Page 13 of Slash
The way her body had responded when he'd called herlittle girl.
She groaned and buried her face in the pillow. What the hell was wrong with her? She was a grown woman with responsibilities, not some romance novel heroine who melted at the first sign of a strong man.
Except she had melted, hadn't she? The moment Slash had used that tone of voice, every independent thought in her head had fled. She'd wanted nothing more than to let him handle everything while she curled up somewhere safe and let someone else make the hard decisions for once.
A soft knock on her door interrupted her self-flagellation.
"Nicole?" Slash’s voice, carefully modulated. "You awake?"
"Just barely," she called back, sitting up and running her hands through her hair. "Come in."
The door opened to reveal Slash carrying a steaming mug of coffee, and Nicole felt her heart do something complicated in her chest. Unlike her, he'd clearly been up for hours. His hair was damp from a shower, and he was wearing fresh jeans and a black t-shirt that clung to his broad chest in ways that made her mouth go dry.
"Figured you might need this," he said, offering her the mug. “I remembered from last night how you take your coffee.”
"You figured right. Thank you." Nicole accepted the coffee gratefully, inhaling the rich aroma. He’d made it exactly as she’d told him. "What time is it?"
"Little after nine. Kayleigh's been up for an hour, charming the hell out of everyone in the kitchen."
Nicole's maternal instincts kicked in immediately. She’d wrongly assumed from the silence coming from the room next to here that Kayleigh was still in bed. "I should?—"
"Should drink your coffee and wake up properly," Slash interrupted, settling into the chair by her window. "She's fine. Savannah's got her making some kind of art project with enough glitter to blind a small army."
Oh. Okay. She was with her aunt. Not causing ruckus and getting into danger. She sighed and settled back into the bed. The casual way he'd positioned himself, as if settling in for a longer conversation, made Nicole acutely aware that she was wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt and underwear. The bedsheet covered her legs, but she still felt exposed under his steady gaze.
"Did you need something?" she asked, taking a sip of coffee to cover her nerves.
"Need to talk to you about the situation. Got some updates from Dax this morning."
Nicole's stomach dropped. "Brock?"
"Still in lockup, which is good news. But his lawyer's making noise about bail, and our good friend Detective Dax Allard, thinks there's a chance a judge might grant it."
"Shit," Nicole whispered, setting down her coffee with shaking hands. "If he gets out, he’ll come looking for us. If he gets out?—"
"If he gets out, he still won't get near you," Slash said firmly. "But it means we need to be more careful. No leaving the compound without security. No contact with anyone from your old life until this is resolved."
"For how long?"
"As long as it takes."
Nicole laughed, but there was no humor in it. "So, I'm basically a prisoner."
"You're protected," Slash corrected, his voice hardening slightly. "There's a difference."
"Is there? Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like I've traded one form of control for another."
Slash was quiet for a long moment, studying her with those storm-gray eyes. "Is that what you think this is? Me trying to control you? Remember what I said last night? This is different."
"Is it?" Nicole challenged. "You make all the decisions about where I go, what I do, who I talk to. How is that different from?—"
She cut herself off, but the damage was done. She was lashing out because she was scared. Only one man had ever controlled her before. It’d started slow and turned into complete in a short period of time. She hadn’t recognized the signs. Now, now she knew. She knew how it started and what it could turn into.
Slash's expression had gone cold, the scar on his face standing out white against his suddenly pale skin.
"From him?" he finished quietly. "From the man who put those bruises on your body and made you afraid to sleep at night?"
Nicole flinched. "I didn't mean?—"
