Page 18 of Unveiled

“What the hell!” I yell, wriggling to escape his hold. If he wanted me in his arms, why didn’t we just stay in bed all day? Not that I wanted to.

“Try to get free,” he instructs. What does he think I’m doing? I wriggle more, trying to throw him off balance or at least loosen his grip, but he doesn’t even budge. He’s much larger than I am, and much stronger, too. If he wants to hold me here all day, he can, and I can’t fight him.

“I can’t!” I yell out, frustrated at my weakness.

“You can,” he encourages me. “Try harder.”

A thought hits me, and it’s devious in all the right ways. I don’t try to fight him this time. My head swivels until I’m looking into his deep, stormy blue eyes through the mask.

“Have I ever told you how pretty your eyes look when you’re wearing this mask? It reminds me of the first time you made me come. Remember? You snuck into my apartment and forced me to come on your fingers, while you were staring down at me through the holes in your mask.”

The longer I talk, reminding him of our past, the softer his eyes get. But that’s not the only thing that gets softer. Once I’ve finished reminiscing, I push forward, breaking free from his weakened hold on me. He always was pretty easy to distract.

I don’t make it two steps away before he grabs my shoulders and pulls me back to him.

“Nice try, my little seductress, but that’s not good enough. I need you to actually escape me without cheating.”

His arms wrap tightly around me again, securing me against his body. More wriggling and all my effort later, I huff and give up. “You’re too strong for me. This isn’t fair.”

“It’s not supposed to be,” he answers. “Now escape.”

Out of pure frustration, I push up onto my toes and slam my head back. It connects with the chin of the mask, but the mask must slam into his face. He howls in pain as his arms unwrap from me to bring his hands to his aching chin. As soon as I’m free, I run away from him, putting enough distance between us so he can’t pull me back.

My head is throbbing now, but it was worth it to see the pain and anger in his eyes. What else was I supposed to do? He asked for it.

“Clever,” he praises me, much to my surprise. “Let’s do that again, only this time, do me a favor and don’t bruise my face. How am I supposed to make you fall for me if I look like the monster you think I am?”

“That’s funny, especially since you’re wearing that mask instead of letting me see your face,” I retort.

“That’s the point. You need to see me as the monster, not as the man if this is going to work,” he explains. His explanation only leaves me more confused.

“If what is going to work? What are we even doing here? If you wanted me to beat you up, I would have done so without asking twice.” Seriously, it would have been a pretty good way to get my anger out. He doesn’t really deserve it, but I would feel better.

“You want to hit me? Then hit me.”

I stare at him blankly, trying to process what he just told me. He walks toward me, invading my space as he continues talking.

“I took you, Ainsley. Took you away from your life, your friends, all because I’m a selfish bastard. I drugged you just to get you to my house, and then held you captive while I touched you Every. Single. Day.”

“Stop it,” I tell him, not wanting to hear this.

“I made you fall in love with me, and then I left you alone in a room full of dangerous men that would love to see me fail. They drugged you and took you to get to me. You were just collateral damage. You were sold to my enemy like an animal.”

“Stop,” I shout louder, his words bouncing around my head. Everything he’s saying is the truth, but all of it hurts to hear. It brings me back to all of those memories.

“It took me a week to find you, and when I finally did, I didn’t even protect you. I let them shoot me, right in front of you while you were driven away. They treated you like garbage, all to get to me, a man everyone thought was dead. They beat you, collared you, and made you sleep on the floor like a dog. And still, I wasn’t there to save you.”

“Please, stop,” I plead. His words are making me want to curl into a ball and cry into my arms, but he doesn’t give up.

“He tried to rape you, and you called out for me, and I still wasn’t there. You almost jumped off that balcony, and you would have died because I didn’t save you soon enough. It’s my fault. I put you in danger, and here I am, doing it all over again because I’m so fucking selfish that I refuse to see you happy without me.”

“Stop it!” I scream, exploding as my hands push against his bare chest, trying to push him away from me. When he doesn’t even look affected, I get angrier. My fists pound against his chest as he looks at me with complete calmness, watching me let go of all the anger I’ve kept pent up until now.

My fists fly to his mask, hitting him over and over again until they ache and I can’t use them anymore. He still doesn’t flinch.

“It’s not your fault! You did everything to find me! You never stopped, you tortured everyone you could find just to get to me!” The heel of my foot slams into his toes, and this time I hear a grunt, but he still doesn’t move to stop me. “You felt my pain with me. You came for me, the day you woke up in the hospital from being shot. From trying to save me!”

My screams are turning to sobs as the energy flows out of me. I wanted to be angry at him, but not like this. He didn’t deserve this, not after everything he did to keep me safe.

---