Page 66 of Twisted Obsession

33

Regina

My body froze at the sound of the elevator doors sliding open. Our gazes met and locked the moment Ansel came into view. I was up and off the couch when my gaze fell on the small splatters of blood on his shirt, hoping it wasn’t his.

“Are you okay?” I questioned, putting what I’d seen in his closet on the backburner. Besides, I’d seen what he’d done to my uncles and cousins on their last mission, so I knew he had a stash of weapons somewhere. I just didn’t expect him to have a well-stocked armory.

“I’m fine. I should be asking you that question,” he stated, the crease of concern in his face deepening. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you last night, did I?”

What in the heck is he talking about?

“I’m fine,” I answered, confused. Was he throwing me off on purpose?

I didn’t chase after him when he bypassed me and headed towards his bedroom. My mind was so conflicted about Ansel that I didn’t know what to do. I flopped down on the couch, and like I always did when stressed, I bit what was left of my nails.

It wasn’t until Ansel was out of my sight that I comprehended what I’d done. I should have been inquiring about the arsenal of weapons in his closet, yet the first thing that concerned me was his well-being. What was wrong with me? Was I doomed to only care about the most dangerous men?

First, it was my father. I had no idea how many people my father had killed throughout his life, yet I loved him as much as any daughter could love her father. Then there was August. Even after he divulged information about the countless men he’d killed and tortured, I cared about him enough to take care of him and killed to keep him from being discovered.

Now, there was Ansel. Was he killing people for sport? Even with that horrible idea in my brain, I still cared about him. Maybe I was the sick one. Maybe I was the worst of any of them.

Ansel’s footsteps drew me away from my conflicting notions. He sat on the couch beside me, with a fresh and soapy scent wafting off of him. He’d brought my medical bag and sat it on the table in front of him. There was no visible damage to his body, but I was willing to fix whatever he needed me to.

“Can I ask you something, Ansel?”

“Yes, what’s up?” he asked as he started rifling through the medical bag.

I decided on the simplest and most nonconfrontational question first.

“Why would you think that you’d hurt me?”

He sat the medical bag next to him on the couch and placed his hands under my wrist and lifted them. He leveled my wrist and hands near our eye level. “Because of this shit. I promised you at least your well-being. Marks and bruises are going to happen, but I try to never break the skin and you didn’t ask for this.”

My wrists were red and raw from being cuffed, but I was fine.

“Shit!” he cursed as he removed a few items from the bag. He took my first wrist with delicate ease and started rubbing triple antibiotic ointment into it. I sat and observed. He took care of me to a level that didn’t match what I’d started to believe about him.

“Are you going to leave me too?” he questioned. The anger inflected in his voice wasn’t missed. “When Aaron comes for you in three days. Are–you–leaving?”

He demanded an answer. What in the heck was he talking about? I ignored his angry tone and questions.

“Ansel, a few hours ago I stumbled upon an arsenal of weapons in your closet large enough to wage war on a small country. Half my mind is telling me that you’re hurting or killing people for reasons I don’t understand. Even after all that, the idea of leaving you didn’t cross my mind until you mentioned it.”

Stunned disbelief rose to the surface of his face before he captured my gaze and stilled me with his stern expression.

“If I hadn’t gotten that call last night, I may have taken things too far with you. I break women. I suppose that’s what I do. It’s never been my intention, but they all eventually leave and don’t return. I don’t want to break you, Regina.”

There was more going on here than he’d said. “I don’t want to be broken. My family has done enough of that already. You’ve seen me naked. You’ve seen the scars I’ve tried to make disappear with cocoa butter and creams. My family has chipped away and taken pieces of me that I can never get back. As unconventional as our relationship is, Ansel, I don’t believe you’re going to break me.”

We sat in silence for a moment, allowing our thoughts to settle. Our conversation was all over the place, but I was patient enough to await answers and attempt to piece together an explanation.

He leaned back into the couch, his gaze never letting me go. “You think I kill people for sport?”

I shrugged. My heart thumped with an alarming force that caused the beat to rattle my chest cavity.

“I don’t know. But, I’m not blind, Ansel. You leave some nights and come back with blood all over you. And it doesn’t always have something to do with the men that are chasing me.”

He studied me like he was seeing the real me for the first time. Intrigue and a shot of something I couldn’t name flashed in his gaze.

---