Page 58 of Ruthless Keeper
It startles me so much I try to pull back, but Greyson doesn’t let me. He slides one hand into my hair, lowers the other to my neck—right over the thousands of dollars’ worth of diamonds he put there—and kisses me. Deeply, passionately, with no restraint. His tongue probes at my lips, and I allow it entry. It strokes against mine, a soft, soothing caress, and my entire body lights up—as if that’s the trigger my sex drive was waiting for before kicking into gear.
I wrap my arms around his shoulders, leaning into the kiss, marveling at the sensations it inspires inside me.Lust,I think, and arousal. Two things I assumed I’d never feel—I’ve been too broken.
But maybe the man who broke me is the only one who could unlock that side of me.
Greyson pulls back only when we’ve both been deprived of oxygen for so long that we’re at risk of passing out. He stares at me, eyes foggy, and shakes his head.
“Fuck, Scarlett,” he whispers. “I’d burn countries to the ground for a kiss like that. I’d give my life a thousand times for it.” He shakes his head. “If I survive this, I expect another kiss like that.”
“Okay,” I whisper, nodding.
“As touching as this is,” Cain says flatly, “I have a punishment to administer. Greyson, get your insolent ass to the annex.” He pauses. “We’ll see just how strong your love is—if it creates a will to survive what I’m about to do to you.”
My heart stutters. Cold flashes over my body.
“Monster…” I whisper. “Please don’t die.”
Monster gives me a grim smile. “I’ll do my fuckingbest, Flower.”
The annex is as cold, dark, and damp as I remember it. Each step into the building makes goosebumps break out across my skin, and a bone-deep chill of terror creates a fine tremble in my limbs.
“I think this should end where it all began, don’t you?” Cain asks, stopping in front of a cell. He punches in a code to unlock it, and when I glimpse the interior, it feels like the ground drops from beneath me. My breaths shorten into pants, sweat beads the back of my neck, and a scream rises in my throat.
“N-no…”
It’sthecell.
My torture cell.
The place I see in my nightmares, when I dream of what Cain did to me here.
I tug at my hand, trying to dislodge it from Greyson’s. “Not here,” I say. “Anywhere but here—”
“It’s amusing that you think you have a choice,” Cain snaps. “Likeeitherof you have a say. As far as I’m concerned, Greyson, you deserve a punishment for changing my course of action as much as you do for Scarlett’s sins.”
“Scarlett, it’ll be over soon,” Greyson says, gazing down at me with a strange softness in his gaze. “I promise, Flower, it’ll be over soon. Either way, the matter will be closed.”
“Yes, it will,” Cain mutters darkly. “Now get in thefuckingcell. Scarlett, sit your ass at the table. If you move even aninch, you’re getting the fifteen lashes you’re owed. Greyson…” Cain chuckles. “You won’t beableto move.”
I know I don’t have a choice, not really. I could try to run, but I wouldn’t get far. Besides, leaving Greyson right now would make me the worst sort of human.
I opened my big mouth, and it led us here. The veryleastI can do is stay by his side and help him heal from whatever terror Cain intends to inflict on him.
If he survives…
“I’ll let the two of you get situated,” Cain says. “I just need to grab my implements.”
He disappears down the hall. Greyson stares at me. “I’m sorry it has to be here, Flower, but that’s Cain.” His lips thin. “Cruelest motherfucker on this earth.”
“Pleasedon’t die,” I emphasize. “Please.”
“I won’t, Flower,” Grey says, leading me into the cell by my hand. “Nothing can take me from you. Not after that kiss.”
We pause in front of the table. I gaze at it, fear and something else warring inside of me. Fear takes precedence, but I can’t deny thatotherfeeling. The one that comes from the time Monster lifted me up on a replica of this table, strapped me to it, and did unspeakable things to me. He gave me unprecedented pleasure, even when I didn’t want it…
“Flower,” Monster breathes. “Think of the most recent experiences you had at a table like this. Not the ones that came before.”
I inhale several deep breaths, trying to temper my urge to run the fuck out of here. Monster is risking his life just to spare me pain—I can’t ignore that. I can’t run from that. I don’t know that I can run fromus,whatever we are.
