Page 14

Rachel

Shadows crept across the room as I watched the shift from afternoon, into evening, into night.

I made a game of it, taking small bets with myself to see when the shadows would completely engulf me.

I won.

It took three guesses, but I won.

Hey, I was tied to a chair, having been kidnapped by a literal mad man. I was taking any victory I could get.

Dante didn’t return, just like he swore he wouldn’t, but I hadn’t been clinging to that hope, anyway.

I had resigned myself to being tied to this chair all night.

Dante was a man of his word, especially if his word was the promise of cruelty.

He was punishing me for not playing along with the narrative he made up in his own head.

He had taken one look at me, and pretty much decided the script I would use for the rest of my entire life, and now that he wasn’t getting it…

well, the words “bitch fit” came to mind.

And yes, I realised I was judging him as much as he had judged me, but I had at least allowed myself a handful of interactions with him before I made my assessment.

He assumed I was a quiet little trad-wife because I wore a nice dress.

If I wasn’t in such a predicament, I’d laugh about that.

I’m sure even the likes of Rose West wore a nice fucking dress occasionally.

I twisted my wrists as much as the rope would allow, trying to alleviate some of the numbness that had taken over hours ago. At least the numbness distracted me from the pain in my ass from this hard seat. And the pain in my ass distracted me from the pangs of hunger.

I had been a fucking fool not to eat at the Greasy Spoon. This was my problem. I never trusted my instincts.

Instinct had warned me that I wouldn’t be returning to America, and instead of fortifying my body for the battle ahead, I’ve gone in with no armour, no weapons, and an empty fucking stomach.

Rachel for the win!

Well… that wasn’t strictly true. I had weapons, but I had played my hand too soon and used the first sharp object I had found on that stupid so-called self-defence keychain. What was a knife like that going to do to a man built like Dante? I’m surprised it even went in his stupid fucking thigh.

And of course, my twisted self was actually turned on by that. The fact that his thighs were so large and powerful, I was sat debating what size knife would be needed to penetrate skin.

I was no better than a man sometimes; I swear.

I looked out of the window and tried to determine what time it was. The moon was shining brightly on the carpet, so surely that meant it was fairly high in the sky. So that made it… around midnight, I suppose.

Yeah, good going. Since when did you become a fucking astronomer? You know as much about the moon as you do about Dante. In fact, you know Dante is an asshole, so you actually know more about him.

I flopped back in the chair with a thud and threw my head back, squeezing my eyes tightly as my body silently worked out the scream of frustration that had been building inside me.

I strained against the ropes, my body arching as my hair spilled down my back and I let out a silent scream.

When I opened my eyes again, I focused on the bed to the wall opposite me.

That fucking bed. It looked so warm and inviting, so unbelievably cosy. What I wouldn’t give to be asleep on that bed right now.

My stomach rumbled loudly, but I refused to acknowledge it. Mind over matter. I was stronger than a few stomach pains, and a bit of hunger would not kill me. I’d proven that many times in the past. However, the thirst just might.

And whilst I knew I was being dramatic, and I wasn’t at any risk of dying from thirst, my throat was dryer than the Sahara, and the fight with Dante earlier hadn’t helped matters.

I’d let him spit in my mouth all night right now, and it would be the most pleasurable thing in the world.

Twisted. But true.

An image came to me of my room with the Gellers, with its soft bed, as though I was sleeping on a cloud, and a bath as big as some cars I had seen. Fuck me, I loved that bath. I’d probably miss that the most.

I wondered for a moment what the Gellers were doing right now. I wondered if their flight had been delayed or if they were getting ready for landing. However, I quickly shut that thought out. The Gellers were dead to me from this moment on.

I had been the perfect employee for them, never once complaining or showing how tired I was. I earned every dollar they paid me.

Speaking of which, I had quite a bit saved up in my account. If I could figure out the exchange rates, I’d be able to work out exactly what I had, and how it would benefit me.

I also needed to have a conversation with Macbeth.

He was the one Dante assigned to giving Elizabeth an address for my belongings.

The sooner I had those, the sooner I could make a plan.

I couldn’t give a fuck about the clothes or the shoes.

I just wanted my documents. Or maybe I could sneak away one day and go to the bank.

Although, why should I have to sneak away? If Dante truly meant for me to be his old lady, I should be able to live a normal life, coming and going as I please. Having access to my own money and visiting a bank was hardly anything extreme or out of the ordinary.

But that was another day. Today, I was stuck here. Today, I had no chance of Dante allowing me to leave the room, never mind go to the bank or spend any money. I had pissed him off, and now I was paying the price.

Bit sensitive, really. What’s one little stab in the thigh between a man and his wannabe (on his behalf) old lady?

Just as I was beginning to feel a sense of hope, thick, loud patters of rain lashed against my window, making me groan out loud.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Hungry, thirsty, tired, and now I need to pee as well. This day was really proving to be up there with the best!

I must have drifted off, because I was vaguely aware that it was darker than it was before, but I was also pleasantly aware of the fact that I didn’t feel any lack of comfort – one of the benefits of sleep, it really does make you forget your woes.

