Page 211 of Brainwashed

“How should I know. This place is bizarre.” He removes the containers, the familiar smell making my mouth water like crazy.

“Don’t let me eat too fast, or I’ll get sick,” I plead, peering over his shoulder at all the deliciousness.

“It’s not my first day, Felix.” He grins at me. But then his eyes fall to my mouth, and it sort of slides off into this hungry snarl. “Fuck, I need to suck that lip until it’s black and blue.”

“Please,” I shiver.Seriously… fuck the food.

He shakes his head slowly, eyes still stuck on my lips. “Not until you’ve eaten.”

“Yes, sir, Dr. Want,” I growl.

He slips his finger into the waistband of my pants and tugs me until my hips are pressing into his. “Behave, Need.”

A desperate sound leaves me as I drop my forehead onto his shoulder for a second to compose myself.

“Eat, Felix,” he demands.

Even though there’s a chair, we decide to sit on the floor, because the rug is comfortable and it reminds us of when we ate our second meal together in my cell, after I won the blowjob bet. Lem even pulls two cans of Dr. Pepper out of the bag, and there’s no possible way he could know it’s my favorite.

But then he says, “Yes, Idoknow it’s your favorite. You mentioned it once when you were mindlessly rambling.”

I laugh out loud. “Rude. All my words are important.”

“That they are, baby.” He picks up a paper plate and scoops helpings of orange chicken and Chinese sausage fried rice—my other favorite—onto it.

He hands me the plate first before making one for himself, and I purse my lips to smother the grin of a person who shouldn’t possibly be this happy. “You’ve never been romantic like this for any other guy… right?”

“Baby, I’ve never been romantic like this withanyone.” He covers up a timid smirk.

But my stomach twists in delight. “Can I be the only…?” His eyes lift. “Youronly?”

“Felix, you are my only… Myeverything,” he says with certainty, then nods at the plate in my hands. “Eat, now. I won’t say it again.” My dick throbs at his growly command as I begin shoveling food into my mouth, and he adds, “Slowly.”

Remembering to pace myself, I take smaller bites, though it’s so delicious I feel like I might have a mini orgasm.

Lem says, “Good boy,” and I tremble while we both eat in comfortable silence…

For all of five minutes before he starts the conversation back up again. “Felix, I just need to tell you how sorry I am for leaving you the way I did.” I peek at him in between bites that are so good my toes are wiggling in my new bumblebee socks. “If I had even the slightest idea what would happen…” His voice trails and that same terrifying wrath I witnessed on his face earlier, right before he chopped a dude’s dong off, spirals inside his eyes.“I would have fought harder. I would have forced him to let me stay.”

I reach forward, placing my hand on his thigh to calm him. “It’s okay, baby. I’m resilient. I can endure a lot more than people assume.”

“That’s not the point,” he growls. “To walk into that room and see what he was doing to you…” My throat feels like it’s closing up for a second, but I swallow it down. “Death is too forgiving for him. So I’ll make sure he stays alive to suffer for the rest of his goddamn life for what he did. And I’ll figure out what to do about The Ivory…”

I blink rapidly over wide eyes. “Okay, but just remember, he owns this place.”

“I know,” he sighs, a bit defeated. “He has us by the balls.”

“I wouldn’t say that…”

His head slants. “What do you mean?”

“Think about it.” I grin at him. “The best way to earn a monster’s trust is to get on his side of the fence. And then you can climb inside his head and work your magic from there.” I take a bite. “It’sBeneficial Brainwashing101.”

He lets out a laugh that warms me all over. “You know, I can’t tell if giving you that book was a good thing or not.”

I chuckle. “Hey, you’re the one seducing a serial killer. I think by extension that makes you the sinister one.”

“Speaking of…” he says after swallowing his bite. “Can I tell you what I did? When I left…”