Page 34 of The Last Call
Nausea swirls in my stomach. Not just from my pounding headache. Two simple words that sound like an accusation. That reverberate with a threat I never expected. Making me question that the only belief I trusted in him could be a lie. “You hit me?”
The concern pinching his flushed face explodes from rage. The tightening grasp tangles his long fingers in my hair. Constricting my movements as well as my heart with the force. “I would never hit you Sydney. I would never put my hands on you in that way.”
Low and fierce, his tone leaves no ambiguity. Offers no uncertainty. Ensures no doubt. “Do you understand me?”
I slowly nod in agreement to all three of him floating in front of me. Unable to focus on anything except his intensity regardless of how hard I try. “Yes.”
Despite my agreement, the anger flooding his face grows fiercer. “My bodyguard fucked up in restraining you. But he learned very quickly and painfully the consequences for touching you. Now all my men know what will happen if they ever touch you.”
Presented as confirmation. As reassurance. Yet now he’s the one scaring the hell out of me. His thick, black hair tickles my freezing skin as he leans closer. His mouth warm on my ear. “Besides, the only person who gets to punish you for trying to leave me, is me.”
Impossible to keep up with his tornado of fluctuating emotions from protective to brutal to carnal in only a few seconds. Right now, I only have one feeling. “Try it, and you’ll be sorry you ever kidnapped me.”
Laughter shakes his broad body hovering over mine. “You never stop impressing me, lion. Broken and trapped, yet you still don’t give up.”
I hate the pride pumping through me from his approval. I shouldn’t give a damn what he thinks. Somehow I do. “I will never give up.”
“That’s why I want you.”
I can’t control the fire overtaking me. My own emotions of fear and fury fluctuating with my traitorous body responding to the huskiness of his voice. The need rasping in his tone. “That Julius.That’swhy I ran.”
“What?” Confusion softens his expression but not his grip. “You know I want to fuck you. I’ve never kept that a secret.”
Reminding me as if I’m the one who’s obtuse. As if a man’s transgression makes death acceptable. As if him wanting to discipline me and then fuck me is normal. “It’s just too much. You’re too much. All this killing and fighting. I can’t live like this.”
“You don’t have a choice.” An indifferent shrug dismissing my complaints. End of discussion, at least in his damaged mind. Final and closed to argument. “Fighting with you is fun, and, who I kill doesn’t concern you.”
“It concerns me if I’m with you!”
My eyes squeeze shut. Agony shooting through my skull from yelling and struggling and panicking. His grasp finally loosens from my pitiful whimper, and he gingerly strokes down my tangled strands. Offering more soothing words in his native tongue as his lips brush against mine in the softest caress. As if my distress upsets him too much to speak in English.
I lean into his hands. Finding strange comfort in the calming repetitive motion.
“Yeah, you’re with me.”
Again. How does he do this? Making me love the happiness in his tenor. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
Too much temptation from his silence. Wondering why he quit arguing. I can’t resist opening my eyes only to see the disappointment pooling in his.
“I thought we were past this.”
Frustration saturates his words, but the truth darkens his expression. I’ve hurt him. Disappointed him. Wounded him. Unfortunately, I have to keep doing it. “You were wrong thinking that. I don’t want to be with you.”
Pain flashes in his face. Disappearing so quickly I almost wonder if I imagined it in my groggy condition. But I know I didn’t. Although the exasperation replacing the sentiment is very clear.
“You can and you will.” His hold on me intensifies, squeezing me until my scalp tingles from the twist of my hair around his fist. “You have no other choice, and it’s not like you have a better option to go home to. No family or friends and a job spent on your back making everyone else happy but yourself is not the life for you.”
Cruel to me for the first time in his irritation. Or maybe it’s the reality of my situation that’s actually cruel. I don’t know how he’s figured me out so fast. I guess I’m more transparent than I realize. Which doesn’t make his accurate assessment sting any less. “I have Mack.”
His head shakes while he sneers from my assertion. “An employee doesn’t count.”
“He’s more than just an employee.”
I try to sound indignant yet fail. Mack’s so much more than that, which probably isn’t saying much since we only spend time together when we’re working. Uncertain if we would still be close without our jobs bringing us together. Damn Julius for making me realize how tenuous that relationship is too.
“You’ve built this fortress around yourself and refuse to let anyone inside. But I don’t care the reason why or that you don’t want me. I’m coming in whether you like it or not.”
Lying here in his huge bed, I feel as vulnerable as if I was naked while he stares down at me. Raw and exposed despite being fully clothed with the heavy blankets pulled up to my ribcage. His gaze sweeping across my face, studying the resistance I attempt to mount. “That’s ridiculous. I’m not keeping anyone out. I just like being alone. I’m independent. I’m…I’m free.”
