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I smiled, my voice cold.“Let’s send them a clear message so they know never to fuck with us again.Let’s take the motherfuckers out.”

Chapter Eleven

Gemma

Ihad no idea how longI stayed chained to Evander’s bed.It felt like days but I guessed it was no more than twelve to fifteen hours before I heard his car engine outside the cabin, followed by sudden silence, then theclunkof the driver’s door and his tread up onto the porch.

I was quivering by the time he unlocked the door and entered.I’d drank the plastic cup of water he’d left me not even a few hours after he’d gone and my mouth was as dry and sawdust even as my bladder was fuller than the Mississippi.

His presence seemed to suck the oxygen right out of the room and any scathing rebukes died on my tongue as I feasted my eyes on him.Even visibly exhausted he radiated power and charisma, his tall frame filling the doorway and his brilliant eyes seemingly pulling all my thoughts out of my head.

I tilted my chin, my voice cold.“Are you sure you couldn’t have taken any longer?I mean the cabin might have burned down with me in it while you were away, but I’m sure you thought of that in your contingency plans.”

He didn’t reply as he stalked toward me, then bent and unclicked my handcuff from the bedhead.“I presume you’d like to use the bathroom.”

“I was about to aim into the cup,” I said between gritted teeth.“If you’d taken any longer I wouldn’t have had any other option.”He straightened as I pushed onto my feet and shook out the all too familiar pins and needles in my arm.“I suppose you want to watch me pee again?”

“No.But Iwillleave the bathroom door open.”

“Thank goodness for small mercies,” I said even as I trotted to the bathroom and relieved myself a minute later.

I walked back out of the bathroom when I heard a distinctmeow.I blinked at the charcoal fluff-butt as he stalked from the kitchen toward me.“Rembrandt!”I gasped, my vision blurring.

I’d been doing everything possible to not think about him being alone in my apartment with his food running dry.Knowing he’d had enough water for at least three or four days had kept me from having a total breakdown.

I dropped to my knees as he trotted up to me, dragging him close and cuddling him.“I wassoworried about you,” I said, then looked into his unblinking stare and added, “I missed you!”

He meowed again, as though chastening me, before he pulled away and flicked his tail, going off to explore the cabin.

I looked up at the man who had a faint grin on his face.“You brought him back with you.”

It wasn’t a question, it was pretty obvious what he’d done.He nodded anyway.“I couldn’t have you hating me more than you already do.”

I looked away, my face heating.He didn’t need to know that my hate was intertwined too closely with lust and a scary amount of yearning for what we’d had.

“I also brought back some of your clothes and everything needed to continue your paintings.”