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“He knew my name. How did he know my name if you don’t know who he is?”
“I might have mentioned you to someone in passing and not realized it. Did he say anything else that might help me figure out who he is?”
“As I drove away, he yelled that Blake wanted to talk to you.”
“Then the man who’s not my neighbor can only be Tasker.”
“So you do know him, then.”
“Yeah. Right sodding bastard all around. Fuck. Just knowing that dickfaced jerk touched you makes me want to cut out his motherfucking heart and feed it to Sheba.”
I open my mouth but I’m not sure what to say. I’ve never heard him be so openly bloodthirsty and curse like this. Even when telling me about his father.
“A few years ago, I worked for Blake. When she brought on men like Tasker, I bailed. With her, business is business. It’s never personal. But Tasker…” He mutters a curse. “I wish to hell I was there right now to make sure you’re safe.”
“I’m fine. I’m locked up in your house with your NASA alarm system activated. I’ll stay inside until you get home.”
“No,” he retorts, but I sense his frustration isn’t with me, but with the situation. “You’ll live your life. The last thing I want you to do is lock yourself up waiting on me to get home. I’ll take care of it.”
“But—”
“I’ll take care of it,” he repeats firmly. “Go to work as usual and take Sheba with you. Don’t go anywhere else until you get my surprise. I’m pretty sure I can have it to you tomorrow, but to be safe, don’t go shopping or college hunting until you get it.”
“No more college hunting for me right now. I’m going to talk to Dr. Wentworth tomorrow and see if she can teach me a few things herself. I want to handle the animals more, and twenty to thirty grand for a tech degree seems like a waste.”
“No learning is useless, kitten.” Despite the endearment, his voice still vibrates with violence and anger. “This is really not a good time for my past to rear its ugly head.”
I force out a laugh. “Yeah, well, better your past than mine. The last thing I want is for Josh to show up asking about my new Master.”
“That won’t be a problem. Don’t let Tasker touch you again. He will try to use you to get me to come back to work for Blake. Promise me, Ranay.”
I can’t help but push him a little. I want to know how far he’ll go for me, because I already know I’ll go to the ends of the earth for him. “And if he did?”
“He’s dead. Promise me.”
I don’t have to see his face to know that his eyes are cold and empty. My stomach quivers and I remember the way he looked at me while he hurt me. “No, you promise me that no one’s going to get hurt. I’m not worth—”
“Ranay.” His voice lowers and roughens so much I can barely understand him. “I don’t like it when you say negative things about yourself. Promise me!”
The last two words rise in intensity, and I let out a frightened squeak. “I promise.”
“Good girl.” He lightens his voice, and I can almost hear my familiar Charlie in his words. Until he says, “I’ll kill anyone who hurts you.”
I open my mouth but then his words hit me. Should I laugh, like it’s a joke? But he isn’t laughing. He shouted at me. He made me promise.
It takes me a moment to realize he hung up.
16
I’m not sure if he’ll call me back at nine for our regular call, but after hearing the disappointment in his voice that I failed to take Sheba with me, I’m not going to disobey him again. It has nothing to do with his threat to kill anyone who hurts me.
At least that’s what I keep telling myself as I try to bring myself to the edge of release. Naked, in his bed, that shouldn’t be a problem. But I can’t get into it tonight. I even consider opening that brand-new Hitachi, but I’d ratherheuse it to force me to orgasm. My head is full of questions and worries and violence. I don’t doubt Charlie. Not exactly. I’m scared, though. Not even the good scared.
I’ve heard people threaten to kill someone before, but it was either on TV or a sibling fight. Like Sam wanted to kill me when I brought up that werewolf movie she loved so much. I wanted to kill her when she mentioned Josh in front of Charlie, trying to embarrass me. It wasn’t real. She would never hurt me. I’d certainly never hurt anyone.
But Charlie…
Sheba’s Charlie, my brown-eyed, curly headed lover, would never hurt me. I know that. But I can see the other Charlie, who got off on the taste of my blood, killing someone. For real.
