Page 25

ZOEY

T he bathroom smells like cheap soap and stale water, but I don’t care. I’m finally clean for the first time in…however long it’s been.

I watch the suds swirl down the drain, streaked with grime, blood, and God knows what else. They disappear like ghosts of everything I’ve endured.

The thin white tank top and short blue shorts I pull back on feel strange against my freshly scrubbed skin, as if I’ve stepped into someone else’s body.

One that isn’t covered in dirt, sweat, and dried blood.

Then I pause and pull the front of my shirt to my nose.

It’s clean. Did he have it cleaned while I was in the shower?

My damp hair clings to my neck, and the faintest hint of soap lingers in the air. An unfamiliar luxury in this hellhole. The real comfort, however, comes from the weight pressing against my ribs.

The knife that’s tucked into my bra presses cold against my skin.

My fingers brush against it from the outside of my shirt, and I take a deep breath to steady myself.

This isn’t over. I may be out of the cell, but I still have to get the others out of there, too.

Then we can all get the fuck out of this place.

I crack the bathroom door open and then freeze when voices drift through the connected bedroom.

“She’s mine, Avery.” Eugene’s voice is a furious snarl, the kind that sends an icy shiver racing down my spine. “You don’t get to take her out of her cell whenever you feel like it.”

Avery’s response is calm. That practiced, infuriating, bored tone that he’s perfected. “Relax, Eugene. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

Eugene’s boots scuff against the floor. He’s pacing. Frustrated.

Good.

“I don’t care if I’m embarrassing myself. You’ve overstepped. You let Wilkes get hurt because of her, at your instigation, no less, and now you’re parading her around like some kind of prize. She belongs to me.”

My stomach twists and I clench my fists.

I flinch when the tip of the knife knicks my skin and I readjust it in my bra.

Eugene’s words have possessiveness dripping from every syllable.

Then there’s a chuckle and my toes curl.

I’m horrified for a moment before I realize it came from Avery.

I’m startled at my body’s response to him, and a little disappointed.

My body betrays me, reacting to the sound like a live wire meeting water.

I hate that reaction, and I hate him. Apparently, my body hasn’t gotten the memo.

“Belongs to you?” Avery’s tone sharpens. His amusement is laced with something dangerous. “She doesn’t belong to anyone, Eugene. Least of all you.”

There’s a pause, and I Eugene bristling, with his face red and his fists clenched until his knuckles go white. Then his voice cuts through, still laced with fury. “What’s your endgame, Avery? Why are you even doing this?”

“My endgame?” Avery laughs, but it’s different this time. Low. Dark. Amused. “I’m having fun, Eugene. Something you clearly haven’t figured out how to do.” A beat of silence. Then, “Now get the fuck out of my sight before I lose my patience.”

“You work for me, Avery. Don’t you forget that.”

Boots stomp away. My pulse kicks up until it’s hammering against my ribs. Eugene is gone, for now. I should be relieved, but then Avery’s next words stop me cold before I can even shut the door. “You can come out now, Zoey.”

I grip the doorframe. My breath turns shallow as I will my heartbeat to slow down to a more manageable rhythm.

There’s no point in hiding. I hate that I don’t have a choice, that I’m always at the beck and call of someone else. I push open the door and step into the large bedroom. The floor is cold beneath my bare feet. When I get free, I’ll need to steal someone’s boots, like they stole mine.

Avery stands in the center of the large room. His hands rest in his pockets while he watches me, setting my core ablaze. His faint smile does things to my body that I really don’t want to acknowledge right now.

“Enjoy the show?” he asks, tilting his head.

I cross my arms and wince when the knife nicks my skin again. “Hard to enjoy anything with you two assholes yelling over who gets to treat me like property. Not to mention the fact that all you bozos keep stressing out poor Lola.”

The dog in question has come to curl up on the floor by my feet. It’s really telling that she’s taken to me, a prisoner she rarely sees, over her countless humans who do nothing but stress her out and add scars to her body.

Avery shakes his head with a chuckle. “Always so dramatic, firecracker. I’d argue that I’m the only one around here treating you like a person, but it’s good to see how you view things. ”

“Person?” I scoff and step closer. “You’re as bad as Eugene. The only different is you hide it better.”

His eyes glint with something unreadable flashing in them before he steps forward and closes the distance between us. “And yet, you’re still standing here, talking to me, and not bothering to reach for that knife in your bra.”

My breath hitches, which he notices. It pisses me off.

“Which brings us to the real question,” Avery muses.

I narrow my eyes. “What question?”

His body crowds mine. The heat coming off him is suffocating. I hate that I don’t back away like I should. Instead, I inhale the faint trace of his cologne. Probably the only man on earth who knows how much to put on. “Why fight so hard when you don’t have to?”

“What other choice is there?”

He rips the shirt over my head before I can blink.

I gasp and stumble back, but he catches me with one firm hand against my back, while his other hand rests along my ribs.

His thumb presses against my skin, right over the fresh cut where the knife bit me.

When he pulls back, his thumb is stained with red.

“You should really find a better hiding place for your weapons.”

Bastard.

I grab the knife and press it against his throat before I can blink, but he doesn’t even flinch. Doesn’t move. He merely lifts his thumb to his mouth and sucks the blood from it. Then he grins. What the fuck?

A thin streak of red smears across his bright white teeth. My blood. “There’s the fight. Go ahead. Do it.”

