She’s mine and that’s all there is to it.
No other man on the face of the fucking planet isevertouching her again, especially Nathan.
If he tries, I’ll kill him.
Chapter Seven
Pepper
I run the water in the sink and lean in, splashing my face over and over until my brain feels normal again. I’m not sure it does, but I hear a weird noise, so I turn the faucet off to listen closer.
Now, of course, I hear nothing.
Maybe I imagined the noise the same way I imagined Rhett’s massive fingers inside of me. God, I hope I didn’t imagine it, or at the very least, I hope I can imagine some more. A lot more. Maybe this time I sink onto his cock and bounce.
My clit throbs as I strip off the scratchy, crinoline skirt and slip into the T-shirt Rhett left for me earlier. It’s solid gray with their business logo on the front.
‘Combat Craftsman.’It has a nice ring to it.
The T-shirt hangs far below my knees, swallowing me whole, and it smells woodsy and warm just like the man that was pressed up against me thirty minutes ago. God, I need something productive to do so I don’t sit here and spiral. When I start thinking too much, I start rationalizing, and I don’t want to overthink this. I want to stay oblivious as long as possible.
Thankfully, the paint for the lake house is sitting in the corner of the room along with all the supplies I dropped off before Nathan made me quit. I still don’t understand why he and Rhett don’t get along or how they even know each other, butwhatever it is, I’m not thinking about it. I’m enjoying my break from reality in this tiny, little, kidnapped bubble.
How sad is it when someone needs to get kidnapped before they get a break? It sounds like a joke.
I suck in a deep breath and use a quarter I see lying under the bed to open a can of light green paint. Rhett said he wants a beachy feel for the cabin. Not an ocean type of beachy, but a mountain-lake type of beachy, so I went with light turquoise… or ‘emerald skies’ as the paint swatch insists.
When the top is off, I pick up the wood stirring stick, and dip it into the paint slowly, watching as the yellows, blues, and greens remix to form the smooth greenish color I ordered. Then, I grab the plastic sheet and spread it over the newly installed pine wood floors. I could cover the whole room, but I decide to start with the two back walls instead of diving into the whole room tonight. I’m not sure I have energy for it, anyway.
Energy… shit!
I should call my mom!
I was going to call her earlier, and instead I got distracted with calling Nathan.
Paint brush in one hand, I grab Rhett’s phone off the nightstand and dial my mother’s number through the app he downloaded. I’m sat in front of the wall, painting along the top of the molding when she answers in a panic.
“Hello?”
“Mom, it’s me.”
“Peanut!” she exhales loudly. “Oh, my Lord. My sweet, little peanut! How are you doing? Where are you? Are you okay?”
I hold the phone between my shoulder and my ear, trying to figure the best way to calm her. I should’ve thought of all of this before I called.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I say, dipping my brush in more paint. “I’m,”I should’ve thought about what I’d tell her first,“with a friend. I’m okay.”
“With a friend?” Mom groans. “What friend? All your friends were at the wedding. They’re all wondering where you are. Honey, what’s going on? Nathan is saying someone took you.”
I lean into the wall, carefully drawing the slanted brush in a straight line. “Technically, someone did take me, but I’m okay.”
“You’re being very vague, peanut. What’s your address? I’m sending someone out there to get you.”
I should want to leave, right? I should want to run. I should want to get back to my life and see what the world looks like without Nathan. Without a groomzilla. Without the guilt and pressure of knowing I stayed with a man that hurt me. Instead, I’m a little sad at the thought of this alternate world with Rhett being over with already. I don’t know why, but it feels like we’ve slipped into another dimension. Like here in this lake house, we can be whatever we want to be, whoever we want to be, and we don’t owe any answers to anyone.
He can be Daddy, I can be his baby girl, and we can do filthy, nasty, liberating things to each other.
“Mom, I’m okay.”
