Page 49 of CHASE: Captive to the Dark

I didn’t wait around for him to continue. I hit the switch, flooding the room with light as I shut the door behind me. Silence filled the space and I headed down the stairs at a leisurely pace. It took everything I had, but I managed to keep my steps slow.

Kit lay on the bed at the other end, staring in my direction. Her eyes were red rimmed and slightly swollen from crying. The closer I got, the more I saw that although she was silent, the tears still flowed. My conscience immediately began to fire off excuses. Suggestions. They were worthless. I wasn’t letting her go, no matter how much I knew I should. I could let her free. Be a true guest in my house. Allow her freedom when I took care of the sheriff, but I wouldn’t.

“Dinner.”

Her head turned away.

“I’m not saying it again.”

“Get away from me, Father.”

The need to react was there. Instead, I placed the food on the table, taking a seat next to her. As I leaned over the top half of her body, placing my hand to rest just under her arm, she gave me a glance.

“You agreed you wanted this. There’s no going back.”

“That was before,” she yelled angrily.

“Before what?” My voice stayed calm, soothing, despite the offense I felt.

Kit turned away again, going quiet before she spun her head back to me. “Before you became even more of a monster. Take that collar off. You’re no priest. Offering your services to a woman whose husband you ordered to be murdered, who do you think you are? You can’t play God. You have no right!”

“And you know nothing,” I growled, reaching down to trap her to look at me. “Untold is out of control because of your brother and Jim. If I don’t smooth shit out now, the Feds will come in and gut this place. What do you think will happen then? How will the women take care of their families when their husbands are locked away? Do you think the decisions I make are easy? Do you think I am oblivious to the risk or consequences? I grew up in this town, Kit. Our ways are different. Abe taking the path he did may have been what he thought was best, but it put us in more jeopardy than ever. They expect me to come up with a solution. Me. I can’t escape this, nor can I ignore what needs to be done.”

I could see the confusion in her features. She had no idea what I was talking about or what any of this meant.

“I’m going to uncuff you so you can eat. Then I’m going to shower you. If you even think about doing something you shouldn’t—”

“You’ll what?”

The glare had my fingers tightening. “Try it and find out.”

I let go, reaching over and unbuckling the far cuff. As I went for the one closest to me, pain flared over my cheek from Kit’s fist. Her body spun to the side and her feet slammed right against my ribs. A cry came from her mouth and I knew she’d re-injured her ankle, but I couldn’t think past the beast inside of me. It wanted to hurt her, to fuck her back to the Kit she’d been before the intruder broke in. I was flipping her over and restraining her legs with my weight before I could stop myself.

Whack!

“You have a lot to learn, little girl.”

Whack! Whack! Whack!

A scream tore through the room and she sobbed, somehow twisting around and kicking at me again. For someone so small, she had a hell of a fight. It surprised me enough to make me question what I was doing. The old me, the one who’d become the priest wouldn’t have done this, no matter how big the temptation. So why was I now? I could have set her loose. Or made it easy on her. Treated her as a guest and not as mine, like I wanted. It had to be because I was adjusting. Yes, that had to be what I was doing. My guilt was battling the taste of what she’d given me and I wasn’t sure which was winning.

“Stop it,” I said between clenched teeth. “Just…stop.”

The crying got harder and I used more of my strength to subdue her underneath me. A heartbreaking sound left her lips and her chest shook heavily. I couldn’t think. Couldn’t grasp the situation. She’d wanted me. She said she had. But now that she had insight into who I was, she didn’t. And the truth was, technically, I couldn’t have her either.

“Just, stop,” I said quietly.

Fuck, my head was going to explode.

“Let me go, please.” The last was drawn out and I closed my eyes, lowering my head down to rest along the curve of her shoulder and neck. The act had her crying harder and I couldn’t stop myself from adjusting us so I could wrap my arms around her. A fist slammed into my back, only making me hold on tighter.

Was there a way to erase the past for good? If only I could forget what I knew now, lock away the evil that had been released from the cell in my mind. No. It was impossible. When it came to getting what I wanted, I had always found a way. The dangerous part was, my greed and possessive ways had never been aimed at a female.

“Get off me,” she roared, fighting against my hold. “I don’t want you to touch me. I want you to leave. I want you to…disappear and never come near me again. I hate you. You disgust me!” What she was trying to achieve was only stirring the opposite. My face moved more against her skin as I breathed in the exotic smell of the soap and I nearly moaned as her thigh slid against my cock. Just the action had me getting hard. Kit seemed to notice and stiffened.

“Keep going. Let me be the hate you harbor, the fear that lurks within you. Release your pain and frustration out against me and be free. It’s only when you’ve conquered what’s restricting you that you can truly submit. Empty your mind. Let me show you what I can do with it.”

My lips were already pressing against her skin, my tongue, dipping over the hollow of her throat while I drank her in.

---