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I can't help tensing at these words. But he only takes my hand in his, stroking the back of it, still soothing me.
Declan comes up a little while later with some food. It's a chicken salad sandwich on toasted bread with a huge tomato on it. And some baked barbeque potato chips. He leaves the plate of food and a glass of water on the bedside table.
“Thank you,” I say.
Now it's his turn to arch a brow.
“M-master,” I add quickly.
He nods.
It's not that I forgot; I just wasn't sure how things were supposed to be now. What are the new rules? With Seven in charge, I just don't know. Seven turns on the bedside lamp, then both men leave the room, turning off the main light and shutting the door behind them. The lock is on the inside, so they can't lock me in. It's a small relief.
If I weren't still so drunk, I might be tempted to sneak out and explore the house, but I feel awful, and I'm so tired. I somehow manage to eat the food without getting sick. I really did need it. It was too much alcohol swirling around without any kind of buffer. I'm about to turn off the lamp when I spot a card sticking out of the roses. I struggle to stand and move toward the card as though in a trance. With shaking hands, I slide the card out of its small envelope.
Welcome home, Kitten. There's no going back now.
The piece of stiff ecru paper falls from my hand onto the hardwood floor. I don't bother to pick it up. I'm afraid bending over would just make me feel dizzy again. I open the balcony door and step outside for some fresh air, trying to settle my now pounding heart as I worry about the sinister promises in those words.
The view from here is different from the ones I've glimpsed through hallway and kitchen windows on the first floor. This view overlooks an enormous garden of white roses, illuminated by an intricate patchwork of outdoor lighting. So not only do they have a cleaning service, they have landscapers and gardeners.
The scent wafts to my nose on the breeze. It's sweet and fragrant but not cloying. It makes me feel calm even when I know I shouldn't. I look down over the ornate iron railing. It's a high drop, and I know there's a big wall around the perimeter anyway. I wish I hadn't had so many drinks tonight. Drunk Kate is Stupid Kate. And the extreme truth of that is only just now beginning to sink into my awareness past the fog of an unfortunate number of tequila shots.
I stumble back into the bedroom, turn off the lamp, and slide between the cool silk sheets. The world shuts off as soon as my head touches the pillow.
11
I wake in pitch blackness. Even with windows in this room, it's so dark I may as well be blindfolded. I don't know if the moon is dark tonight or if clouds are covering it, but being out as far as we are, there are no street lights. And they've obviously shut off the outdoor lighting.
It only takes a moment to realize why I've woken. I feel him beside me in the bed. I don't mean physically—skin against skin. I just know I'm not alone. And I know it's Seven. I realize suddenly how I know. It's his scent. The clean, safe maleness of him. I've associated his scent with safety for so long, my brain can't rewrite the code now.
I let out a surprised gasp when he pulls back the blankets, exposing my body to the cool air of the room. I wonder if he can see me, if he's using whatever night vision assistance Declan used when he would come into the cell at night, switching out Seven's clothes and the roses on the bathroom counter.
My legs fall open without his command, and he begins to stroke me just like he used to do inside the cell. It doesn't take long for my moans and whimpers to fill the darkness and then only a short while longer for me to come.
“Sleep, Kitten,” he whispers. He covers me back up, and I feel his weight lift off the bed. The door opens, letting the smallest whisper of distant light drift in, then I'm alone again, still panting.
I've got a headache when I wake to the sunlight streaming in through the windows and balcony door a few hours later. Seven is already beside me with some aspirin and water. Then he's feeding me again in bed—a big plate of soft scrambled eggs and dry toast.
“How do you feel, Kitten?” he asks after I've eaten.
“Bad.”
And I must look it, too, because he doesn't get angry about the lack of title or punish me. He just takes the plate and glass away. He pulls the blinds and curtains on the window and balcony door, giving me as much darkness as the day will allow and leaves.
He returns a few minutes later and puts another glass of water on the bedside table then presses a kiss to my forehead before shutting the door and leaving me alone to sleep it off.
I lie in bed for a while, unable to fall back asleep, trying to figure out what his angle is. He seems so much like the Seven I thought I knew from the cell that it makes my heart hurt. It's so cruel that he would play with me like this—give me this lie when what's really inside him is cold, swirling darkness threatening to capsize my mind at any moment.
Why the fuck did I call? The words on the card repeat over and over in my mind. No going back now. I roll over, pull the blankets over my head, and drift back to sleep.
* * *
It's just past three in the afternoon when I wake. There's a clock on the wall just across from me. I feel a thousand times better than I did this morning, but I feel gross. I use the bathroom and take a shower, feeling more human with each step into this routine of normalcy which distracts me from what could be coming as soon as I'm well enough.
The bathroom matches the bedroom more or less. It's weirdly not quite as nice as the one attached to the cell, but there's a shower and a claw foot bathtub next to a large picture window, so it's nice enough. Even if we weren't so isolated, being on the second floor, no one could see in, but I can still see the rose garden, at least when I stand looking directly outside.
I return to the bedroom with a towel wrapped around me, startled to find both Seven and Declan standing in the room waiting, arms crossed over chests as though they are my bodyguards rather than my captors. Captors I ran back to, I remind myself. With every minute of full sobriety, I realize my foolishness, how I've sealed my fate.
