Page 18 of Tempting Fate

An arm curls around my waist.

I’m lifted off my feet.

Slung over a shoulder.

The impact steals my breath.

With urgency, I gulp down air, open my mouth, and scream again, “Help! Fire! Rape! Help!”

A large hand swats my arse with a stinging slap. I gasp, more from the shock of being hit than the actual pain. The sudden intake of breath causes the cologne from the bedroom and the living room to flood my senses, and my sedative-affected, trauma-defected mind floods with every memory I have of the man carrying me back inside the house of horrors.

“Now, now, Lily.” Alex’s velvety smooth voice mocks me. “Calm down. You’re already bleeding, we don’t want to do anything to make it worse, do we, angel?”

Terror rises within me. Unshakable and inexorable. It lodges in my throat, choking me. A strangled sound filled with despair and rage somehow escapes around the boulder. Desperate measures, impossible plans, a prayer for death to arrive before Alex can hurt me again, fuels my struggle. I kick my legs, punch him in the back with all my strength, jam my knees into his stomach, try everything I can think of to break free of his grasp.

I fight like my life depends on it.

Alex laughs at my efforts.

He kicks the door shut behind us.

The lock clicks into place.

Trapping me.

Dooming me.

As reality sinks into my terrified mind, my body trembles uncontrollably.

No.

This can’t be happening.

Not again. Not again. Not again.

As my head spins, I start to feel faint. My mind races without aim, refusing to accept the truth. Alexander Kingsley is my worst nightmare. I’ve spent the last four and a half years putting myself back together after experiencing this man’s brutality, and just as I start to embrace the possibilities of the life that I’ve built from the ruins he created, Alex returns to destroy them.

“Put me down, Alex. Please,” I plead in a shaky voice while my brain scrambles to find some much-needed composure. It fails to manifest, so I end up begging him to see sense. “You’re not supposed to be anywhere near me, you know that. If you let me walk out of here now, I won’t tell the police and your parole will be safe.”

My nightmare chuckles at my request. He slowly lowers me down the front of his body, thrusting his groin against mine when our pelvic areas meet. My feet have barely reached the ground before I’m backing away from him.

My retreat is fruitless. He won’t let me go.

Grasping the top of my arms, Alex pulls me onto his lap after he sits down on the brown leather settee. All fight leaves my body at his touch, my trembling increases to atomic levels.

“Please, let me go.”

When I hear buttons being pressed on a keypad, I realise that my pleas to leave are going to fall on deaf ears. I’m stuck—not only because of the locked door and security system—but because this man scares me to death. I know if I mess up my escape again, he’ll make me pay in the most painful way.

I need to bide my time, so I don’t make another mistake.

“I’ll leave you two lovebirds to your reunion,” Hugh announces.

He chuckles as he walks past us and out of sight.

Knowing that Hugh is the lesser of the two evils facing me, I stare with longing after Alex’s best friend, silently willing him to take me with him. Alex gently grasps my chin, tilting my head until I’m forced to meet his eyes. He looks exactly the same. Dressed in a perfectly pressed shirt and a pair of expensive trousers, a pair of the ridiculous leather loafers I spotted back in the bedroom cover his feet. Nothing’s changed. His gaze is a warm chocolate-brown, his skin lightly tanned, his full lips rose-pink and kissable. The chestnut hair that sets off Alex’s traditionally handsome features remains full, luscious, and wavy. Aside from the light scarring curling up from the corners of his mouth, prison hasn’t taken any discernible toll on his looks, which annoys me more than it should. I was certain that, despite my pleas not to stir up Alex’s father and my dad’s decree that Alex was off-limits, Zeke arranged for some of the MC’s boys to rough him up at a minimum.

I have heard whispers that he got to Alex while he was in hospital. The Glasgow grin supports that secret. But, I fully expected him to secretly take matters into his own hands permanently. The knowledge that Alex has been healthy, safe, and sound while I’ve endured procedure after procedure to mend my body is disheartening.

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