Page 38 of Under His Rule

But I can’t panic now. People are pushing behind me, forcing me to step forward.

I take off my clothes in a corner and throw them in the bin as before. People are showering left and right, some of them not able to keep their hands to themselves, almost as if they’re preparing for tonight, secretly enjoying the voyeurism of being in one room with everyone else.

Instead of going right with Emmy, Holly, and April, I take a left turn and lose them in the crowd. I walk through the showers, ignoring all the people throwing me glances, while covering my scar with my hand in the hopes that no one will notice.

Right in front of me is a metal door that looks locked from this side. I stare at it for a second, wondering what I’m doing.

Should I listen to the note? Or should I turn back and do what’s expected of me? Am I to marry the first guy who grabs me and fucks me? Am I going to be someone’s wife even when I never said yes?

Or should I go against the rules and follow the directions on the paper, not knowing who it came from? I thought it was from Noah, but what if it isn’t? What if it’s all a lie meant to lead me on, just to get me to do something bad?

My hand hovers over the handle.

There’s only one thing I can do … make a choice.

And I do the moment I push it down.

To my surprise, the door opens, but not without there being a giant man in the way, and when he spins around, I almost get scared enough to turn back the other way. I just stare at him, and he stares back. Then he steps aside.

I slip past quickly, hoping he won’t squash me. He closes the door behind me, but I’m completely frozen to the ground.

Right in front of me are eight gigantic Jacuzzis that could fit at least three or four people. With the marble flooring and beautiful mosaic-like stones on the walls, it’s as though I’m in a luxurious hotel spa … only it’s in the middle of the community grounds, right behind the same hut that hosts all the other showers with just a thin wall separating the two. Like segregating the herd from the herders.

And in the middle of all of them sits a man, all by himself. Noah.

The note had to have come from him.

I swallow away the lump in my throat.

I feel watched. Naked.

Maybe because he is watching me with purposeful intent, his eyes taking in my body almost as if he’s sampling the wares with a lick. I shiver in place.

“Come,” he says with that same dark, sultry voice that almost managed to subdue me the last time we met. That time when he almost … kissed me.

I shiver again. I shouldn’t let him get to me the way he does, but there’s something about this man that I can’t simply ignore. I know I’m not supposed to be here, but I know he sent me that note. As a patriarch, he can waive the rules when he wants to. All he needs to do to get what he wants is throw a simple look, and right now, that look is directed straight at me.

I take in a breath and tread carefully across the wet floor while also covering myself and my scar as best as I can. Despite that, Noah still lets his eyes slide over my body as though he’s taking in the view, and it makes me blush. Hard.

Especially when I’m so close I can see his beefed-up chest and part of his rock-solid abs without anything to cover it except the water. I don’t even wanna know what’s farther down because I don’t think I’d be able to stop myself from ogling if I saw.

A smirk grows on his face, and I feel as if I just got caught staring at the forbidden fruit. So I stop and stand still right in front of his Jacuzzi. What is he going to say? Or rather … what is he going to do?

“Leave us,” Noah says to the guard, and the man immediately nods and walks out through the same door I just came in through, probably to guard it from the other side.

“Join me …” Noah beckons me. “I don’t bite.”

Yet he bites his lip. How ironic.

I take a step forward, each one watched with calculating eyes as I get into the warm pool. Compared to the showers, this feels like a warm blanket cocooning you.

“Being a patriarch has its perks,” he muses, smiling as I settle on the opposite end of the Jacuzzi, still covering my boobs because I know he’s watching.

“One of many, it seems,” I reply.

He nods. “You’re starting to understand.”

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