Page 139 of Kai
I stalked back into the cabin and froze at the threshold.
Levine stood at the helm, soiled and almost naked. The plastic cuffs still hung around his wrists and ankles, but they were no longer connected. Cece’s Sig was in his hand, angled against her temple.
Chapter Forty-five
Cece
One moment, the merc was on the floor and semiconscious. In the next breath, I felt the gun I’d stowed in my back pocket slide out and the cold steel of its muzzle pressed against the side of my head. A strapping arm coiled around my waist. Levine’s loud breaths blustered over my shoulder, tainted by the rancid stench of his vomit.
He yanked me around, ripped my hands from the wheel, and slammed me down on the deck’s hard surface. The world went black. I must’ve lost consciousness for a moment. When I came to, a metallic taste flavored my mouth, and blood poured over my face from a gash burning along my hairline. The merc had tied my wrists so tightly that my fingers were already going numb. A glance showed me a firmly knotted nylon rope.
Shit, shit, shit.
My scalp stung when he wrapped his fingers around my hair and lifted me up by a fistful. Handling me as if I were a rag doll, he propped me on my feet, facing the sliders. The cool edge of metal alerted me that the Sig was still in play. He held me tight, bracing my back to his front.
“My dearest Cersi.” The filthy bastard nuzzled my ear even as the cabin whirled around me. “At last, you are where you belong. In my arms.” He dipped his face in my hair and took a deep inhale. “You smell so sexy, so… delectable.”
My heart stopped beating. I fought to still my wobbly knees, and blinking off the blood, tried to get my bearings. If only the cabin stopped spinning.
“Since the day you kicked my ass, I’ve been craving totouch you, to taste you.” The merc stuck out his tongue and licked the blood off the side of my cheek. “Yummy.” The psycho smacked his lips. “You’re pure iron and steel.”
“You’re disgusting,” I snapped. “You know that, right?”
“I’m gonna take such pleasure from you,” he whispered in my ear. “You’re strong. I won’t need no whores. You’ll last me a long time.”
My stomach dropped. Caught in the hold of a killer, my chances weren’t stellar. I’d fought him before. He was a beast, and this time, I didn’t have the benefit of surprising him. Despite his injuries, he was incredibly strong. He shoved me forward, then braced one hip against the galley’s counter to keep his balance in the roiling seas.
“How did you get free?” I demanded, loathing the breezy quality of my voice.
“I’m good.” Keeping the gun to my head, he lifted his other hand. He clutched Kai’s knife, the one I’d used to cut off his ties. Holding the Ka-Bar in his fist, he coiled his arm around my waist again. “I’mverygood.”
He’d taken advantage of Kai’s absence and the need for me to steer the boat. After I cut him free of the post, the piece of shit had somehow stolen the knife from me and bided his time. He must’ve cut off the cuffs while I focused on keeping the catamaran on course. One plastic cuff remained attached to his wrist. The other dangled from the same wrist, split in the middle.
Fuck the fucker. I felt like a brittle stick in his grip. Wishing I had his inhuman strength to snap my bonds, I tested the ropes. They dug into my wrists, but they didn’t give. The old fury boiled to the surface. I couldn’t give up now.
“I need to steer the boat.” With the gun against my head, I was hard-pressed to swallow. “If I don’t, we’ll sink.”
“We’ve got a little time.” He flicked his tongue, tasting myblood again.
I grimaced and yanked my face away from his. “Get away from me, you fucked-up son of a bitch!”
“We’re gonna get even closer, you and me.” With the gun, he forced my head to turn until I was looking into his wild eyes. “You won’t get away from me, Cersi, ever. I’m gonna live my dreams. We’re gonna spend a lot of time together.”
The cold that frosted my innards almost allowed my terror to take over, but I refused to yield to it. I knew how to fight. And fight I would, until I drew my last breath.
The glass door slid open.
No, no, no.
Kai paused mid-stride at the sliders. In a blur, he had his Glock aimed at the merc.
“Get out,” I warned. “Get out now!”
“Shut the fuck up.” The merc tightened his hold on me, then flashed Kai a red smirk, his teeth smeared with my blood. “Our roles have been reversed.”
“Cece?” Kai’s stare took in the gash in my hairline. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve been better.” I forced a smirk to my face. “Head wounds bleed a lot, but the worst part is that this motherfucker stinks of vomit, chlamydia, and gonorrhea.”