I was also aware of the thing that had woken me from a lazy slumber, and that was the sound of the door clicking open.

Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway, I kept my eyes shut and focused on my other senses rather than straining my sight for, at best, a blurred shadow.

I could hear footprints padding across the floor, the sound of glass clinking against a plate.

I could smell the gravy, the potatoes, the juicy beef, and my mouth watered instantly.

Well, well, well, lucky me, and it’s not even my birthday.

Even in the darkness, even with my eyes shut, I felt a shadow creep over me; the air shifting as someone invaded my personal space.

“Oi!” snapped a voice I didn’t recognise, followed by them clicking their fingers in front of my face.

I opened my eyes slowly and tried to focus on the man – it wasn’t Dante, that much was immediately clear.

As much as I hated to admit it, Dante had a raw, animal magnetism that screamed to the woman in me.

This dude left me cold, whoever the fuck he was.

I blinked at him, staring hard at his face, trying to see if I recognised him from the crowd of bikers that had kidnapped me earlier.

“Like what you see?” He said with a laugh, his voice deep and gruff. Dante’s voice was sinful, almost like a verbal aphrodisiac. He was gruff on a primal level. This little prick was gruff, like a thirty a day chain smoker.

“Why? Do you want me to like what I see?”

He looked me up and down. “I’ve seen worse. You wouldn’t be a bad little thing to entertain for a while.”

“Helpless victim one of your kinks, is it? Get your kicks from seeing women at your mercy? What’s the matter, not man enough to get your own woman, so you hit on the ones your boss kidnaps? Score!”

“If I wanted you, trust me, it wouldn’t take much. I’ve yet to find a woman to say no.”

“Go on then,” I challenged.

He looked at me, not moving. He clearly hadn’t expected me to call his bluff. “What you waiting for?” I opened my legs and shuffled down in the chair until my ass was hanging off the edge. “Show me what you’ve got, big boy. I can’t wait to see your moves.”

“I—” he still didn’t move.

“I knew it,” I said with a smirk, closing my legs. “You’re all mouth, too scared of the boss man to even attempt it. I can see why your little club has such a scary reputation.” The way I said scary sounded more like “scawy”, and I knew from the sharp intake of breath that I had hit a nerve.

“Listen—”

“No, you listen,” I interrupted. “It’s dark, it's cold, and I literally cannot be fucked with your dick waving competition. I don’t care.

You win, you’re such a big manly man, all the girls definitely want such a strong man like you.

Now, can you just untie me, leave the dinner, and kindly fuck off out of here and leave me in peace? ”

“Oh, this dinner? This one right here?” He mocked, waving the plate under my nose.

“Really?” I said dryly, rolling my eyes at him. “I’m not about to beg.”

“If you want it, come and get it.”

Bastard.

“Keep it,” I attempted to shrug. “I can go a few more hours.”

“Is that right? Are you sure Dante will bring you anything else? Especially when I tell him how ungrateful you were,” he tutted, shaking his head at me. “He went out of his way to prepare this for you, and you’re not even going to be a good girl and play nice so I can feed you?”

“Really?” I breathed, looking up at him through my lashes.

“If that’s what you want.”

“Is that what you want? You want to feed me?” I asked with a girlish smile. “No-one has ever fed me before.”

“I think we might have just found your kink,” he grinned. “Told you. It’s as easy as pie. I know what girls like.”

“I stand mistaken. Come here.” I looked at him coyly and opened my mouth, waiting for him to feed me a bite. He came towards me, mashing foods together on the fork to give me a bite of everything. My mouth watered, sending a jolt of shock to my stomach, bringing it roaring to life.

I was going to regret this. It smelled so fucking good.

“Open up,” he said, bending down slightly and extending the fork towards me. “What does a good girl say?”

I giggled, squirming in the chair slightly.

He lowered the fork to my lips, and that’s when my right leg shot out and kicked the plate out of his hands, sending the contents spilling onto the carpet.

The plate shattered with the force of my kick, sounding like a bomb in the quiet room.

“I don’t know what good girls say, but this girl says fuck your dinner, fuck your weird obsession with age-play, and fuck you!

How’s that for ungrateful?” I spat at the food on the floor, taking great satisfaction in seeing some of the gravy had splashed onto his leg.

“Wait until Dante finds out about this!” He growled at me, twisting on his heel, and heading for the door.

“Oh, okay, Malfoy,” I called out after him, raising my voice as he opened the door. “You off to make fun of the Weasley boys next or…?” My voice trailed off with a laugh as he slammed the door behind him.

“Too easy,” I chuckled to myself, before my eyes landed back on the plate shining in the moonlight.

I strained my leg, stretching it as far as possible until my shoe was on top of one of the shards.

I gently scraped it under my foot, bringing it closer to me slowly but surely, until it was close enough for my foot to comfortably rest on top of it so I could kick it under my chair and slide it between both of my feet, covered by my shoes.

I’ll save that one for later.