Page 22 of CHASE: Captive to the Dark

“Your brother might show up at my door, but if he tries to come inside, he’ll be a dead man. Do you seriously think I’m going to release you to him after I know what he’s associated with? You’re smarter than that. Besides.” My stare dropped to her lips. “I know you don’t want to be mixed up with that. You’ll be safe here.”

“Please, call someone to help you, Father. This isn’t right and you know it. You can’t just kidnap someone because you think it’s for the best or because you want to keep them. What about me? What about what I want?”

To say I didn’t care what she wanted wasn’t entirely true. I wanted her to want to stay and I knew what I was doing wasn’t helping make it possible. But would anything I did change her mind? I didn’t think so. She would leave with him in a heartbeat, and then she’d be gone. What if something happened? Something I could have prevented?

Excuses. My points were valid, but it didn’t justify the fact that I wanted to do this anyway. And it was for my own greedy reasons.

“You’re not old enough to make these sort of decisions.”

“Excuse me?” Her head shook in disbelief and she tried wiggling me off.

“You heard me. Age is just a number. From what you’ve told me, you’re not responsible enough to make the decision, so I’ll do it for you. You stay, end of story. I’ll take care of you and you’ll follow my rules. You can finish school here and we’ll see what happens. In the meantime, you can tell me more about Rory until my memory comes back.”

Red tinted her face while she scowled at me. “I’ve already told you, I take care of myself. I have jobs to get back to. A place with all my stuff. I can’t just abandon it all so I can stay here because you say so.”

I was done arguing. My terms were out and they were final. Kit seemed to realize this as the minutes went by and I didn’t speak or move off her.

“You’re not going to get away with this.”

Maybe not. But I wasn’t going down without a fight. Let the police show up at my door and try forcefully removing her to go back with a criminal. They’d see getting to her wouldn’t be as easy as they imagined. Even if I had to hide her. It didn’t matter. Kit was staying.

“You’ve barely eaten a thing in the last three days. I’m going to go see what I can manage this time. You lay and think about how this is for the best.”

I rose, taking in her almost nude body. The white panties were so thin, it left little to imagination. She was perfect with her large breasts and curvy hips. I’d never seen anything so beautiful. Her body was a temple, and I was going to lose myself for hours worshipping every inch of it. But not yet. Maybe not for a while. That’s the part that had me the most conflicted. I wanted her, yes, but I didn’t mind dragging it out if this was how things would be.

“I don’t want food. I want you to set me free.” Her leg rose and I caught her shin as she tried to kick me away. All I could do was stare. There was such spark within her. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to feed the flame or extinguish it completely.

“Since you don’t know how to be grateful for this opportunity, I guess I’m just going to have to teach you a thing or two about manners.”

I held her leg as I reached for the cuff to fasten her good ankle. Pleas filled the room as I buckled her in.

“I’m sorry. Take it off. I won’t kick again.” Her body bucked while she twisted to try to move further away.

“Too bad. You’ll stay completely restrained until I say otherwise. When you learn to take orders, I’ll consider giving you a second chance. Second, and last. There are no third chances.”

“What happens, then? If I…mess up?”

I pushed from the bed.

“You don’t want to find out.”

“Maybe I do. Tell me…please?”

I turned, heading for the stairs. Her voice rang out behind me but I continued to the top. The moment I opened the door, hard knocking had me pausing. Anxiously, my stare darted down to the basement and then back toward the living area. Fuck. Had Rory really come? My teeth clenched at the thought.

The door slammed behind me as I headed for the entrance to my house. My legs grew heavier as I got closer and I scanned the surroundings. Gun. Yes, I needed a weapon.

I doubled back, racing up my stairs and into my bedroom. On impulse, I went to the closet. Something about it was different than a regular closet, but I didn’t have time to figure it out. A black case sat on the top and I opened it, pulling out a gun. I jogged back toward the pounding that continued to rattle the front door. Shouts began to register, but I couldn’t decipher the words through the thudding of my pulse.

The mag lowered to my hand and after seeing it was full, I slammed it up, jerking back the top to put a bullet in the chamber. The action came so natural that it made my mind foggy. Memories tried to break through, but nothing I could decipher.

“What do you want?” My yell was loud and I swallowed hard as I approached. My finger pushed in the code to unlock the alarm and I swung the door open, pulling back the hammer and raising the barrel right to the face of a stranger. But…he didn’t feel as though he were a stranger. My guard almost went down, but I held to the wall I put up with everyone.

“Goddammit. You just don’t know how to stay out of trouble, do you?” The man swatted the barrel away and rushed past me, scanning the surroundings. The urge to grab him or tackle him down was there, but I grounded my feet while I watched his neck crane to the kitchen. “Where is she?”

My hand rose again and I pointed the gun back at him. “I don’t know who you are, but I think it’s about time you left my house.”

Brown hair swung to cover his eyes as he spun back to me, stiffening. “Fuck. You’re not pretending, are you?”

---