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Glancing to the left, I was glad to see that someone had at least had the decency to take the bodies away.

I leaned forward to stretch and every muscle in my body screamed in protest; I was so sore, it even hurt to flex my toes.

I was okay, though. I’d been in worse pain when he found me the first time and saved me from becoming someone’s dinner.

Romero shifted and rose back up to his full height. I stared at his shiny black boots, taking my time to appreciate what I’d been missing as my eyes drifted up his body. He had on dark jeans that hugged his amazing ass, and a dark shirt covering all his beautiful tattoos.

When I got to his face, I was greeted with a smug as fuck grin. “That’s just a preview. If you’re an extra good girl, I’ll let you have a private showing.”

I scoffed to hide a smile as if I didn’t know every inch of him by heart.

“Are you going to get these off me?” I lifted my wrists up, shaking the chains.

His hand reached down and took hold of the rusted links on the left. He gave a gentle tug but made no effort to remove them.

“You’re good for my ego. This whole damsel in distress thing you have going on almost makes me feel like a hero.”

So, we were jumping right back into it were we? I huffed out an annoyed breath and told myself to count to ten.

I couldn’t make it past zero.

“I’m not a fucking damsel, asshole! I wouldn’t even be in this situation if it wasn’t for you, so just take the goddamn chains off and I can go.”

He immediately dropped the links and stepped back, crossing his arms. Ugh. It should have been a sin to be so damn gorgeous. “You shouldn’t talk like tha

t, babe. It’s unbecoming of a lady. And don’t you mean so we can go?”

I ground my teeth and glared up at him.

Goddamn it.

“What do you want from me now?”

“Not much.” He smirked, and I knew whatever came out of his mouth next was going to piss me off more than he just had.

“You don’t have to do anything drastic, like thank me for saving your ungrateful ass again. Just admit that you need me, and this can all go away.”

I did need him. I needed him to feed the addict in me. I needed him to fill the bottomless void inside me so I could feel whole again. We were tied together from the second we met.

He was already aware of all this. The fucker just wanted to hear me admit it aloud. Was I going to? Hell no. I was stubborn, and didn’t appreciate ultimatums.

“Go fuck yourself.”

The grin he gave me was full of devilry. He laughed and took hold of my chin, forcing me to maintain eye contact. “Not only is she a fucking idiot, but she’s mouthy, too? Huh.

Guess I shouldn’t be surprised, though. All that beauty and no brains,” he sighed with forced exasperation.

It was almost verbatim of what he’d said when we first met.

He moved his hand, rubbing the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip. If my mouth didn’t hurt, I would have bitten him.

“Since you don’t need me, you shouldn’t have any problems breaking free,” he taunted. “I have to go handle something. You wait here.” He winked at me before walking off.

I was tied up. Where the hell was I going to go?

“Fucking asshole!” I called after him, getting a laugh in response.

CHAPTER TEN