Page 36 of Pose for Me
“Will you be good for me, Lane?” he asks, his warm breath drifting over my face.
“Yes,” I whisper, my heart thudding under his attention.
He tips my chin up, and I meet his dark eyes and sinister smirk. “You’ll do what I say?”
“Please don’t make me kill anyone,” I whisper. While I need his attention like I need my next breath, I don’t want to cross that line. But if he asked, as long as he didn’t leave me again, I probably would.
His smile widens, but he shakes his head. “I’d never ask you to join me in my darkness, Agent. That’s not what I want you to do.”
“What do you want?”
“I want you to pose for me. Whenever I say. No matter what.”
“Will you hurt me?” I’m not sure if I mean physically or mentally.
He chuckles darkly, and a shiver rolls down my spine. “Oh yes. But you’ll want it.”
I shake his finger from my chin and push away from him, even though my body craves his touch. “Ryell…are you going to kill me?”
He tilts his head as he studies me. “Do you want to die?”
“If you treat me how you’ve been doing, I think that would be the best option.”
His crooked grin has a lethal edge to it, and my body sways toward him.
No matter how much I shouldn’t or how wrong it is to want his attention, my fractured brain has latched onto him. Ryell is the only person that can put me back together. I don’t know what that says about my life expectancy, but I don’t care. As long as Ryell is talking to me and seeing me, I don’t give a fuck.
“I won’t kill you, Agent,” he says. “I’ve grown fond of you, actually.”
“Can you feel anything for anyone?” I ask, some of my fire coming back, though it’s only that one slip. More than needling him, I genuinely want to know.
He laughs and holds his hand out to me. I take it before I even knew I was moving. “Yes. Deeply. I’ve never had anyone besides my brother around to feel anything for, though.”
My brain gobbles up that tiny morsel of personal information, since I’m not sure if he’ll share more. “You have a brother? Is he older or younger?”
“Older.” Ryell walks me to the bathroom and sets me on the chair that he occupied when I was in here last. I shiver, thinking about how he didn’t glance in my direction when I was in the bathtub, how he pretended I wasn’t even there. He’s giving me attention now, but the memories send fear through my veins. He could do it again. He’s capable of fucking breaking me further by not giving me any consideration.
“Brush your teeth while I run you a bath,” Ryell orders.
Cheeks flushed with embarrassment, I hurry over to the sink and grab a new toothbrush and travel toothpaste from the basket. It’s odd that he has all this extra stuff. Did he really take care of other victims and lied to me about it?
I don’t know why that hurts, but it does. It makes me feel less special, like he’s doing something he’s done for other people.
My eyes are down on the toothbrush wrapped in plastic and the small box of travel toothpaste when Ryell steps up behind me. “You’re upset.” He didn’t frame it like a question, but I still nod. “Why?”
“You have…” I hold the supplies up so he can see. “This stuff in here. Where my cell is.”
Ryell is silent for a few seconds. I look up into the pressed metal mirror, but I can’t make out his face in the distorted surface. Is he mad?
“You think I had someone else here?” He laughs, the vibrations rumbling through my back. My cheeks flame, and I duck my head, tears pricking the corners of my eyes.
Wrapping an arm around me, pulling me more into him, he says, “I’m a dentist, Lane. I always have a surplus of supplies. This is just where I keep things.”
I gasp, an unknown feeling pass through me. “You’re telling me a lot of personal information. That means you’ll kill me when this is all over.”
“Or I’ll keep you.” He shrugs like either prospect will do. “For now, you’re safe.”
Swallowing hard, I nod, and Ryell lets me go. He moves back to the bathtub, turning the water off and I get busy cleaning my teeth. Like last time, it feels so good to have the minty flavor hit my tongue. My teeth are no longer fuzzy when I run my tongue across them, and I sigh in relief.
