Page 27 of The Devil After Dark
Why aren’t you wearing my present?
How did he know I wasn’t wearing the lingerie? Oh my gods I had been so stupid. He must have put cameras in my condo. The stalking and breaking in and the messages like he knew exactly where I was—of course he had put cameras in here. I looked around my room. Where would be the perfect place to put a camera? My eyes snagged on the curtain rod where it ended in the corner. That would give him a perfect view of my entire room. I marched over to the chair I kept across from the foot of my bed and dragged it to the corner of my room. Standing on my tiptoes I ran my fingers around the intricate curtain rod end.
A moment later I came up triumphant—a small rectangular box with a wire and what I assumed was a small microphone on the other end. The motherfucker had put a camera in my bedroom. He had probably recorded us too. His own private porn. I hopped down and went straight to my bathroom, running my fingersalong every nook and potential hiding place. I found nothing. Okay, maybe he was not sick enough to put a camera in the bathroom. That was … promising. With the one camera in hand I stormed to my kitchen and filled a mug with hot water, then I dropped the camera into it before starting to search my kitchen. Another camera was tucked into one of the vents. It went straight into the mug of water.
Next was my living room, where I found two cameras that, by their placement, probably gave a full view of the space. Then I found another in my hallway that clearly had a view of my front door as well as my guest bathroom door, guest bedroom door, and my very own bedroom door. Into the water they all went. Then I left the mug on the table next to the lingerie and stormed back to my bedroom.
My phone had three unread messages:
What are you doing, Angel?
Naughty girls get punished. Stop.
Angel.
The last message gave me a slight chill. It was like I could hear his voice saying the pet name he’d given me in warning. No. Fuck him. Cameras? How long had they been in here? Probably since the shooting. And he thinks some lingerie that is for his pleasure is an apology present? No. I couldn’t help myself as I furiously typed back and slammed my finger over the send button.
My name is Liana. Or you can call me Ms. Sutton if you prefer. Please contact my office if you would like to set up an appointment.
thirty-one
LIANA
I woke suddenly,like something had startled me awake, but my room was quiet. I rolled over and pulled the covers back over my shoulders. As I closed my eyes I felt the strange sensation someone was watching me. My heart skipped a beat. Cassio was probably here. I let my eyes slowly scan the room. The moonlight filtering through my curtains left my room with dark shadows.
“Can’t sleep?”
I yelped at the voice and sat up, pressing myself back against my headboard and pulling the covers up to cover my naked body. Sometimes he really startled me.
Cassio’s massive figure sat lazily in the chair across from my bed. I watched him roll his head, stretching his neck. I should scream. I should say something. I shoulddosomething.Anything. But I was just stuck, shaking and clutching the comforter like it was armor. I had felt so brave tonight drowning his cameras and sending a snarky message back. I watched him stand up and he slowly walked to theside of my bed. I just trembled like a fucking leaf. I was not feeling brave anymore.
A leather gloved hand caressed my cheek and raised my chin. I looked up at his masked face. Fucking Cassio. Cassio was in my house again. In my bedroom. With his fucking mask on. Even after I told him to fuck all the way off. “How do you get in here?” My voice was barely a whisper.
“Shh,” his thumb covered my lips, “The question is, why aren’t you wearing my present?” The lace lingerie dangled from his other hand in front of my face. I opened and closed my mouth like a fucking fish. No words came out. Cassio took the lace and trailed it across my collarbone and over my shoulder. Then in a quick movement, he had it wrapped around my neck.
His gloved hand covered my mouth as I screamed and clutched at the lace around my throat. He just held me there. “Are you done?” he finally asked. I merely nodded my head yes. “When I tell you to wear something for me, Angel, you fucking wear it.” I was shaking uncontrollably. “Tell me you understand.” He slid his gloved hand off my mouth.
“Are you going to kill me?” I whispered. Gloves and lace around my throat. I was definitely dying tonight.
He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. “Never, baby, but I told you before, naughty girls get punished.” A small sob left my mouth. Cassio stroked my hair back and lifted my chin back to him. “Shh, baby. I said punished, not hurt.”Punished?How was he going to punish me? Just the thought of all the things he could do had me nearly panicking … and at the same time, why did a small part of me love that he just kept coming back? That same small part of me was turned on by the anticipation and unknown of what Cassio could and would do to me now.
I still couldn’t find words as Cassio slowly pulled my comforter and sheets off me. Instinctively my hands raised to try and cover myself. Cassio knelt on the bed and moved my leg so he could movebetween my legs. I watched him slowly pull off his mask. Then he removed one of his gloves, followed by the other. His knee pressed up between my legs and one of his hands braced on the headboard as he leaned over me.
His other hand slid into my hair as his face dropped near mine. I breathed him in and felt the steadiness of his hands and saw the calm in his eyes. My eyes dropped to Cassio’s lips, then raised back to his eyes. “What are you going to do?” My voice shook as I asked him.
“Nothing you don’t want me to,” Cassio breathed. His lips pressed a kiss to the corner of mine, then another kiss gently over my lips. His teeth nipped at my bottom lip as his knee pressed against me.
My lips parted and accepted another kiss. Cassio’s hand pulled me closer as his kisses deepened. His tongue teased my mouth open and slid in to taste me. I let my tongue dance against his, my body instantly melting under him. I let my hands reach for his body and I grasped his shirt at his waist. Cassio pulled me up so I was sitting in front of him, his tongue still tasting my mouth.
I tugged on his shirt, lifting it up over his muscled stomach. Cassio’s hand released me for a moment as he tore his shirt over his head. Then he pulled me on top of his lap. I ran my hands along his muscled chest and down his sides, feeling the warmth of his skin. Any fear I had was now completely gone and only replaced with a growing need. I needed this man. I needed this crazy man who wouldn’t let me out of his grasp. The man who broke into my house again and again just to torment me. I had told him I was done, but in reality I needed to have him as badly as he needed to have me.
Cassio quickly pulled back from my lips and lifted me off him as he stood up. “Hands on the headboard, Angel.” His demeanor had changed so suddenly I didn’t move. I watched him take a deep breath and roll his neck and shoulders, then he dropped down to crouch in front of me. “Hands on the headboard or I will do it for you.”
“Then do it for me,” I leveled back. I was playingwith fire. He was clearly tightly wound tonight and I just could not help myself from pushing him further. I could see the thrill in his eyes. His control was slipping. I watched him tilt his head at me in warning and I slowly turned, crawling up my bed and placing my hands on the headboard in front of me. Cassio leaned over me and used black rope to tie my wrists and hands to the headboard. Then he left the bed. I heard his steps heading down the hall, away from me and towards the living room. “Cassio!” I called after him.Was he just going to tie me here and leave me?
I heard water running in my kitchen and sat down to look at the door. Footsteps paced my condo. Then suddenly they stopped. After what felt like minutes, I heard Cassio walking back towards the bedroom. He paused in the doorway, his large frame blocking out the lights from the rest of my condo. “Baby, I need you to know that I adore you,” Cassio said quietly. “And what I’m about to do to you is not going to seem like I adore you at all. Do you understand?”
“What?” I whimpered.Fuck.My heart was pounding in my chest. Maybe I had pushed him too far. I had trusted the man who stalked me and broke into my home at night to do terribly dirty things to me. Even after that I could not find a way to get rid of him.Why had I continued to be so stupid?
