Page 26 of Darkness of Mine

River nods at a glass on the bedside table. “Drink some water.”

“If I pick up that glass I won’t be drinking from it, I’ll be throwing it at your head. Tell me why you drugged me.”

“You wouldn’t have let me put you in here if you were awake.”

My eyes narrow. We’re in my old bedroom at the guys’ house. “Why wouldn’t I want to be in here?”

River raises a single brow. “You’re out of practice. You’re usually more aware of your surroundings.”

The little hairs on my neck spike and I do what I should have done as soon as I awoke, I take my eyes off River and look around the room.

I notice the window first. It used to open from the bottom, wide enough for me to slip out, but the whole window has been replaced with a single glass pane. There’s no catch anywhere, no way to open it.

“The glass is bullet proof,” River informs me.

My mouth has gone dry. “To keep others out or to keepmein?”

River doesn’t answer, but I follow his gaze to the bedroom door. Except it’s not a bedroom door anymore, it’s a fucking steel security door with no handle.

My heart trips in the worst way, my chest tightening. “What the fuck are you doing, River?”

“Keeping you here.”

I tear my gaze off the door and focus back on him. His jaw is set, a frightening lack of emotion on his face.

“You’re a flight risk," he states like it’s some mathematical equation, not him taking away my freedom.

I fling my hand in the air, brandishing the bracelet on my wrist. “And this wasn’t enough? Have you lost your mind?”

River stands up, adjusting the cuffs of his sleeves. “No, but I lost you and I won’t let that happen again.”

He walks over to the door and raps his knuckles against the metal.

I scramble off the bed, ready to slip out the second it opens, but my progress is halted when River spins around and I crash into his hold. His hand collars my throat and he walks me back to the bed.

I breathe through my nose, gripping his wrist as he continues to push me backwards, off balancing me until I land on the mattress.

The air rushes out of my lungs.

River leans over me, bringing his face inches from mine. Finally, I see a trace of emotion. Rage and lust swirl in his deep brown eyes. His gaze turns hooded as it drops to my parted lips and the hand around my throat flexes.

Apparently, anger doesn’t stop my core from tightening or my heartrate picking up. River’s scent surrounds me. Cedarwood and whisky like a drug to my head.

He runs his thumb up and down my neck and a slight moan slips from my lips. Two months is a long time and my body feels like an addict craving his touch.

“Don’t do this,” I whisper against his lips.

Metal clicks around my wrist. “It’s already done.”

River pulls away and I sit up, already knowing I’m going to find myself cuffed to one of the bars on the headboard. River was wrong though, I’m not out of practice and the knife I just picked from his pocket proves it.

River’s eyes drop to the blade as I flick it open. His lip ticks up. “Keep it. That way I can punish you when you’re tempted to use it.”

Every cell in my body vibrates with rage and I say the one word I never thought I would. “Melon.”

River freezes. The smirk disappears and pain cuts across his face for one sharp second before he closes his eyes. When he opens them again his voice is soft but firm. “I will not touch you again until you say I can but this,” he circles a finger around the room, “is to protect you. You can’t safeword your way out of here.”

A jagged, razor-edged stone sinks down to the pit of my stomach. I tilt my head, trying to figure out how River became this cold. This… unfeeling. “What happened to you?” I ask.