Page 49 of Malice

Bonnie’s gaze flicked to him, and her eyes went wide. Malice used one hand to signal for her to be silent, then for her to keep her eyes on the fuckwad in front of her. If he was silent and the man didn’t spot him as he turned back and forth while pacing, then the only thing that would give Malice away until he was where he wanted to be was the idiot noticing Bonnie watching him.

He wasn’t sure if he’d imagined it, but he thought he saw relief in Bonnie’s eyes before she turned her gaze back to her captor. He stood for a moment, watching as her gaze moved with the asshole’s pacing. The idiot hadn’t even stopped talking, nor moving during the entire exchange.

Malice let his eyes scan the room as he eased his way down the remaining three steps, weapon at the ready in case the fucker spotted him. He took in everything, the jars of home canned food on the shelves on the wall behind Bonnie. The red handprints on each of her cheeks, the thin trail of blood dripping from one corner of her mouth. Malice was going to do his best to get Bonnie out of here without any more danger to her, but he was prepared should the dumb fuck do something stupid.

36

MovementdrewBonnie’seyesto the stairs. There was someone coming down them. Slowly. The quiet, slow progress as whoever it was took one step, then another, placing their feet gently, made her think they were trying to keep from being seen.

Who could it be? All she could see was boots and a pair of faded jeans from the knees down. Her heart raced, thundering in her ears, and drowning out whatever Phillip was saying. She didn’t want Phillip to realize someone was behind him, so she turned her gaze back to him, watching him move back and forth in front of her, but still not hearing him.

Phillip’s hand across her face told her he’d once again realized her attention wasn’t on him. She clenched her teeth but refused to make a sound. The last thing she wanted was for whoever was coming down the stairs, and she hoped it was Corey, to move too quickly because they thought she was being hurt. Yes, her face burned, but it wasn’t anything that wouldn’t fade with a little time.

“I asked you a question!” Phillip’s tone demanded her attention. She looked up at him and lifted one brow, hoping he would take it as the silent question she meant it to be.

Bonnie wasn’t sure she could speak without either her voice shaking or the rage she felt at Phillip’s high handedness showing through, so she kept silent.

“I asked if you thought you could behave if I let you go.”

Her heart leapt. Was he really going to untie her? She nodded once, still not unclenching her jaw. She knew her mouth would run away without her brain, and she wasn’t going to risk that, not now. Not when there was someone here who might be trying to get her free.

Phillip let out a single dry laugh, as if he didn’t believe her, then he went back to pacing back and forth in front of her. She watched him make several more passes, trying to keep an eye on the figure coming down the stairs. She needed to know who it was.

It took everything in her to keep her face blank and turn her attention back to Phillip when Corey stepped down far enough, she could see his face. Though she’d suspected it was him not just from the clothes and the way he moved, but the pistol in his hand. It was hard to tell from the fleeting glances and from the distance, but it looked like the one he carried. Besides, who else but Corey would come in here with a gun at the ready? Or had Phillip done something to anger more than she knew about?

Now that she knew it was him, she had a hard time looking away. Until Corey gave her a few hand signals, telling her to keep her eyes on Phillip. That reminded her that watching Corey would let Phillp know he was there. As much as she hated to look away, she turned her gaze back to Phillip, watching him pace back and forth in front of her.

She didn’t know how much longer this would last but with Corey here, she knew it wouldn’t be much longer. He would get her out of here and take her home. She didn’t know how long it would take but she trusted he would get it done. But was he here alone? Surely not. But where was whoever was with him?

Bonnie was careful to keep her eyes on Phillip. He still rambled and talked as he paced but she didn’t care what he said. Now that Corey was here, she knew he wouldn’t let Phillp hurt her, at least not more than he’d already done. And if he tried to slap her again, well Bonnie couldn’t be sure Corey wouldn’t use the pistol he looked very comfortable carrying to make sure it didn’t happen again.

“Are you even listening to me?” Phillp’s voice penetrated her thoughts. Mostly because he’d stopped pacing and now stood in front of her, hands on hips. At least he wasn’t slapping her again to get her attention. She looked up and met his gaze before speaking for the first time since she’d cried out the second time he’d slapped her. She didn’t know how long that had been but probably not as long ago as it had seemed.

“Not really.” She kept her tone as calm and bored as she could.

“Why not? Are you dreaming of what you’ll do when you get out of here? Let me assure you, you’re never getting out of here. I will never let you go.” Triumph clear in Phillip’s voice.

If she didn’t know that Corey was behind him. That Corey was already here to get her out, then it would have been far more intimidating than it was. Now though, knowing what he planned for her only made her stomach turn.

“Are you going to kill me?” Bonnie let her voice shake. It wasn’t that she was afraid of him, but that he made her sick. Not that he knew that.

“Maybe, eventually. For now though you’re mine and I will make sure you understand you’re never getting away, never leaving me. Maybe eventually I’ll let you move around the house, but not until you know your place.”

Her stomach churned and she wanted to vomit, but she swallowed several times.

“You need to pay attention now, because I’m going to tell you how things will be.” Phillip stood in front of her, his hands still on his hips as he glared down at her. “First, I have to punish you for running away. We also need to purify you because I’m certain you’ve slept with that filthy biker.” He skimmed his gaze down her body and back up, the look filled with disgust. “And I can’t touch you until you’ve been purified and been granted forgiveness.”

Forgiveness? There was no way she’d ask for his forgiveness, but she didn’t say that. Not now. Corey was sneaking up behind Phillip and she didn’t want to give him any reason to suspect anything had changed.

“You should start now.”

“Start?” She couldn’t keep the confusion from creeping into her tone.

“Start begging me to forgive you for slumming it with that biker.”

Bonnie opened her mouth, not sure what she would say, only that she wouldn’t be apologizing for the time she’d spent with Corey or asking Phillip to forgive her, but she was saved from having to say anything when Corey put an end to the charade.

He stepped up behind Phillip, touching his back with the muzzle of the pistol and speaking for the first time since she’d spotted him on the stairs.

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