Page 50 of CHASE: Captive to the Dark

“You have to stop,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t want this anymore.”

“You lie. You were coming in my mouth only hours ago. You gave yourself to me. I told you when you did, there was no taking it back. You agreed.”

“No.” The fighting began in earnest and I let my teeth sink into the exposed part of her shoulder. It was enough to have her crying and calming the smallest amount.

“I’ll tell you what.” I rose a little, wrestling her arms down as she began to try to swing again. “One kiss and I’ll gift you something.”

The anger flickered while she got quiet.

“Remember, you may or may not like it, but the choice is yours. If you even think about acting out on this and doing something to injure me in any way...” I left the threat open. She’d come up with her own scary scenarios.

I lifted, allowing her to rise to a sitting position.

“One kiss. That’s all.”

The back of her hand wiped over her nose and she shook her head, giving me a look that had me gritting my teeth. She’d mentioned disgust and that’s exactly what it was. I rose higher, returning the hard look. I wasn’t going to budge and she was only making this more of a challenge. One I wanted to destroy.

“No.”

“Alright.” I reached for the sandwich, placing it before her. “Before you even think about not eating, know that if you don’t, we’ll return to what we were just doing. If you want to save yourself some time, you’ll eat the damn thing.”

The rebellion was there. I had no doubt she wanted to chuck the food across the room and tell me to fuck off, but she didn’t. Her eyebrow rose and she brought it up, taking the tiniest bite known to man. The time she spent chewing could have set a Guinness record. Minutes went by, then half an hour. Then, longer. I looked at my watch, yawning, as she took the last bite. Fear was already returning to her eyes as she looked around nervously.

“I’m going to uncuff you so you can go to the restroom and get a drink. Since you decided you didn’t want the gift, you get no shower tonight.”

Hesitantly, Kit reached over and unbuckled the cuff still restraining one of her hands. As I stood, I reached forward, pulling her to stand. A cry sounded and she would have fell had I not already been holding her. I sat her on the bed, pulling up the hem of her jeans. New bruising left her ankle and the top of her foot covered with a deep shade of purple.

“I should spank your ass black and blue for hurting yourself even more. I bet you anything you re-sprained it.”

“I did not, I’m fine.” She stood, taking a step before her ankle gave way.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. When are you going to realize that maybe listening to me isn’t such a bad idea?”

Kit’s face snapped up. “Oh, I’ve done plenty of listening to you. Did it ever cross your mind that maybe I just don’t like what I hear?”

“Is this about the sheriff again? Let it go. You don’t understand.”

I reached down, scooping Kit up, and heading for the stairs. When I burst through the door, Palo’s head jerked up to peer over the back of the sectional. His attention went to her, like it mostly always did.

“Get me an icepack ready.”

“Icepack?” Palo stood, glancing at her foot before cursing under his breath. “That just happen?”

“Pretty much.” I continued up the stairs, not stopping until we were right outside the restroom. Shifting in my arms had me looking down, but I didn’t place her on the ground. I opened the door, sitting her on the counter to look at me.

“You’re not staying in here,” Kit blurted out.

“Are you telling me what to do, little one?”

Pink was creeping into her cheeks. In swift movements, her stare met mine, only to break away.

“I’d like privacy. It’s the least you could do after everything.”

“The least? I do believe you should be thanking me. Do you really think you’d be alive right now if not for me? Do you not remember the dead body that was just lying on the floor? Jonas wasn’t after just me, Kit. If anything, he had orders to kill us both. Orders, as one of the sheriff’s deputies, he wouldn’t have been able to pass up. He wanted to kill us and I stopped him from succeeding.”

The color from her cheeks faded, masked with a paleness as all the color seemed to drain from her face. “You can’t be sure of that,” she breathed out. “He could have been after you. Your…past. It could have been just you.”

My head shook and her eyes met mine.

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