Page 227 of Love Me in the Dark
“You need your breakfast. Get cleaned up and meet me in the kitchen.” He tossed the first collar at me. “Put that back on and be in position in ten minutes.”
He slammed the door on his way out of the room, leaving me to sit on the bed more confused than ever.
I was right. I knew I was right. I hadn’t recognized him without his glasses, and he’d definitely gotten more fit over the last eleven years, but I knew him.
I was being held captive by David, a boy who’d once saved my life.
What the actual fuck was going on?
9
David
I finished eatingand was washing my dish when the bedroom door finally creaked open. When I turned to put the plate in the drainer, I caught a glimpse of her crawling to her bowl I’d left at the foot of my chair.
She sat on her heels and used her fingers to feed herself the scrambled eggs. Eventually, I’d have to make her eat properly from her bowl, but I could give it another day.
The coffee maker gurgled as the last bit of the brew hit the pot and I snagged a cup. When I sat down at the table again, she finished the last bite of her breakfast and turned her face up to me. Her hair was wet still from the quick shower she’d taken. A small droplet slid over her shoulder and down her chest.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?” I offered the second cup I’d brought with me.
“Yes.” She started to pull the chair out nearest to her but stopped. “Can I?”
My brow raised. “Yeah. Just this once since it seems we have something to discuss.”
She climbed up into the chair and grabbed hold of the coffee.
“I wasn’t sure how you took it.” I pointed to the sugar bowl on the table. “I can get the cream if you want?”
“No. No. This is perfect. Thank you.” She took a slow sip and a gentle smile tugged at her lips. I watched the brew slip between those full lips and wondered what it would feel like to kiss them. Not some little peck, but a real kiss. One that made her understand that she belonged to me.
I jerked my gaze away from her. Thoughts like that would get me into trouble. Could get her hurt. She wasn’t mine. She couldn’t be mine. She’d been bought and paid for, and her true owner was going to collect her in just a few days.
“What happened to you?” Her voice was soft, concerned.
“What do you mean?” I sipped my coffee while watching her lips twist upward as she tried to find a delicate way to ask how I became the monster before her.
“You were different when I knew you.” She went the general statement route. Okay, we could dance around the bush a few times, if that’s what she wanted.
“That was over ten years ago, Gabby. People change.”
“Not this much.” She waved her hand at herself. “I mean, look at me.”
She’d put on her collar again, like I’d told her to. Her new behavior wasn’t genuine. A lot of girls tried this. They thought if they went along with me, behaved good, they’d find an opportunity to get away. Or they could endear themselves to me so much I wouldn’t want to let them go.
“I am looking at you.” I reached over and flicked the D ring on her collar. “You’re starting to come around.” I could play the same game.
Her look of repulsion hit me square in the chest, but I had to brush it off. My options were limited, and no matter how much the protector in me wanted to help her, I would not. I couldn’t. I was too fucking close to stop now. After her and the two new pups coming my way, I would be free.
“When I saw you at camp, you weren’t this guy.” She drudged up the past. The girls’ part of the camp was separated from the River Scouts’ side, but only with a log fence. Easily climbed.
“I was this guy; you just didn’t see him.” I finished my coffee.
“I don’t believe that.” She shook her head, looking at me with conviction. As though if she could just get me to tap into the boy I was all those years ago, the man I became would see the errors of his ways.
“You can believe whatever you want.” I took my cup to the coffee maker for a refill, slipping in a shot of whiskey from the bottle I kept nearby.
“That last summer you… you defended me. You protected me.” She stood up from the chair, her hands fisted at her sides, a fierceness blazing in her eyes.
