Page 28 of Enforcer's Obsession

As if to underscore the point, he moved deeper into the room.

I noticed he wasn’t wearing shoes, the absence somehow making him look homey and simultaneously underscoring his lethality.

“Well, I’m in here now, and I’m not in the mood for company,” I said.

It was strange, me picking this particular fight, but I was nervous, and I needed him away for me—far, far away from me.

“What, you want me to sleep on the couch?”

I didn’t give a fuck where he slept, but decided not to point that out to him.

Instead I went with a much more bland, “Well, given the circumstances, specifically my involuntary commitment here and your responsibility for it, sleeping on the couch seems like the polite thing to do,” I said.

He laughed, the sound of rumbling out of his chest. “Polite?”

“You know the word,” I said.

He smiled again, the expression wolfish, and I wanted to shrink further into the corner, not like I had anywhere to go.

“Do I strike you as the polite type?” he asked.

“I…” I wasn’t sure how to respond.

Should I be honest, or should I say nothing.

“No, you don’t,” I finally said, deciding on honesty. “But I was hoping…”

“So then you are smart,” he said when I trailed off.

He walked toward me, and I watched as he emptied his pockets and took off his watch.

The last thing he removed was his gun, a huge, black, scary-looking thing that I had somehow missed.

It seemed almost like a toy in his hands, but I knew it was anything but.

“So can I go somewhere else?” I asked.

I’d said nothing until he removed his hand from the gun, nerves and excitement warring inside of me.

He studied me, his gaze slow, leisurely as he took me in.

“No. I have to keep you close. Make sure you don’t escape,” he said.

“That’s really not necessary,” I said, hoping I sounded strong and not timid.

“I going to shower. Then we rest,” he said.

We?

The question was playing in my head, but I didn’t ask it.

Instead I watched as he walked into the bathroom, not sure whether to believe my eyes.

The gun was still there, practically beckoning me.

Or tempting you to your doom.

It was hard to ignore the truth of those words.

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