Page 25 of Vicious

My fingers wrap around the smooth wood, but I feel so weak—and so alive, with something sparking in my veins that I can’t make sense of. This is all beyond me, and… There’s a part of me that wishes I’d just taken him up on a date.

But no.

Reality reminds me that he’s a disgusting pig who’s willing to sink this low to have a woman who said no to him over and over, and that’s a sobering thought.

As soon as he releases my ankles, I realize just how unsteady I am on my feet. I try to step away from the cross, but I stumble. Chase catches me, one hand directly across my back.

“Careful. I think you have a lot of endorphins coursing through you right now.” Chase starts guiding me toward the bed.

I want to argue with him because ‘endorphins’ makes it sound like something good, but I can’t. My mouth is dry, and I can’t quite swallow properly. I find myself clinging to him despite myself, and by the time we reach the bed, he’s nearly carrying me.

He helps me onto the bed, and I curl up, letting my hair fall into my face as I try not to think about what just happened—but it’s all I can think about. The pleasure, the pain, the mixture of the two that left me flying high… My entire world has been turned upside down.

I watch as Chase refastens the chain to my collar, defeat chasing away some of the buzz. I wish it could erase all of it.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t try anything stupid… right now,” Chase says as he strokes my hair. “But a clever girl like you isn’t going to give up so easily, I know.”

“Stop touching me,” I mumble, but the fingers in my hair feel so good.

It feels good to be touched, and I don’t understand why more than I understand anything else.

“What kind of respectable dom would I be, to leave my beautiful pet alone during sub drop?” Chase laughs and kisses the top of my head. “Actually, I stopped going to BDSM clubs years ago. They’re so boring.”

“Sub drop?” I ask, my voice slurring a little. Is that what this is? “And you only don’t like those clubs because…” I shiver. “Because they have to be willing there.”

“Because I have to follow the club’s rules.” Chase lies down next to me and pulls me into his arms. “The only rules I intend to follow are my own.”

There’s something strange about his voice, but I don’t care enough to analyze it. The words are bad enough.

I try to squirm out of his grip, but I’m so damn tired, and what just happened is like a crushing weight on me. How could I get off on that? How can I let him hold me? How can I let any of these things happen?

Tears start to leak from my eyes, but I sniffle, trying to clear them away. I don’t want to be vulnerable and teary and afraid—especially not when he seems to intend to comfort me in some fucked-up way.

I should be fighting to get away, but I’m so, so tired, and I end up drifting into an uneasy sleep.

CHAPTER 6

Chase

The waiter brings our food. I’d ordered the seafood pasta, but Drake, of course, got the steak. I’ve never seen him order anything but beef, and he seems to pick at the sides, like it’s torture to eat anything but nearly raw meat.

It makes it a pain to go out to restaurants with him, since our selection is limited. At least steak does feature in a decent number of restaurants in New Bristol, even if I would like to broaden his horizons.

“Careful, the vegetable juices might have touched the steak,” I joke as I scoop up some of my pasta.

Drake eyes me over the slab of meat on his plate. “You’re just saying that so I’ll share,” he deadpans, even though he knows I have no interest in his ribeye.

I could probably rib him about his eating habits for hours, but there’s no point, and he always gets annoyed after a while. “Hunter was at my place the other day,” I say instead. “I needed him to ‘patch up’ May. She’s settling in well though.”

“You don’t even have time for a dog,” he says around bites of food. “How are you supposed to take care of a live-in girlfriend?”

“She mostly takes care of herself,” I say, although I do feel a stab of annoyance. It’s true that I work a lot, but that’s what makes this whole situation ideal. I have May at hand whenever I want her, and I don’t have to worry about her schedule or her desires or suddenly getting confronted by an ultimatum of “it’s me or your job.”

“How?” Drake asks, arching a brow. We’re both cognizant enough of our surroundings not to go into detail about the woman in my basement, but he knows what the setup is. “She’s gonna go crazy from boredom, man. At least Hunter lets his… girlfriend do things around the house now.”

Yeah, Hunter and his “girlfriend.” Or maybe we should be calling her his fiancée now, but I still can’t believe they’re engaged. He never did explain why he started babying her and treating her like a breakable doll, but Drake and I figured that he’d caught feelings.

“I’ll figure it out.” I stab my pasta a little viciously and take a bite. “Anyway, I’ve got a bit of leverage. She’ll want to know how her dad is doing.”

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