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Probably best I didn't. I needed Becks to pass out before I did anyway.
"I'm your protection?" She took a drink. "Don't know how much I can help you there."
"The house we're in is owned by my brother and me. Alek. I was out of the country on a... Let's call it an extended vacation. When I came back, he was wrapped around your roommate like fungus on a log. I was convinced she was a spy for some pretty bad people."
Becks shook her head as she settled in against the wall. "Was it the big blue doe eyes that gave her away?"
"If you knew my brother, you'd get it. We don't date or do serious relationships at all. And if he did, it wouldn't be with some innocent, Bambi type. She didn't fit any type of mold. It was fucking weird. It had to be an act."
We'd been with dozens of women, but not once had one ever come close to Daisy. It still didn't make any sense to me. Black Thorn told me loud and clear their inside man had been intimately connected. "A source told me that someone close to Alek was betraying him. Since Daisy was so new and, let's be honest, so fucking weird, I thought she was trouble. But I was wrong. And now that I tried to kill my brother's precious flower or whatever, he's going to kill me. You're the only thing keeping my brother from getting that vengeance."
"How would I stop your brother from hurting you?"
"Because if you get hurt in the process, Daisy would be sad. And right now, Daisy is the only thing that matters to him."
"Is that romantic or obsessive?"
"Probably both. Fuck if I know. I was out of the country for a few months and now I don't have a brother. Don't have a house. Don't have a place in the organization."
"Great. Not only am I trapped in here with you, but I also have to deal with your existential crisis."
I bit the inside of my cheek. Damn, this girl activated all my attack instincts. I was trying to play nice; I really was. I knew she didn't deserve to be here and didn't deserve to be trapped with me.
But fuck, I wanted to pounce on her and show her exactly what I did to pretty little girls who mouthed off to me.
"Just waiting until some of the heat blows over and I can strategize. I came back to help my big brother, but it looks like he has things under control." I didn't have the brainpower for this shit right now. I needed a new location to set up. Funds. A plan.
Was I going to try to take over a local operation? Start from the ground up? I sure as shit wasn't going to get a nine-to-five job like a schmuck. What qualifications did I have, anyway? I probably had a college degree on file somewhere. I had enough street smarts and was fluent in four languages. I knew enough to get by in another four.
In all the possible futures I saw for myself, none of them didn't involve Alek. We'd always stuck together.
Except now I'd done the one thing he'd never be able to forgive. Fuck.
"Who are you, Becks?"
"Don't you know? I'm leverage."
"We're going to be stuck down here for a while. I'm your kidnapper. That's the first thing you're supposed to do in a life-or-death situation. Humanize yourself. So go ahead. Make me like you." What game was I playing? Was I a cat playing with a mouse in my grasp?
Or was I playing with myself?
"I mean... you thought Daisy was some backstabbing traitor and she's the sweetest, nicest person you'll ever meet. I've got nothing on her. Might as well kill me now."
"Really. Just gonna give up like that?"
"Or you could let me go and deal with your own shit. Also an option. I don't need to be some human shield."
"So much more fun than a bulletproof vest, though." Groaning like I was at least twenty years older, I pushed myself up. "All right, Kitten. Time for bed."
She tensed and her knuckles turned white around the bottleneck. She was for sure thinking about using it as a weapon now.
I pretended I didn't notice. "Let me give you the grand tour." I stayed put and pointed in the various directions. "Kitchen, which means sink and heating element to boil water, and eating utensils, showers, bathrooms. Where we came in are the beds and screens we use for entertainment." They also hooked into the live feed of the cameras in the mansion. If Alek caught on that I was down here, he could cut the feed at any time, which would leave us down here blind.
"Use the bathroom. Because you're not going to get another chance for a while."
I waited for her to ask me why, but she didn't. Instead, she passed me by after a brief pause, as though she debated fighting with me.
I'd been in a few hairy situations before. From experience, I knew that you didn't fight when a bathroom was offered.
As she crossed, I snatched the vodka bottle from her. Her grip tightened, but I twisted it away and she didn't stand a chance. "There's more where this came from," I promised. I didn't need her breaking the bottle when she was out of sight.
And for now at least, I was going to let her pee in private. I was a giver like that. After taking one last drink, savoring the burn as it sank down my throat, I put the bottle out of reach from Becks, then went to the storage closet and grabbed some rope.
Survivalists always had rope around somewhere. By the time I came back, Becks was standing in the middle of the front room. She liked to act tough, but as she pressed one hand against that thick metal door and studied the keypad she had no hope of cracking, she looked small and vulnerable.
I kicked off my shoes, moving silently on the concrete floor so she didn't hear me as I came up behind her. "Have you given up yet?" I whispered into her ear when I was close enough to brush my lips along her neck.
She jerked in surprise, the motion only serving to bring her further into my arms, which I capitalized on by gripping her and pulling her back.
"You know we could have a lot of fun while we're waiting down here." As I spoke, I walked both of us back towards the beds. I had my arms around her waist but wasn't gripping her tight enough to hurt. Hell, I wasn't holding her tight at all, and she wasn't fighting me, either.
Probably more because she knew there was nowhere to run than because she was agreeing to anything, but it was still a small victory.
"I have a feeling it would be a lot more fun for you than me." She tried to sound cool and collected, but her quick breathing and delicious heaving breasts I could see over her shoulder gave her away.
I could make her want this so easily. Just move one hand down between her legs and in minutes she'd be begging to come.
She went utterly still, not fighting and not giving any encouragement, either. Fuck, I was too tired and in too much pain for this kind of temptation.
"Sit on the bed, Kitten." I said it as soft as possible while keeping the demand in my voice.
After taking a nervous gulp, she turned to sit on the bed, keeping her nervous gaze on me as though expecting me to pounce at any moment.
I knelt, keeping my hands on her knees since my head was dangerously close to her legs. She could do serious damage to me if she tried.
"Now, I'm going to lay things out plain for you. I need to sleep. To do that, I'm going to tie you up. The giant bump on my head is reason enough. I know it's not gonna be comfortable for you, and you can curse me all you want, but it's gonna happen. Got it?"
She bit her bottom lip and glanced back to the door. Was she thinking of making a run for it? Half of her seemed docile and ready to give in, while the other half seemed ready to explode at any given second. "I'll agree to a truce for the night."
I tightened my grip on her knees, my fingertips biting into her thighs. "Oh, honey. Do I strike you as a trusting person?"
"You strike me as a person with a head injury."
