Page 83 of Accidentally Mine
I wasn’t on house arrest, just unable to leave the GPS enforced boundary the ankle monitor determined.“I can’t leave the city.”
“The whole city of Boston?”he asked.“Good, then you’re coming home with me.”
I didn’t object.In fact, there was nowhere else in the whole world I’d rather have gone.“When did you start driving again?”
“The day the monster was taken out of the closet.We all have to overcome our fears sometime, right?”
Brent drove straight into the garage connected to his brownstone, and he walked me straight up to the floor where his master bedroom and bath were.
He pressed his lips to my forehead.“I’m sure you want to freshen up.”
I nodded.“Yes, please.”
“Bath?”he asked.
I sighed at the very thought.“That would be amazing.”
He opened up the double doors to his extravagant master bath with the huge tub—big enough to be a swimming pool—in front of a picture window overlooking the gardens.The city was slowly descending into night.The lights of the buildings around the Common were beginning to pop on.
He knelt in front of it, turning on the water for me.I stood in the door, watching as he swirled his hand in the water to check the temperature.“That thing at least water resistant?”he said.
I looked down at the ankle monitor and frowned.The little reminder of my biggest shame.As if I could ever forget.“I sure hope so.I don’t want to…I don’t know, electrocute myself.”
He came over to me, enveloping my cheeks in both hands, kissed my forehead, and said, “Hey.It’s okay.”
I nodded.Being out on bail for a crime was awesome compared to where I could’ve been.I suppressed a shudder, thinking of what Anthony would’ve done to me had Brent not gotten the police to the trailer and burst through the door.Right now, I could’ve been in Anthony’s home.His prisoner.Or in the coroner’s office, destined for the grave.
Instead, I was staring into the eyes of the man I was falling in love with, who showed me that I came first in every little thing he did.
I pointed to the picture window.“Are you an exhibitionist?”
Releasing me, he pressed a button on the wall that made the blinds slide closed, then motioned me forward, to an electric panel beside the tub.“You can press this button if you want to open the blinds once you’re in the tub.This one starts the whirlpool action.Press this one to adjust the jets.This button controls the heat.This one starts a fan.And this one dims the lights in the room.”
I stared at it, only half-listening.I wouldn’t use any of those.“Which one launches it into space?”
He laughed, then adjusted the lighting, turning off the lights except for two sconces, which glowed with an almost real looking orange flicker of candlelight.It was so relaxing, I yawned.
He went to the door, opened it, and said, “Good?”
I nodded.“Amazing,” I murmured.How did a criminal such as myself deserve such treatment?
He reached out and tweaked my side.“Take your time.As long as you want.Holler if you need anything.”
Him.I needed him.I imagined myself sliding into the tub across from him, into the sea of bubbles that was rapidly piling up.I would rest my bare feet on his big, broad chest as he stroked my legs under the water, those callused fingers teasing their way up my body.
But I couldn’t bring myself to ask him to stay.
Besides, we’d been through so much in the last two days.He was probably exhausted, and I let him go when he stepped out into the hall and closed the door.
Now, at least, I would have more time with him.More time to get to know him, to ease into this.Whatever it was.
At least, until sentencing, when I might be taken away from him for who knew how long.
Unzipping my dress, I let it fall to the floor and stepped out of it.I pulled off my underwear and turned to look at myself in the mirror.The bruises on my legs and arms, from where Anthony had manhandled me, were popping out—a nasty dark purplish-black color.
I smiled when I realized they would be the last bruises I ever sustained at Anthony Markin’s hands.
I turned off the water, stepped inside the tub with one leg and lowered myself in, propping the leg with extra jewelry on the edge of the tub.Scooping water over my body, I found soap, lathered, and washed.I dunked my head, scrubbed shampoo through it, and rinsed Anthony’s touch from my body forever.When I finally felt clean, I laid back against the smooth porcelain, took a washcloth from the edge of the tub, and draped it over my eyes.