“You want me to cut your throat?”

“I want to see what you’re capable of.” When I don’t answer, his hand curls around my wrist, and he pulls the knife away like it’s nothing. “You fascinate me, firecracker.”

Then his mouth crashes against mine, and God help me, my body responds before my mind can catch up.

I melt against him. The heat of his body burns into mine.

His free hand slides around my waist and presses me closer.

His lips part, his tongue teases against my lower lip, and then I rip myself away.

His grin is lopsided, his breathing heavy, his lips smeared with the remnants of my blood. Jesus fucking Christ.

“What are you doing?”

His grin is lopsided. My gaze drops and I see the bulge straining against the gray sweatpants he changed into while I was in the shower. He doesn’t answer.

“What was your question?” I ask, forcing my voice to stay steady, which isn’t an easy feat. I force my gaze back up to meet his eyes.

Avery’s amusement deepens as he watches me closely. “You could stay by my side.” His tone is light, but his pale blue eyes are dark. “No more rotting in that cell. We can even put one in here if you prefer. No more Eugene. No more guys like Wilkes. Nothing but comfort, safety, and my protection.”

My chest tightens. “And the price?”

His smile is slow and deliberate. “Loyalty.” His fingers skim just beneath my waistband.

I swallow hard. “And if I say no?”

He tilts his head with a smirk. “Then you go back to your cell, and I continue to observe you from afar. Back to being a prisoner and fighting battles you can’t win. The choice is yours.”

I take a step back and brush my fingers against the knife handle. My voice rises. “You think this is a choice? Well, it’s not. No man will ever control me. Not you, not Eugene, not anyone.”

Avery tilts his head and watches me with calm amusement. “Bold words. Are you willing to back them up?”

I lift my chin high and raise the knife. It takes some effort, but I force my confidence to come through. “Stay back.”

His smile widens. “You intrigue me, firecracker. I’m not sure you would consider that a good thing.”

I take a step forward. The knife gleams in the light streaming in through the window. “I’m not afraid to use this. Your blood wouldn’t be the first I’ve spilled.”

Avery moves before I can blink. His hand shoots out to grab my wrist with a force that sends the knife clattering to the floor. Lola yelps and jumps back. Avery’s grip tightens enough to make my body still. His eyes lock onto mine.

“What do you want from me?” I squeak out.

“You really are something else.” His voice is low and almost…admiring. “No wonder they’re so protective of you.”

“They…” My brain becomes foggy.

He pushes me back and spins me around until my front presses against the window. Outside is freedom. The sun is bright, and all I have to do is open the hatch.

His hand covers mine, stopping the motion. His mouth rests close to my ear, and his breath warms my neck. “I could bring you out into the sunlight, but you choose to go back into the darkness with strangers you can’t even see.”

“I trust them.”

A door opens and Eugene steps inside. Wilkes is close behind and sporting a bandaged wrist. They’re deep in conversation and hardly notice us, if at all.

“You don’t trust me?” Avery pushes his hips forward until I feel his erection pressing against my ass.

“You confuse me,” I breathe out.

He bites my earlobe. When I don’t cry out, he licks away the sting and runs his tongue along the shell of my ear.

“I’ve come across many people, but no one quite like you, firecracker.

You’re right not to trust me. Nobody should.

I’m only out for my best interest. To both of our surprise, that happens to be you. ”

His chest presses against my back until my breasts are shoved up against the window. One hand slides around my waist until his fingers splay across my stomach. My breath hitches.

His breath is hot against my cheek. “You don’t seem to be at all bothered to be half-naked and sandwiched between me and the window. For some reason, I don’t think you’ll take this well if I was Eugene.”

“Like I said.” I swallow hard, but the lump is still painful in my throat. “You confuse me.”

His fingertips dip into my waistband, but he doesn’t go any further. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do. All you have to do is tell me to stop.” He presses his lips against the side of my neck, which sends a shiver through my body. “Do you want me to stop, firecracker?”

My mind whirls in its fight with my body. I want him to stop. It’ll be so much easier if he did, but I also want him to continue. My body aches for the touch. I open my mouth, but no words come out.

Then Eugene turns his head toward us and I’m spun around until my back slams against the solid wall with Avery in front of me, blocking me from Eugene. “I don’t want Eugene to see what’s mine. I don’t give a shit who’s trying to run this place. You’re not his.”

Lola runs up and snarls at Eugene, distracting him from us.

“I also don’t belong to you,” I say. His eyes follow the path of my tongue sweeping across my dry lips. I should have drunk some water while I was in the bathroom. It’s been a while since I’ve had any, but I refuse to ask him for anything.

He smirks down at me. “Whatever you say, Zoey. Those friends of yours in the dark can see and do whatever you want them to, but not that piece of shit behind me. Or anyone else, for that matter.”

My brow furrows. “Why?”

“Because, firecracker. I know these guys, and they’re not worthy of you.”

“But Benjamin, Cole, and Damon are?”

He tucks my hair behind my ears. “They’re willing to kill me for you. That’s something that earns my respect, which is saying a lot. I used to like Wilkes, you know? Not nearly as much as you. Of course, that all went out the window earlier today when he thought no one else was watching.”

“You’re insane.”

He chuckles and steps away from me. Then he picks up my knife and holds it out for me to take, along with my shirt. “Back to your cell. I can’t wait to hear about what you do with this next.”