Page 30 of Vicious

I know people have had it worse than this. I’m only slightly restrained, I have a relatively comfortable bed, and I’m not in pain.

It’s still hell.

All I can think about is what Chase might decide to do to me next—and how my body might betray me over it yet again.

He raped me, and I got off on it.

He whipped me, and I got off on that too.

How many other things is he going to do to me that turn my body against my mind?

The door clicks open, and I immediately sit up.

I hate how alert I am for him, but I can’t stand being this alone, with nothing to do. I’ve never been this idle in my life.

My eyes widen when Chase walks in carrying a large box with a sewing machine prominently displayed on the side. I recognize the brand and model, and I tense.

It’s the one I’ve wanted for ages. The one I’d been saving up for, only to have to use my savings for food or rent. Every time I thought I was making progress toward buying it, something had come up and I’d had to start over.

Chase sets the box down next to the bed and looks at it. “You can open the box if you want. I have to go get the other stuff.”

He goes right back out the door, and I almost tell him to stop. He’s coming right back, he said. He isn’t going to leave me alone for hours on end again.

I still breathe a small sigh of relief when he does return, this time with a folded chair and table in arm. He places those next to the bed as well. I give him an incredulous look, and he meets my gaze steadily.

“What, did you want to sew on the floor?” he asks.

I blush, giving a quick shake of my head. There are all sorts of snarky replies on the tip of my tongue, but what comes out is, “What do I have to do to earn the table and chair?”

Chase chuckles and shakes his head. “May, you’re doing it wrong. You need to accept the gifts and not even hint at paying anyone back. How else are you going to get ahead in the world?”

I give him a dour look. “It doesn’t work that way when you’re trapped in someone’s basement as their…” I don’t finish the thought. “How am I supposed to get ahead down here?”

“You could have accepted my gifts before you landed down here,” Chase answers.

I scowl at him. If I’d known he’d do something stupid like buy me if I didn’t give in, I’d have gone on a handful of dates with him just to get him off my ass. But there had always been something that had told me to run away and never look back.

Probably because he’s a human-trafficking piece of shit who hides his depravities behind a cheerful smile.

Or because I hadn’t wanted to risk getting used to a lavish lifestyle only to have it pulled away from me.

He picks up the table and unfolds it, placing it inside my leash’s range. When that’s done, he places the sewing machine on top of it. “Feel free to take a look. I have one more thing to get.”

Chase leaves again, and I stare at the box. The fact that it’s the exact one I’d been wanting is a little creepy, and I don’t know how he’d have figured that out. Then again, he’d left me a lot of little gifts that had been too apt, too personal, so obviously I had been more transparent about things than I’d thought.

I pick at the tape with my fingernails, wishing I had a pair of scissors, but I know he’s not going to let me have that or anything sharp that could be used against him, even though I’d made a promise in the heat of the moment that I wouldn’t try.

I manage to pull the packing tape off the top by the time Chase returns. This time, he’s carrying a large, clear plastic bin with something colorful inside.

I don’t know what to make of it until he sets the bin down on the table and I get a better view.

It’s fabric and thread.

“I figure a sewing machine is useless without any of this stuff,” Chase says, pulling the lid off. “I had no idea what kind of fabric you’d need, so there’s a bunch of different kinds.”

I stare at him in disbelief, not even able to start to comprehend now much all of this had to have cost. Then again, I guess for a billionaire, this would be pocket change.

“Did you pick these things out?” I ask, feeling a little wobbly as I sit down hard onto the chair in front of the table.

---