the quiet build again. That last bit hadn’t felt much like a threat. The first parts, yes.

After that, the quiet banked up like snow on a rooftop, muffling everything.

It was obvious when we reached the city, from the change of sounds and the lights. When he rolled to a halt, parked then came around and let me out, I was still amazed to see my apartment building across the road. Shocked, in fact.

This was the end of it all?

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