Page 48 of The Dollhouse

For me?

I repeat: where the hell was I?

Just for kicks, I wandered to the door and tried the handle. Locked from the outside, of course. Didn’t know why I half-expected anything different.

I’d literally been kidnapped off the street, right before my shift, and taken to a room that looked like a princess should live in it? A princess who was often locked away in her room, but still a princess.

Autumn was not going to be happy when she realized I was a no-call, no-show. That alone would be reason to fire me. Would she? Hmm. That was debatable, since Roman still technically owned the Dollhouse and she knew I was his chosen girl.

Roman. My mind zeroed in on him. Was this because of him? Was I in his house, in another part of it I hadn’t seen before? Was he trying to come back in my life and doing it by having one of his men kidnap me?

I shouldn’t let my anger take over, but at the mere thought of the possibility, I grew pissed. How dare that man do this, if it was true. How dare he do any of this.

A cushioned chair sat beside the small table, and I meandered to it, sitting myself down as I waited. There was hardly anything else to do around here, with my wrists tied so tightly together. They’d probably hurt tomorrow, but that was assuming I’d even see tomorrow. Who knew? Maybe this wasn’t Roman. Maybe this was something worse, but with my luck, I figured Roman’s involvement. And, by extension, Carter’s, too.

God. Those stupid men. They’d left my life for weeks, and yet they thought they could just come back and everything would be as they left it? No. Fuck that. I was a living person, and I wouldn’t just wait while I heard nothing from the man who was supposed to, in his words, own me.

My fury blinded me, and I couldn’t tell how much time passed before I heard the lock in the door click open. The minute a man walked in, my suspicions were confirmed.

Carter stood before me, wearing all black and looking just as sexy as ever, his green eyes the color of jade. His brown hair was a bit longer than I remembered, an inch or so too long. When I frowned at him, he muttered, “Should’ve figured you’d get out of it.”

“What the fuck is going on?” I hissed, getting to my feet when he stepped inside the room, shutting the door behind him. The lock mustn’t be automatic then; you must have to manually lock it every time you leave the room.

He stopped when he stood before me, towering over me like he always had. I fought to push away my body’s reaction to him, to ignore the heat that crept up in my cheeks when I angled my head back to stare up at him. Easily over six feet tall, mean and glowering. You either fell under Carter’s spell, or you tried your best to steer clear of him. There was no hating him, no in between.

Plus, that man could work wonders with his dick. Not that his dick skill was enough to overcome the last few weeks of silence and abandonment, but… well, you know what I meant.

Carter reached into his pocket, pulling out something small and black. With a flick of his wrist, I realized it was a knife, and I gulped in spite of myself. “I was going to cut you loose, but if you’d rather stay tied up, I can leave you as you are,” he whispered, glaring down at me as if he hated me.

And, hell, maybe he did. Maybe he was bitter about how much had changed since I came into his and Roman’s life. Maybe he hated me because he didn’t have much variety lately.

Or maybe that wasn’t hate in his eyes, and I was too blinded by my own rage to realize it.

Saying nothing, I offered him my wrists, and he cut through the zip tie with a single yank of his arm. I’d forgotten just how strong he was, how thick those biceps were, how wide his chest was and how you could easily lose yourself in his muscles for days without taking a breather.

“Thanks,” I spoke with a frown.

Carter shoved the cut zip tie and the switchblade back into his pocket after closing it. He said nothing else, taking a step away from me, going to leave the room without so much as an explanation.

“Wait,” I called out.

He had the door open, his large body half in, half out. He hesitated, like a part of him wanted to leave, but he somehow managed to stay anyway, to hear what I had to say.

“What happened?” I asked. “Where were you guys?” I could feel my heart beating in my neck, my pulse racing as Carter stared back at me, silent for the longest time. I didn’t think I could live like this, kidnapping aside. A life where Roman and Carter went MIA for weeks on end without even warning me of it… that was no life. I didn’t want to spend my entire life waiting—and that’s precisely why I didn’t wait these last few weeks. And then, because he still made me weak, I added in a hushed whisper, “I was worried.”

Carter rolled his shoulders, though it looked like one of his arms was stiffer than the other. “There was an out of town job, one that required finesse. Roman will tell you more, if he wants to.” His jaw tensed, clamping shut, and I knew that was all I would get from him.

I watched him as he left, listened to the lock bolting and knew I was stuck here for God knew how long. It was late already. What if Roman didn’t want to see me tonight and made me wait until tomorrow? Or, shit, what if he made me wait days? What if I was a literal prisoner here while I waited for Roman to make time for me?

Ugh. Fuck. I knew agreeing to be Roman’s would come with conditions I wouldn’t like. At first, it’d been nothing but a fun time, a way to feel alive, but then feelings had gotten involved, and things became different. At least for me. A man like Roman, I doubted he ever let himself feel something for the girls he ordered around; same with Carter.

Meaning nothing to them… it hurt, and that’s precisely why I hadn’t waited around like a lonely maiden when they were gone. I tried to move on, faced my feelings for Lake. I’d tried to do what I could to go forward with my life.

Waiting around for Roman and Carter to make their appearance? That was no life, even if I craved being with them more than anything else in the world.

I didn’t move to the mattress. I didn’t try to sleep. Why bother when I knew the moment I got comfortable in this room, Roman would have me dragged out and thrown before him? Roman obviously had command of more than just Carter; he had to be involved in some kind of organized criminal empire. The man killed people for a living, so I didn’t know why I expected any different.

I sat at the table, rubbing my wrists absentmindedly, waiting to hear something at the door again, waiting to hear Carter. At this point, I didn’t know what I should prepare myself for, what hell awaited me.

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