My heart beat wildly. I didn’t know how to take this news. I never heard of my father hitting a child with his car, but why would I if he got away with it? My mind was swirling, and I had no clue what to say or do.

Then, it hit me, and I backed up against the headboard. Dion’s eyes were on me, questioning what was happening.

“So, did you bring me here to kill me? Oh my God.” I put my hand over my mouth as tears fell from my eyes. I was slowly falling for my killer. It was bad enough that he kidnapped me, but to know he had planned to kill me made me sick to my stomach. I swallowed down the bile that rose up my throat.

Dion moved closer to me on the bed, and I wanted to back up but had nowhere to go.

“Pepper, I promise you I’m not going to kill you.”

I searched his face for sincerity, but I couldn’t determine anything. I wanted to believe him, but how could I? Was he just saying that to make me let my guard down again? An acheformed in my throat. I felt sorry for him for more than one reason, but I still wasn’t sure if he would kill me.

“Why am I here then?” I asked in a whisper.

Dion inhaled, then looked at me. He stopped trying to get closer to me, and for that, I was thankful. I needed space.

“You’re here because I wanted to get your father’s attention, and because I—” He stopped himself from saying something else.

“You what?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. I just need you to know that I would never hurt you.”

My gut told me that much was true, but there was still that part of me that couldn’t be sure. My gut never steered me wrong though. My father needed to be held accountable for what he did, but did he deserve to die? I couldn’t be the judge of that, and I couldn’t bring myself to ask Dion.

We shared similar traumas, and my father was at the center of it. This was too much, but at the same time, my heart constricted when I looked at the pain in Dion’s eyes.

Squaring my shoulders and sucking a deep breath, I crawled over to Dion and got into his lap. I straddled him with my legs wrapped around his back. I was a big girl, but he had no problem holding me up.

It felt like my heart played the percussion in my chest. I was surprised Dion couldn’t hear or feel it.

I leaned my forehead against his. “I’m so sorry.” Tears fell in rapid succession down my eyes. I cried for Dion and his family. I cried for myself and my uncle and cousin. I cried for all the people that my father might have caused pain to that I didn’t even know about.

Dion held on to me and rubbed my back as I cried. Every tear was filled with pain.

After some time passed, Dion lifted my chin with his finger and gazed into my eyes. Under different circumstances, I would have thought he loved me, but that couldn’t be right, not that it mattered. I just wanted to get lost in his eyes for a minute.

When his lips crashed into mine, I moaned. The kiss was urgent, and I could feel him hardening underneath me. Without breaking the kiss, I leaned back a little and reached for the waistband of his pants. I got my hand inside of his boxers, and his dick grew when I gave it a little squeeze.

“Shit.” Dion groaned against my lips, then stuck his tongue inside my mouth again.

Our kiss was sloppy and hungry as I stroked his dick. Sex wasn’t the answer to everything, but it was enough to make me forget everything for the moment.

Dion stood, with me still attached to him, turned, then placed me on the bed. It was a good thing I had one of the nightgowns on because he wasted no time pushing his pants down and roughly entered me. It didn’t hurt, but it was a little uncomfortable, but not enough for me to tell him to stop.

He fucked me hard, and I cried. I could feel his pain through every stroke. I was surprised he didn’t make me turn over like he did the first time. It was still rough, but the look in his eyes was passionate. He randomly kissed me on the lips, neck, and breasts.

The only noise was occasional grunts and moans.

By the time we were done, I fell right to sleep with dried up tears on my face. The last thing I remembered was Dion leaving the room.

Ididn’t expect things to get as heavy as they did when Pepper and I had breakfast. I didn’t know what made me tell her as much as I did, but it felt like I should tell her how her father was and why I had beef with him. I’d kept her locked up for a while and let my guard down a little each time we were around each other.

I felt like we hadn’t even touched the surface of things that were wrong in her life. She only mentioned how her father was the reason why she didn’t want to fall in love, but I wondered why. I had already heard about her father doing shit to her mom, but I wanted to ask her if he did something to her.

When I saw the fear in her eyes when I told her about what her dad did, the shit bothered me. The first time it happened, it kind of turned me on, but this time was different. I didn’t want her to be afraid of me. I still couldn’t figure out what I wanted from her, but fear was not it.

Since we had a breakthrough in whatever was happening between us, I figured I would get her out of the house for a bit. We weren’t going anywhere near the town, but she needed some air, and I hoped she would learn to trust me a little more. Iwasn’t ready to let her go, though, but maybe I could loosen up the reign a little.

After I left her in the room, I washed the dishes we used, took a shower, and left the house to get her some clothes to wear. She had the clothes she wore when I first snatched her, but other than that, she only had pajamas, and she couldn’t wear those on the back of my bike. The thought of how good she would look made me shift a little, but I had to focus.