Page 10 of His Asset
I followed him to a door that led to a room barely bigger than a recess, a shower and toilet squeezed inside it.He nodded toward a bathrobe hanging from yet another hook near the handrail and towel.“You can wear that tonight if you like.The towel is clean, I washed it this morning.”
“I’d love a shower,” I admitted in a small voice.Anything to get the feel of the men’s dirty, groping hands off me.Emptying my bladder was becoming a priority now too.
He nodded, his silver-blue eyes softening.“I’ll leave you to it.”
Half-an-hour later, I stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in Reuben’s bathrobe, his smoky amber scent clinging faintly to it.That my hair was a mess as it hung in rivulets down my back couldn’t be helped.I didn’t have my usual set of expensive brushes and combs to untangle the many knots.
Reuben was sprawled back in his two-seater sofa, but he immediately sensed me and looked up as I approached.
I smiled, self-conscious with his eyes trained on me.“I tossed my underwear in your laundry basket.”Adam had provided one in the bathroom at home for me.I froze.No!It wasn’t my home, it never had been!I cleared my throat, but my voice came out strained.“I hope that’s okay?”
He cocked his head to the side.“Of course it’s okay.That’s where the dirty clothes are meant to go.I have a cleaner who comes in every second day.She’ll take care of the laundry.”He gestured me closer.“I wasn’t thinking about your hair, allow me to brush it.”
I stared at him, overcome with a need to hightail out of there even as my legs brought me to him as if of their own volition.He didn’t deserve my mistrust, he’d done nothing but be nice to me.If it wasn’t for him I had no doubt I’d be back with Adam again, locked away and all too quickly falling victim to Stockholm syndrome.
Reuben placed a cushion on the floor between his thighs.“Sit.”
I did as he asked, hyper-aware of him behind me with my wings flattened as close against my back as possible.It was ridiculous how obedient he made me.I’d fought Adam every step of the way from the moment he’d brought me to his home.
Then Reuben lifted a brush—where had that come from?—and began working through the tangled ends before moving up to my scalp, gently untangling every frazzled strand.
It couldn’t be half as frazzled as my brain.I was beginning to relax and lean against him, my whole body becoming warm and heavy with contentment, my lashes fluttering as drowsiness crept in.
The brush clacked as he placed it on a little table next to the couch, making me jerk back to alertness.Then he stroked a gentle hand down the length of my hair, his touch making me shiver and yearn for more even as I stiffened knowing he was getting too close to touching the outline of my wings.
“Have you ever cut your hair?”he asked.
I nodded.I’d been six or seven when scientists had shaved all my hair off and stuck sensors to my bared scalp, measuring my brainwaves or whatever it was they’d done while they’d put me through various mental and physical tests.I’d never had it cut since.“Yes,” I said simply.The less he knew the better.
“It’s beautiful,” he said huskily.“You’rebeautiful.”
I swallowed hard, vacillating between warm delight and icy indignation.I ignored both as I pushed to my feet and turned to meet his lazy and faintly amused smile.I tugged the lapels of my borrowed bathrobe closer together, fidgety under his astute gaze.“Once my clothes are laundered I’ll be on my way.”
He pushed a hand over his clean-shaven jaw.“You’re welcome to stay.I think I’d quite like having you here.”
“Thank you, but—“
“Nobuts.Stay as long as you like.”He slapped his knees and pushed to his feet, towering over me.He’d be as tall as Adam?I frowned.I needed to forget about him.Fate had taken me to Reuben and his small, but safe abode.Sweeping a hand toward the back wall next to his television, he said, “You must be exhausted.”
I stared at his scraped, irritated knuckles, two of which were clearly swollen.He grinned and looked at me with a shrug.“It comes with the job.”
I had a sudden, innate impression of violence and I involuntarily stepped back, twisting my tender ankle and stumbling, my breath hissing.
He frowned, then crouched low, assessing my wound.
“You’ve been hurt.”His entire body stiffened.“Who did this to you?”He shook his head, the bulging veins in his corded neck showcasing barely repressed violence.“I’ll—“
“It’s nothing,” I cut in, almost desperately.I sensed he’d protect anyone he cared about, and though I was little more than a stranger to him, he’d taken me under his wing, inadvertently making me his responsibility.If only he knew I had wings of my own.I hid a wince.I’d bet he’d hate them.
I might look human, but it didn’t make me one.
His desire to protect me though, was all too real.Little did he know his hands would be a battered mess if he tried to hurt everyone who’d hurt me.
The thought of him confronting Adam made my stomach clench.I didn’t even want to imagine what might happen if they got into a fight.I’d seen Adam’s technique, he was a fighting machine.But going by Reuben’s scarred and swollen knuckles and the way the thugs deferred to him, he wasn’t exactly a pushover, either.
That I didn’t want to see Adam hurt made my tension spike.What the hell was wrong with me?I withheld a bitter laugh.Aside from my obvious genetics, I was clearly a textbook case of trauma bonding.Adam had been nothing short of my jailer.I’d been his asset, his most prized possession.I’d do well never to forget that.
“Whendidyou get this burn?”Reuben asked, his gaze assessing.“It looks recent, maybe a week or two ago?”