Page 70 of Blindsided

I clear my throat. “Will you tell me about yourself? You know everything about me. I want to learn about you.”

He clambers onto the bed, wrapping an arm around my waist and tugging me close to his. The shiver that works through me is involuntary, but I don’t think he read it as revulsion.

“What do you want to know?”

“Where did you grow up?” The more questions I ask, the more information I’ll have to use against him. If I can hold back my disgust long enough, maybe I can use this knowledge to my advantage.Please, don’t let me fuck this up.

“In New York. My mom worked long hours, so I spent most of my time alone. I explored the city until I knew it like the back of my hand. Came in pretty handy.” His fingers trace imaginary lines on my stomach.

“What do you do for work?”

“Photography. But you already know that.” His smile is teasing, and I have to bite my tongue to stop my stomach from churning.

“Why did you leave me? That wasn’t nice.” His eyes flash with something dangerous, and his fingers dig painfully into my side.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to. My family forced me to go. They were scared.” It’s close enough to the truth that it comes out smoothly. I figure the less I lie, the less likely he’ll catch my act.

“They won’t keep us apart anymore. That, I can promise.” The threat in his words scares me almost more than his wandering hand.

I nod in acknowledgment. I have no hope of getting a word past my tightening throat.

“I’ve waited so long for this. You played hard to get, but I have to say, I enjoyed the chase. It’s good you finally came to your senses, though. I was starting to get annoyed with you.”

“I’m sorry.”

His hand moves down to my shorts, his intentions clear.

“Wait!” I panic.

He frowns. Anger at being stopped is clear on his face.

“I’m on my period. I… It would be a huge mess.” The words fly out of my mouth faster than I can think about them. It was the only thing I could think to say.

“I don’t mind a little blood, baby. Might make things more interesting.” He begins to unbutton my pants.

“But don’t you want our first time to be special? I want to be clean for you. If we try now, it won’t be right.” Desperation leaks through my voice, and I hope he interprets it as authenticity instead.

When he moves his hand away from my shorts with a sigh, my body relaxes. “You’re right. I want to take my time, and we have to leave early in the morning anyway. We should probably get some sleep.” He leans in to kiss me, and I do everything in my power not to cringe away from him. When his tongue laps into my mouth, I fight my desire to bite down on it.

He finally pulls away and walks out of the room, leaving the bedroom door open. I can see the living room and the kitchen from here, which tells me this apartment is on the smaller side. From what I can see, it’s well maintained, though, so I doubt it’s in a cheap area.

He returns and pulls out a neatly folded T-shirt from the dresser. Then he comes over to the bed and unhooks my cuff. “Come on. Let’s get ready for bed.”

We walk out of the bedroom and only go a few steps before he leads me to the bathroom. His grip on my arm is bruising. He’s prepared for me to attempt an escape, which means I haven’t done a good enough job of convincing him I want to be here. It’s not an easy thing to do.

Luckily, he lets me use the bathroom alone, and I take care of my business. I use the time to gather myself. My mental fortitude is starting to wane, and I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to be able to do this.

Once I’m as ready as I can be, I don the T-shirt, knowing he’d put it on me himself if I don’t. I do leave my shorts on, hoping he won’t notice since the shirt is long enough to go to my thighs.

He’s standing outside the door, waiting for me with a smile. He’s changed into a white T-shirt and pajama pants, and I pray he plans on keeping them on. He leads us back to the bedroom, and after cuffing me back to the headboard, he gets into bed behind me. His arm wraps around my middle, and his chest rubs against my back.

I can’t help the tears that begin to fall from my eyes.

How am I going to get out of this?

CHAPTER31

Matthew

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