AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Milton carries me up to the bar area. I’m not sure how long I’ve been underground, but it’s obviously quite late. There’s a sense of mellowness that wasn’t there when I first arrived. Everything feels sated with the dim lighting and a trickle of soft piano music in the background.
There aren’t many people up here. A couple is tucked away across the room, and two men sit back drinking whiskey out of square-cut tumblers. They have disheveled appearances and wicked gleams in their eyes like they’ve both been up to no good. They probably haven’t.
Taking me to one of the sprawling leather couches, Milton sets me down gently. I readjust myself, searching for a more comfortable position on my throbbing backside. I can barely sit, which is obviously the point, seeing as my tormentor isn’t doing a good job hiding the grin forming in the corner of his mouth.
“I’ll be right back.” He makes his way over to the bar, and I shed a moment of disbelief that out of everyone in this city, it’s him. One of Fair Haven’s most powerful and insanely fucked-up men wants me.
I think.
He’s everything good mothers tell their daughters to stay away from. It makes me grateful Gabriella is such a shitty one because I don’t want to stay away from him. Not even after learning that I resemble his past abuser.
No… No thinking—
When Milton returns, he’s carrying a tray. I watch as he sets it down and silently makes up two cups of tea for us. I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was until he passes me the cup after adding sugar and a drop of milk.
I open my mouth to thank him but quickly close it again. He’s done this for me so often that it feels familiar—like I’m at home. Something I haven’t felt in a long time. Something that scares me. Have I let myself go too far when everything is still unclear?
Hell yes.
I’m overanalyzing and consumed with figuring out his true feelings. Is it really me…or is it her? I don’t have it in me to be blindsided again. Not trusting the man next to me would be wise, yet here I am, being dumb. Drinking tea with him feels bizarre, given everything I’ve learned tonight.
“Hey.” His thumb brushes the bottom of my chin, tugging me from my thoughts. “Where did you go?”
“Huh?”
“You went somewhere just now.” He can read me too well. It’s unnerving.
“Nowhere.” I quickly drop my gaze.
“Heidi,” he says. His expression is serious when our eyes meet once more, and it’s enough to send a shiver through me. “If we’re going to do this, you can’t keep lying to me.”
“Neither can you.”
His eyes sweep over me, giving me nothing at first. “You’re right—I usually have more honesty with a woman I’m seeing.”
I swallow hard. “We’re seeing each other now?”
“What do you think this is?”
“You haven’t said. You haven’t said anything. In fact, you left, remember?”
“I told you I wanted you.”
“You put me on birth control and stayed away. What am I supposed to believe other than being a fuck when you want?”
Reaching over, he grips my chin firmly. “You’re more than that.”
“I’m more than that because I look like her, right?”
He sighs. “Wrong.”
“You said so yourself—I make you uncomfortable. This is the reason.”
“You make me uncomfortable because I want…” He breaks off, his expression torn. “I justwant,probably more than you can give. There’s a reason no one has been able to handle staying long-term. Why I require contracts. Why even Maxim and Vadim are standing guard.”
“Why?” I question, confused. “Have you done something?”
