Page 29 of Arran's Obsession

They appeared so happy together. The fit so perfect.

Material hit me. I blinked my attention from the other car and found a t-shirt on my chest.

Arran slammed my door then got in the other side, revving the engine to send the crowd in the car park running from our path. “Put that on before I lose my fucking mind.”

In shock, I fumbled to tug the oversized t-shirt over my head, concealing my naked body. Automatically, I clipped in my seat belt.

“Are you taking me home?”

He laughed in disbelief and drove out, barely pausing at the exit to check for traffic. Unlike me, he was bare-chested still, though luckily his jeans were done up once more. “No, I’m not. You know that isn’t possible.”

“I don’t know anything.”

“We need to leave the city. It’s a rule for the first week.”

“A rule? Of what?”

Arran breathed through his nose and gripped the steering wheel as if it were a throat in need of strangling. “Drop the act,for fuck’s sake. Don’t tell me you didn’t plan this all out. You knew exactly what you were doing.”

Outrage cost me some of my mind. “Are you kidding? You think I’d voluntarily put myself into that… That…”

He worked his jaw. “That’s exactly what I’m saying because it’s a fact.”

Breathless, I stared. It took a long moment until I could speak. “It isn’t. I didn’t.”

“You walk out in front of my car, come to my club to sell your body after you gave me your judgement on sex workers, implying you’d do anything but their job, then the very next night, you waltz straight into my event.”

“I didn’t know your sexual assault night was happening!”

“Fucking liar. If you didn’t know the details from elsewhere, you were told about it on your tour.”

Silence played out. Terrible, fractured, empty space. The car punched into the dark night, the route he’d set taking us over the bridge to the north and out of town. Scottish territory.

When I found my words, my voice shook. “You really believe I wanted to get attacked?”

“Everyone who signs up knows the deal.”

“I didn’t sign anything.”

“No, because you purposefully snuck in and pretended to be someone else.”

I shrank down, my world still spinning. The one thing I had to do was get him to believe me. After all that had gone down, my fear, the hot sex, and the chilling violence, I needed him to accept my version of events. “Yes, I snuck in, but I only wanted to be in the club, not to take part in that.”

“What possible reason could you have for sneaking around my club?” He swore again and made a fist on top of the steering wheel. “Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t care. I only have one question for you.”

I waited, twisted horror still infecting me.

“Were you a virgin until I fucked you?”

“No,” I breathed.

His lip curled in strong emotion. “I was.”

Several hours later,I jerked awake from a fitful sleep, the car slowing, the change in the engine sound bringing me to consciousness.

After Arran’s ridiculous claim, I’d shut down. Turned away from him and watched the night. We’d crossed the Queensferry Bridge after circling Edinburgh, and bright city streets had changed to dark countryside. Then I’d passed out and lost track of where we’d ended up.

A long driveway led to a huge mansion, lights outside showing the extent of the palatial building.

---