Page 133 of Ride With Me

“That’s right. And if you’re a good rabbit.” His voice lowered, which gave it a sinister tone. “I’ll lock your perverted little ass in a box... well, what’s left of it after I’m done with you. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

So, hehadtaken me seriously, and he’d also done a small bit of research to learn the term, but not enough to fully understand what it meant.

A shrill ringing tone cut through the air and he scowled but didn’t move to answer the phone, just stared at me. When the noise stopped, he gripped my chin and gave me a chilling smile. “Now, where were we?”

Fear held me in place, and I could do nothing but blink at him.

“There’s a good, submissive rabbit.” I didn’t know how much he knew about the Dom/sub scene, but this was all wrong. Aiden was no Dom; he was dangerous.

His phone started ringing again, and this time he swore before letting me go and striding across the room. I didn’t wait to see anything else, just grabbed the door handle and wrenched it open. I took the stairs two at a time, jumping the last few and ricocheting off the wall opposite as I turned the corner towards the front door. I heard a shout behind me, but didn’t look back. I fumbled with the door latch and started to panic, but it eventually opened and I shot outside and took off running. I kept running and didn’t stop until my lungs were bursting. I bentover, gasping for breath, holding my ribs as stitches spasmed in my side. Blood thudded in my ears, preventing me from hearing if anyone was following me. I risked a look back the way I’d run and couldn’t see anything. A sense of relief washed through me, but it was short-lived as I remembered I’d left everything back at his house. My coat and my bag, which held not only my clothes but also my wallet. I had no money or cards. There was no way I could go back there to retrieve them. I fumbled around, shooting off a quick prayer of thanks that I still had my phone. I opened my banking app and froze my cards, as there was nothing I trusted about Aiden anymore. I ignored the heavy lump in my chest—a mixture of disappointment that I’d never find anyone who understood me and shame that I’d allowed myself to get into that situation.

I just wanted to go home, but I had no idea where I was, so I opened the map app to try to find out where the train station was. I watched dismally as my phone flashed that there wasn’t enough battery and went black.

“No. No. No.” I frantically pressed the power button, but it didn’t come back to life. The phone charger was back in my bag. Not only was I lost, my train ticket was on an app on my phone. I had no money and no way of getting home. I tried to quell the panic that was rising, and settled for feeling like this was the worst day of my life. I didn’t even know what time it was but it was getting light so I guessed it was four or five a.m. It had been a long night. I needed a course of action and my options were limited. I could walk, so the only decision I needed to make was which way to go. I cast one more look back the way I’d come and started walking the other way. I’d have to hitchhike, hoping for the kindness of strangers.

When I hearthe sound of another car behind me, I feel like I’ve been walking for hours, and I probably have. I’m tired and thirsty. This road through the forest seems to be never-ending. It hadn’t looked that large when I’d viewed it from the ridge only yesterday when I was full of hope. Now I just want to curl up and cry.

I glance behind me when I hear another car approach, sticking out my thumb, genuinely surprised when I see it stop just in front of me. I would expect the driver to wind down his window, but instead, a man gets out of the passenger side and runs towards me. I back away; that’s not what should happen. Panicking, I turn to run, but it’s the last thing I remember before my world turns black.

CHAPTER 2

VICTOR

“What does this guy look like?”I ask Glynn, who is sitting in the passenger seat, scrolling through his phone.

“Same as everyone else, I guess.” He shrugs, his eyes never leaving the screen.

“Did you look at the notes?” I ask. He lifts his head and looks at me, a feral grin on his face.

“If you’re asking me, then I guess you didn’t look either.”

I sigh. It’s true, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“I’m driving. I’m not the one who's supposed to be looking out for him,” I protest. He gives me a long look and a chuckle, shaking his head before he returns to whatever holds his attention on his screen. He’s not buying it. Fair enough.

“It’s going to be the dude walking along the road. Who else is going to be walking about in this hellhole, anyway?”

I wouldn’t call it a hellhole exactly, as it’s a very pretty part of the country. But that’s the problem for Glynn—it’s the countryside. I get it. I’m much more used to the closeness of London, but I can appreciate the beauty of a place like this wood we’re driving through. Glynn thinks it’s boring and pointless, with nothing to entertain him.

I’m glad this is the last time I’ll ever have to see him. This last training exercise and it’ll be over. I hadn’t wanted to come on this course in close personal training anyway, but my boss, Lawrence, asked me to—and paid for it—so I felt obliged. It was a whole lot more than I needed to know just working security at his club, but he’d hinted at other work so it might be linked to that.

I hadn’t even wanted to get into security in the first place. I’d wanted to work in Lawrence’s BDSM club, the Chain Reaction, as a Dom.

Lawrence sized me up in under five minutes and said no. I’d pleaded for a trial, which, to his credit, he did give me.

“If you last a week, there might be a chance,” he’d said. I hadn’t.

He’d offered me a job as part of his security team, and three years later I’m now head of his security and on this course.

The problem, Lawrence had explained, is that my looks don’t match my personality. I can’t help that I’m tall and bulky. In order not to run to fat, I have to work out—which I enjoy—but it adds bulk. I also can’t help that my face looks mean, or so people tell me. All my life, people have been scared of me. It’s true that I don’t smile much. I don’t have a lot to smile about.

Inside, I’m the opposite; I hate any sort of violence. I wouldn’t willingly harm anyone. Which was the whole issue, Lawrence explained. How could I work as a Dom if I can’t lift a hand to those who are begging for it? Those who aren’t scared away by my looks are not prepared for my aversion to causing harm, even if it’s consensual.

“You’re a protector,” had been Lawrence’s assessment of me. Perfect for security. So that’s what I do.

Glynn, on the other hand, is an absolute psycho. I’m not sure how he’s managed to stay out of jail—if he has. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’d been inside. He enjoyed the physical combatexercise of self-defence, attack, and protection far too much, and the absolute relish he displayed on the day we went to the firing range was scary. I’m not sure how he’ll pass this course, but then, it’s not up to me.

He has also been a thorn in my side during the course. I’d been stupid enough to make some smart-arsed comment on something about my preferences, which Glynn had picked up on. Because he might be a dangerous thug and a loose cannon, but the one thing Glynn is not, is stupid.

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