Page 43 of Innocence
That’s when I froze, though freezing was not a strong enough description for what happened. Time slowed down as my muscles turned to stone. An anxious vacuum of oxygen sucked past me, stealing my breath, and I could literally feel my heart stop.
He was going to have me, and there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop him. Terror churned coldly in my gut, but it was the warm prideful feeling behind it that really scared me. Some small part of me was flattered that my captor wanted me that way. That anyone wanted me.
My eyes dropped down to his backside, watching it flex with his long strides. His black slacks moved against his hardened flesh like a dark wave washing on a shore.
Smooth, even and graceful. I might be able to hurt him–though I highly doubted it–but there was no question which one of us would win in a fight. A fact that was proven when I was tossed on the bed without so much as a grunt.
What little air my lungs managed to suck in, was violently expelled as I bounced on the mattress. I glanced up at the red canopy and shuffled back to the headboard. How many times had I prayed to see that color shining through the darkness?
I’d close my eyes and picture it fluttering above me. The one colorful thing in a void of nothing. Now, I’d give anything not to see the silky sea of blood hanging overhead.
“Are you going to beg now, Pet?” Enzo’s blue eyes snapped over to me as I pulled my knees up and hugged them. “Perhaps you’ll cry instead.”
My response was to whimper and push back against the headboard. How pathetic was that?
The corner of my captor’s mouth tipped up as he began unfastening his shirt buttons. Whatever courage I had, died a little more every time one of those silver circles popped through a hole.
Chills ran across my skin, driving my heartrate up. I couldn’t look away from his hands. Large, strong, and oddly graceful. One quick snap, and he was on to the next one.
I couldn’t help but wonder if he was really as chiselled as I thought? Surely I’d over-exaggerated it. No one could be that hard.
Then again, no one that evil should be that handsome.
What did that say about me? What kind of person found someone like him attractive at all? The thump, thump, thump, throbbing in my ears told me to look away, but my body didn’t listen.
Mom always said there was something wrong with me.
“Strip, Pet.” Enzo’s deep voice burned through my ears almost as hot as my own shame. “I want to look at you while I undress.”
Mortification crawled across my skin and down my chest, settling dread in the pit of my stomach. This scrap of fabric wasn’t much–it barely covered my butt–but it was all I had. Giving it up wasn’t an option. It was my only barrier.
“We’re going to have to work on your response time.”
Enzo popped open the last button and shrugged the fabric off his shoulders, which allowed me to drop my head and hide in the comfort of my knees. The only escape I had was in my mind, but he wouldn’t let me have that either.
He grabbed my ankles and yanked, pulling my knees out of my grasp. My back hit the bed, spurring me into action.
“No!” I squealed, kicking my feet.
That was about as useful as my objections. Enzo was on me in a flash, holding me down and straddling my hips. It took him less effort to pin my lower body, than it did for me to breathe.
I didn’t even get to knee him in the family jewels, and I tried. Aimed right for that spot as he crawled over me, and missed. Why? Because I was too busy staring at his bare chest.
It was so much worse than I’d imagined. There wasn’t an inch of fat on the toned flesh. Just hard ridges tauntingly flexing. I didn’t stand a chance. I don’t think anyone would.
The worst part was the black ink crawling down the left side. It wasn’t the tribal lines that drew my attention. It was the names mixed within. Five of them, all girls, and each had a date scrawled underneath. Except one.
Kya.
The things in the dark weren’t snarling monsters with red eyes. They were reapers waiting to take my soul, and the man who’d taken me was their master. All I could picture was my sister’s face, streaked with misery and despair.
What would she do alone? Who would she have left when I was gone? I said a silent apology to that sacred part of me I’d sworn to protect, and forced myself to touch him.
I flattened my palm on his warm chest and muttered, “I’ll be good.”
There was no way he couldn’t hear my heart, or at the very least feel me shaking. I could see my hand trembling on his skin.
“Will you?”
