Page 82 of Hide and Seek
She shakes her head and turns, stepping right into my arms and allowing me to hold her, and fuck, that’s exactly what I do, scooping her up into my chest. She locks her legs around my waist and knots her arms behind my neck, just allowing me to hold her, one hand around her back and the other in her hair.
“I’m sorry,” she cries. “I didn’t know this could happen.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” I tell her, letting out a sigh as I reluctantly place her on the bathroom counter and pull back just an inch, needing to take her in. “Are you okay?”
She shakes her head and grips the bottom of my shirt that she’s wearing, the very same one I put her in last night. She hesitates for just a moment before finally tightening her grip on the fabric and slowly lifting it over her ribs.
Horror blasts through me like a fucking bullet as I find blood smeared across her ribs and chest, and as I look a little closer,I can make out the shallow cuts. “The fuck happened, Harper?” I question, searching her broken stare. “What did he do to you?”
Her gaze falls away from mine, and she grabs the front of my shirt, her fingers digging into the fabric. “I was on the phone with Iz when he showed up. He was pissed. Said that I broke his rules.”
“Fuck.”
I grip the front of her thighs, my hands firmly squeezing as if needing to remind myself that she’s right here in front of me. A tear streaks down her face. “I thought he was going to kill me.”
I slam into her, my arms locking around her body as I cradle her against me, her face crushed against my chest as she holds me just as tight. “What happened?”
She sniffles against my shirt. “I tried to run, but he’s so fast. Like lightning. He just grabbed me and threw me down on the bed. He tied my ankles and wrists and climbed on top of me. He said I was his, and he was going to make sure I never forgot.”
She pulls back from me before lifting her shirt again. “That’s what this is. It spellsmine.”
The fuck?
I crouch down to get closer to her, my gaze roaming over the cuts, and as the blood continues trickling out of the wounds, I can start to make out the brutal letters.
It makes me fucking sick, and as I straighten back to my full height, I grip the counter on either side of her creamy thighs, my head dropped low between us. “This should never have happened. Not in my home,” I tell her, racking my brain for any sign that she was in danger, but coming up blank. Myhome security system was on and active just as it always is, but I haven’t had a single notification for somebody being on the property.
“There’s more,” she murmurs.
My head snaps straight back up, meeting her guilt-ridden stare, her blazing green eyes filled with unshed tears.
“I let him touch me,” she admits, the tears finally falling down her cheeks as her eyes fill with shame. “Is there something wrong with me? I was scared and disgusted. I felt like I had no choice, but when he touched me, I didn’t even try to push him away. I didn’t scream for help or try to get him off me. I just . . . I let him do it and . . . fuck, Knight. Even after everything, I still came.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you, doll. It makes you human.”
“But I’m terrified of him. Every time I see him, I become crippled by fear, but when he starts touching me, I can’t . . . I can’t tell him to stop. I shouldn’t want it like that, especially after everything that’s happened, but I do, even though I know at some point, it isn’t going to end like it did today. He’s going to kill me. I feel it in my bones, but there’s something about the fear that just . . . It excites me.”
I nod, not really understanding this, but I’m not about to tell her that she’s wrong for the way her body responds to the fear.
“Are you mad?” she finally asks, glancing up at me.
A stupid smile pulls at my lips. “Fucking furious,” I tell her. “But not with you. Him. You’re mine, and despite what I’ve told you, when it comes to this motherfucker, I don’t like to share. I’m going to kill him for putting his hands on you.”
She arches a brow. “My, oh my, Knight Slater. You’re gonna kill him, huh?” she teases. “That sounds awfully possessive of you. Might I remind you that you and I are—”
“Are what?” I challenge.
She visibly swallows, and I take her hips, scooting her right to the edge of the counter. “It’s just sex. Really amazing, burning-hot, might-die-without-it kind of sex. But it’s just sex.”
A smirk lifts the corners of my lips. “You fall into my bed every fucking chance you get,” I remind her, just in case she’s forgotten. “Your body trembles at my touch, and your eyes. Doll, your eyes are a window right into your fucking soul. This stopped being about sex a long time ago. Don’t try and play it down. This means something.”
She lifts that gaze, her eyes silently begging me not to push this. “And what if I’m not ready to admit that just yet?”
“Then I’ll give you all the time you need.”
“Shit,” she mutters. “I think I preferred it when you were a bossy asshole.”
“Don’t worry, I’m still that guy.”
