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“I’ll do what I have to. I’ll move someplace else.”
“I’m afraid that will be impossible. You still owe me an encounter, and if you skip town without making good on that, I’m afraid I’ll have to send my men looking for you. Trust me. They’re very good at finding people.”
Him and his fucking encounters. “Fine. If that’s what it comes to, you can have the money back. I haven’t spent any of it. So long as my debt is cleared, we’re even. I don’t owe you anything.”
No, I don’t want to do that. But it’s my last hope. If I don’t owe him anything, he has no claim over me. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to draw that card, but he’s not exactly giving me any choice.
I can see the wheels turning in his head. What’s he thinking? I’m almost afraid to find out. But at least I’m standing my ground. At least I can say that much.
He shakes his head. “I can’t allow that.”
My heart sinks. I can’t say I’m surprised, but I was sort of hoping. “Why not? That would make us even, right?”
“This isn’t a matter of being even, Rowan. It’s a matter of fulfilling your obligation. You have an obligation to me, and you agreed to certain terms. What did I tell you the night we first met?”
“But you bent the rules, didn’t you?” His brows knit together, and I know he knows what I mean. I jump on it, taking advantage. “You can bend the rules when you feel like it. Like you did when you told that guy to stop cutting me. Can’t you bend the rules now? It went too far last night. I can’t let myself go through that again. I’ve already spent too much of my life letting other people push me around and tell me what to do. I’m not going through that again.” I lift my chin a little. “I would think after seeing for yourself what I’ve gone through, you would be able to respect that a little.”
“Do not compare what I did to you to what your limp dick of an ex did. We made you come three times. We made you come so hard you passed out. I took care of you after. Washed and dressed you, tucked you into a bed, and covered you with a three thousand count thread Egyptian cotton sheet. You act like I beat you and threw you into some dungeon.”
I huff, frustrated that he doesn’t understand why I’m upset. “I know you didn’t hurt me like he did, but you hurt me in a different way, and you treat me—”
“I think you fail to see something important,” Lucian cuts in before I can finish. “The way I treat you when we have sex and the way I treat you at any other time is not the same. I have very specific tastes when it comes to sex, and you agreed to fulfill them. So all you have to do is keep those two separate.”
I look at him dumbfounded. How in the world was I going to keep it separate?
“How about this.” He slides his hands into his pockets, which I guess is better than tightening them into fists. “You stay and fulfill your end of our agreement, and we’ll use a safe word this last time. That way, when you use it, I’ll know it’s time to stop.”
It’s tempting. I don’t want to give up the money, so this might be a way around that. If I at least have a word I can use to bring everything to a stop, I’ll have a little bit of power in the situation. That’s better than nothing. “And you promise that if I use that word, you’ll stop? No questions asked?”
“No questions asked.”
“Okay. I can live with that.”
He smiles, satisfied. “What would you like the word to be?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Red?”
“Fine. Red it is. You say that word, and the fun stops.” He raises an eyebrow. “Anything else? Or can I go back to my day?”
He always has to have the last word, doesn’t he? “No, that’s it. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule.” That might’ve come out a little sarcastic, and maybe I shouldn’t have done it. But there’s a bit of a smile at the corners of his mouth when he turns away, so I have to wonder if he minds all that much.
16
Lucian
There’s a chill in the air tonight. It’s clear, without a cloud in the sky, and the full moon casts its light over the woods. I chose tonight specifically because I knew the weather would be clear, that the moon would light the way.
She has to be able to see just enough to believe she can get away. And I have to be able to see enough so I can catch her, though I don’t doubt I’ll be able to do that without much trouble. I know these woods like the back of my hand, while I doubt she’s ever been out here. She’s in for quite a night.
