Page 60 of Locked in Wonderland

A bizarre thought struck me. Maybe the drug wasn’t the aphrodisiac. Maybe Nico was. If it hadn’t been for the strange interlude with Drake, I might have believed it.

“Last night,” I said with absolutely no idea how I intended to finish the sentence, but needing to say something—anything—that might help untangle the knot of thoughts in my head.

“Last night?” Nico prompted. The bulge in his trousers made it obvious he was hard too.

“I was drugged. You could have been anyone.”

He shifted slightly and brushed a lock of hair back from my forehead in an almost tender way. Just like I’d thought of doing to him. “And now you’re not.”

The tenderness was my breaking point.

I surged upward with only one coherent thought left in my head: I needed to kiss him.

Nico offered one last test, drawing his head back before I could reach him.

It didn’t deter me. I simply kept going until our lips collided. If the previous night had accomplished anything, it was establishing a level of comfort where we instinctively understood what the other wanted—what the other needed.

After that, things escalated quickly.

Nico’s trousers didn’t stay on for long, and I was already naked beneath the sheet. There wasn’t much buildup before he rolled me over and fucked me face down with only the pillow to muffle my moans.

I had no complaints.

The remorse hit while Nico was in the shower. Or maybe it had already begun creeping into my system earlier, when he’d invited me to join him and I’d declined. Whenever it started, it was obvious enough that Nico noticed.

He gave me a strange look as he emerged from the bathroom, vigorously toweling his hair dry. “What’s wrong?”

I’d retrieved my clothes while he was showering and gotten as far as pulling my jeans on.

“What’s wrong?” I repeated. My voice came out several octaves too high. “What’s wrong?” That one could probably have shattered a mirror. Not that there were any in this room. Nico had apparently exhausted his mirror quota in his so-called special room. “How can you ask that?”

Nico regarded me for a long moment before pulling on a pair of white briefs. “I’m asking because you’re on the verge of being hysterical.”

“Hysterical?” The word tore something open inside me, words spilling out like a swarm of locusts. “I have a boyfriend.” I ignored the slight quirk of Nico’s lips that could have meant absolutely anything. “I came here to find him. I had one goal. Find out what happened to him and get him back. Rescue him if you like. And instead, I’ve done nothing but have sex with a string of men who aren’t him since I got here.”

“Not true,” Nico said.

I shook my head. “You don’t even know the half of it. The thing is, there were always reasons. The first two times, someone tricked me. Then yesterday it was the drug.”

I swallowed hard. “This morning, though…” A lump formed in my throat, making it difficult to swallow. “That’s the first time I really cheated.” The admission hurt more than expected. “So yeah. If you want to know what’s wrong, I feel like shit. That’s what’s wrong.”

“You shouldn’t.”

The casual delivery of the words caused me to round on him immediately. “What the fuck do you know?”

He paused midway through fastening his trousers. “More than you might think.” His expression remained infuriatingly neutral. “And if you calm down for five minutes, maybe I can open your eyes about a few things.” He gave me a pointed look. “A few things I assumed you’d already figured out, but apparently not. I guess you’re not as astute as I thought you were.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down.” I was shaking with anger now.

Nico crossed his arms over his still-bare chest and stared at me without blinking. “I warned you not to come here.”

I laughed. “That? That’s what you’ve got?” I shook my head. “I thought you were about to tell me something useful.”

He exhaled slowly. “Okay. Let’s start with the string of men, shall we? There was no string of men.”

“Oh, was I imagining it?” My voice dripped with sarcasm. “There was no nightclub? No being unable to pay for a drink I never wanted and barely touched?” I took a step toward him. “And there definitely wasn’t a situation where I had to take part in the world’s most bizarre group sex event with two lumbering thugs and some mystery pervert?”

“Zane and Zeke aren’t really that bad,” Nico said. “As staff members in this place go, they’re on the more obedient side. At least with them, what you see is what you get.”