Page 96 of The Cruelest Chaos

He glances at me, but she pulls on his hand again. If she doesn’t let go of him, it is definitelynotgoing to be fuckingokay.

“It’s okay, Con.” She nods toward me. “He’s a friend.”

Connor’s green eyes widen as he twists around to look at me like I’m the monster here.

“I’m going to talk to him, alright?”

Connor looks back at Ella, and they’re still fucking holding hands.

“I’ll see you next week,” Ella promises. And then her gaze shifts to me, and she stands on her tiptoes and kisses this motherfucker on the cheek.

“Ella.”

She smirks at me over his shoulder. “Coming,Mavy.”

He doesn’t speak on the drive home.

Doesn’t say a word as he carries me upstairs to his room.

I don’t try to explain myself. I have nothing to explain. He won’t tell me why the pretty girl was in his basement, and she didn’t say a damn word to me as she ran up the stairs and out of the house.

I don’t know where she went.

I don’t how long she was there. She was well taken care of, it seemed. A bed. A desk. A bathroom. It was like an apartment down there, and part of me thought she was renting it from him.

Part of me still wants to think that, because nothing else makes sense. But his reaction to her being gone?

I don’t think about it.

And when he cuffs me to his bed, both wrists to the poles of the headboard, I think we’re going to play a game. I think I wished he’d let me shower first, but I guess he’s not feeling so merciful.

His body is on top of mine, knees on the mattress as he straddles me and pulls back, slipping the key into the back pocket of his black, ripped jeans. “You can scream if you want,” he tells me with a wicked smirk on his face, “but no one is going to save you, Ella.”

I don’t give him the satisfaction of answering.

He leans down close to me, his hands framing my body on the mattress. He runs his lips over my mouth, tasting me, but not kissing me.

“You’re not going to leave here until I tell you that you can leave, Ella.” He tugs at my bottom lip with his teeth and I close my eyes. He laughs against my face. “Because tonight, I want to remind you who you belong to.” There’s a promise in his words that makes me feel sick, but I don’t say a word.

I just wait for his punishment.

But instead of doing anything at all to me, he gets off and walks out, closing the door behind him.

I yank against the chains. “Maverick!” I yell after him. “What the fuck are you doing?” I yank harder, the rattling growing louder, and I know he hears me.

He hears me, and he does nothing.

I need to get out of here. The last time I was in cuffs…

The last time I was chained up, left alone, my mother didn’t come back for hours. Nearly a full day.

My heart lodges itself in my throat.

When he was in here, it was okay. But he’s gone, and I don’t know how long he’s going to make me wait.

Panic sets in. I need to explain to him. I need to tell him why he can’t do this. I need to end this war. I don’t care that he won’t tell me what I want: about his brother, the girl in the basement, his job, his friends. I’ll tell him everything.

I’ll give him anything.