I’d killed him. Adrian’s brother had died at my hand in the early hours of the morning many years ago. Itwas his murder that led to my capture, to my demise. And now. I remembered it all in a flash. The drugged water, the confession that spilled from his sexy lips as the world went foggy around me. He was… whatshisname’s brother. The detective I’d heard talking about my case that night, when I’d lured… Jack? outside and into the warehouse.
Small damn world.
Or not. Because I think this was all planned. I should have been wracked with fear, horror, the utmost dread and despair at what was happening to me. The look in Adrian’s eyes promised death and retribution of the worst kind, but that fear didn’t strike me down. Maybe an after-effect of the drugs. Adrian slipped away from my view, and I had to wonder if I’d imagined him altogether.
Or maybe it stemmed from our closeness. Kindredness. Even in this. Revenge for our siblings, destruction for our loved ones. A weird mix of curiosity, lust, and a desire to push harder washed through me. Destructive, stupid. Uncontrollable.
What was his plan here? What did he want to do to me? Had he spent years planning and plotting, jerkinghis own cock with his fist as he thought of me and my death? Shivers rushed me, numbness battling the pins and needles.
I tried to move, scratch the itch on my nose, but I was completely trapped. It was almost like a coffin, hard wood beneath my ass, surrounding my body, but open at the top. Dark wood, varnished and cold, no free space whatsoever. Whatever fit inside this box was much smaller than me.
From my very limited view of the rest of the room, I could see a nondescript ceiling and just some low, artificial yellow light. Maybe ropes hanging across my vision, but it was hard to tell; everything was all shadowy.Dusty.
I blinked, tried to pull my eyes back into focus, to push away whatever the fuck was going on. It was all so dreamlike. No, not dreamy, that was the wrong damn word for waking up tied into a fucking box. Nightmarish, but in a hazy sort of way.
My mind wavered, might have still been in my cell, head-bashingly mad.
“Hello?” I asked out into the world, sensing movement after what felt an age of complete nothingness.Must be Adrian, I decided. I hadn’t imagined him, come to gloat some more, come to tell me why he’d done this in some long villain speech. When he’d glared down at me earlier, his jaw had twitched like it was all about to spill out. But only silence did. Maybe now.
I wasn’t… as scared as I should be. Something weird worked itself through my body. All wrong. But it heated me in a way I’d stopped trying to fight a long time ago.
“Adrian,” I called, my tone teasing even though uncertainty washed through me, battled with my bravado. Maybe the drugs, all those bumps on the head really had knocked something loose for good. Adrian would probably tell me something had always been loose.
His footsteps sounded louder, some kind of Pavlov response rippling through my belly, because it tightened. All those times he’d come to me in the night, it wasn’t fear I battled, even though I was supposed to. This was a more extreme version of what we knew. Me, locked away, confined. Him, unable to resist getting close. Climbing behind those bars with me.
Curiosity filled me. Not fear. He wanted to be in this hell with me; I was sure of it. He craved it as much as I craved him. Together, we would burn and bury each other.
I think.
“Miss Karner,” Adrian said as he came into view, looking down at me all smug and pretty. The hatred in his eyes was stunning, captivating, only darker than before. Maybe that glimpse of him beforehadbeen a mirage, a conjuring of my mind’s desires… and now, this was the real Adrian, with none of the fire between us, only deep-rooted disgust. But… no, that just wasn’t true. We had a glimmer.
“Mr Darling,” I replied, wiggling around as much as possible. Not much. “You gonna let me out of here?”
He shook his head, a twitch in his jaw that had no business being sexy right now. “Nah, I’ve got plans for you, little killer.”
I smirked. Bravado. “Ooh, like what?” I had no upper hand here. He had me tied up, trapped, and under his thumb, but it didn’t matter. He was looking at me, obsessing over me. I should be so fucking scared. Terrified of what my life would now be. He had thelook of someone who intended to cause immeasurable harm.
His nostrils flared a tiny bit, showing me I’d rooted under his skin. His hatred wouldn’t hold for long; he never could manage that. We’d messed each other up too good already. Kindred spirits could never stick this loathing out.
I suppressed the smile I wanted to share. I had him. The very worst thing he could do now was ignore me, and this was the exact opposite. He was rapt. There was still a way through this. Just a curve in the path to our ending.
Leaning down, his forearms resting on the lip of the wooden box, his warm breath fanning my cheeks, he only had eyes for his brother’s murderer.
“I’m going to leave it for a surprise,” he said, letting one of his hands drop, his fingers skating along my chest. Goosebumps followed his touch, and our gazes heated. There was burning there. He wasn’t as unaffected as he tried to appear. Burning, fiery, hellishsomethingcooked between us.
Something weird that he would never admit to. Something I don’t think either of us could predict. No good plans go unfettered.
“I’m excited,” I told him, and he stood and slammed the lid over my box. Abrupt, like he realized he’d got a little too close. A little too open.
Darkness surrounded me, leaked into my mind, but it was already pitch black in there. So all I did was wait.
He wouldn’t be able to resist coming to fuck with me some more. He would be back soon, ready to carry on.
The glares he gave me, hatred in his eyes, I was sure it was fake, or rather, that it lived with lust, with a deep craving for me too.
I had won.
A curve in the path. That was all this was.
