AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My brows furrow, and I groan as I try to roll over. Only something catches on my wrists, and as I peer through the darkness, I find a silver cuff around my wrist, connected to a heavy chain, and the moment I make out the unfamiliar bed beneath me, everything starts coming back.
Nat’s house. Alex’s text. Running. My heart pounding. The fear. I hit the park, my feet getting all cut up beneath me, and then he caught me. I remember the way my heart raced, how conflicted I was. Terror warring with desire until he finally demanded an answer. What did I want?
Him. Always him.
He fucked me right there in the middle of the thick trees in Central Park, made me scream until my throat was raw, and then I came, but it wasn’t like the other times he’s brought me to the edge. This was animalistic. Wild and needy. I cried out for more, and he gave me exactly what I needed as though he knew my body better than I ever will, and after drowning in a sea of undeniable pleasure, he . . . fuck.
It all went dark.
There was a brief flash of a syringe followed by a sharp pinch at the base of my neck, and then . . . nothing.
Trying to ignore the fear in my chest, I look around the room. It’s small, and judging by the metal shelving and old cans of non-perishable foods, this has got to be some kind of forgotten storm cellar. The bed I lay on is dirty, nothing but an old, stained mattress with a single pillow. The room has a damp, musky smell to it as though the leak currently doing my head in has been there for quite some time.
Testing the cuff and chains, I pull on my wrist, and while the chains have a little bit of slack, allowing me to venture out from the bed, the cuff is securely in place, making it clear that this is not Alex’s first rodeo. Hell, the old rusty stains on the ground could have told me that, only it’s not rust at all—it’s blood.
I’m not the first woman he’s kept down here, not the first woman he’s cuffed and chained. The only question is, where the hell do we go from here? Surely he doesn’t intend to let me live after he’s taken it this far. I can identify him, and considering what he did to his mother, I’m sure I wouldn’t have to work very hard to ensure he’s put behind bars. So why the hell is that the last thing I want for him?
God. That must make me some kind of monster. He’s a killer. A stalker. I shouldn’t want him like this. I shouldn’t be so excited about the idea of seeing him again.
If I make it out of this alive, perhaps it’s time to look into seeing a therapist. I’m sure they’ll have plenty to say about my current state of mind. Hell, if they’re smart, they’ll have me strapped to a gurney in a straitjacket with no visitation rights because surely I’m certifiably insane. There’s no other explanation.
I sit on the old mattress for what feels like an hour until the sound of a heavy lock clattering pulls me back to reality. My heart races, my hands shake, and I throw myself to my feet, the heavy chains dangling from my wrist weighing me down.
I watch the door with wide eyes, and every passing second feels like a lifetime. When blinding sunlight tears through the small cellar, I wince against it, my head instantly rejecting its brightness as Alex pushes the big door open. Judging by the daylight flooding in, I must have been here for at least a few hours. It was around two in the morning when his texts came through, and then I sat on Nat’s couch for a while before finally running out into Central Park.
He was hard and fast when he finally caught me in the trees, but it didn’t last long, not like the night in my bedroom when he took my ass. It must have been a little after three in the morning when he shot me up with that sedative. The sun doesn’t usually rise until at least seven, so I must have been passed out for a minimum of four hours.
Shit. Nat is going to be a mess.
Alex steps into the damp cellar and pushes the heavy door closed behind him, blocking out the hard sunlight. I’m blinded for just a moment as my eyes try to adjust to the darkness, but when the light above me flashes back into existence, I find Alex standing across the room, leaning against the metal shelving, his ankles crossed as he peers at me.
He’s deathly silent, his arms crossed over his wide chest, and all I can do is stare at him.
My heart pounds, but I honestly don’t know why. Out of fear? Maybe. Or maybe it’s because it always beats like that whenever his dark eyes rest upon mine.
The silence stretches between us, and when it becomes too much to bear, I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “You’re fucked in the head. You know that, right?”
A wide grin stretches across his face, and I hate how much I love it, hate how it brightens the whole fucking cellar. “Oh, my sweet Kyah,” he drawls in that deep tone that drives me insane. “Of course I know that. How could I not? But what really turns me on is that you are too. You just haven’t realized it yet.”
I arch a brow. “Okay, now I know you’re definitely insane,” I tell him, lifting my wrists and dangling the heavy chain. “Feel like explaining this, Parkour?”
“You still have your sense of humor,” he notes. “Good.”
“Seriously?” I scoff, gaping at him. “You’ve been stalking me for weeks, sneaking into my apartment and fucking me in the middle of the night. You chased me through Central Park in a mask, and I’m almost certain you’re responsible for Viper’s death, but you’re worried about my sense of humor. What the hell is wrong with you, Alex? Do you have any idea how messed up all of this is?”
His gaze darkens, and he pushes away from the metal shelving, making my mouth go dry. I swallow hard, suddenly not feeling so brave. It was one thing to give him attitude when I thought he was nothing more than the guy across the hall who I was falling in love with, but this man before me isn’t that guy. He’s my stalker, a possible killer, and provoking him now is foolish.
Alex strides toward me, stopping just an inch out of my reach. “Messed up is the fact that I haven’t killed you yet.”
My eyes widen, his comment sobering me to my new reality. “Why?” I ask, my tone dropping to a near whisper, my lips trembling.
Alex reaches up, and I don’t even try to flinch away from his touch as he brushes his knuckles down the side of my face. Hell, I lean into him, hating how much I love him. “My sweet Kyah, haven’t you figured it out yet?” he murmurs, his dark eyes softening as he watches the way I so deeply crave his touch. “I could never hurt you.”
I gaze up at him, letting him see the true fear in my eyes. “You’re hurting me right now.”
A heaviness flashes in his eyes, and he steps into me, his hands gripping my ass and effortlessly lifting me into his arms. He walks back to the shitty bed and sits down on the edge so that I’m straddled over his lap, my arms and the heavy chain dangling down his strong back. “I’m sorry, Mace,” he murmurs, those loving eyes lingering on mine and making me believe that I can trust him. “This is only a precaution, just until I know that you’re not going to do something stupid.”
“What do you mean?”
