Page 81 of The Taskmaster
“Your friendly neighbourhood stalker,” I replied, thankful that her nosey neighbour hadn’t come out and questioned why the lock guy was at her door again.
She opened the door and frowned at me. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?” I asked as I placed a kiss on her forehead and walked past her into her apartment.
“Be here whenever I... never mind.” She shook her head, then closed the door and turned to face me. “I could order in a pizza.”
“Or... I could take you to play the game I messaged you about.”
I took a step towards her, and her breaths came a little quicker. I loved those sexy little pants she did when she knew I’d gone into predator mode.
“The one where we take things up a notch,” I added, taking a step closer. I was towering over her, peering down at her doe eyes as she stared up at my devilish grin. “The one where I fuck you in a way you’ve never been fucked before.”
“Can’t we do that here?” she asked, her voice all breathy and sexy as fuck.
“No,” I said firmly, grabbing her coat off the back of the door and passing it to her. “My bike is downstairs. I’ll drive, and you... will fucking love it.” I kissed her again on the forehead, and she sighed, took a step to the side and opened the door.
Twenty minutes later, we were standing in my warehouse in the exact same spot that Peter Hipkiss, her alleyway attacker, had woken up in when I dragged his rapist ass off the street. Spotlights lit up the room, and the concrete walls made it look like a prison cell, but I leaned into her and whispered, “Don’t worry. I promise this’ll be more fun than it looks.”
It'd always pissed me off that I’d wasted that game on him, but thankfully, I’d thought of a new way to use it. The maze had been cleaned up, and all the glass and shit that might hurt a player had been removed. Now, it was a different kind of maze, and I couldn’t wait to play in it.
She glanced around and asked, “Where is this place?”
“It’s a warehouse I sometimes use.”
“I’m not sure I want to know what for after hearing the rules you live by.” She turned to face me. “Should I be scared?”
“Only if you want to be,” I replied, and then I moved back, leaving her standing in the middle of the room as I took the remote control from my pocket. “Welcome to my game,” I said, and a smirk spread across my face as excitement swarmed inside me. “In a moment, the lights will go out, and you will be left to play the game, relying solely on your senses. But first, we need to go over a few rules.”
“Here we go.” She narrowed her eyes at me and grinned. “You love your rules.”
“Rule One.” I lifted my chin, taking on my taskmaster persona as I told her, “You have to keep moving. This game won’t work if you stand still. Be brave. Trust me, and trust that I’ll look after you.”
“Okay,” she replied. “Is that it?”
“No. Rule number two, you have to do exactly what I say. I am in control. You are the cat and I’m the mouse.”
“Ooo, sounds sexy,” she quipped, and I nodded.
“It is.”
I let the seconds tick by to build anticipation, then hit her with my final rule. “And number three, when I catch you, I fuck you. It’s that simple.”
“So simple.” She lowered her head, peering at me through her lashes, biting her goddamn lip and teasing me. I fucking loved it.
I took slow steps towards her, then, when I was towering over her, I put my hands on her shoulders and spun her around to face the door.
I clicked the remote and the door opened.
“Are you ready?” I asked, whispering low in her ear.
“Born ready,” she replied, and I smiled, stepping away from her.
“Good.” I held the remote up and, in that moment, when I pressed the button and the lights went off, drowning us in darkness, I growled, “Run.”
On a table to the side, I had a pair of night vision goggles, amongst other things I wanted to use tonight, and I put the goggles on to give me the advantage I wanted. Then I started to laugh as I heard her gasping as she made her way down the first corridor away from me.
I stepped out of the room and peered down the hallway, just in time to see her turn left, her hands pressed against the concrete as she stumbled in the dark.
