Julie was crossing through the cafeteria when she saw Brian moving through the room with intense, scary purpose. Gabe and Mina were nowhere to be found. As if he were a wild predator who’d caught the scent of something delicious, the dark-clad menace spun suddenly, his eyes locking with Julie’s.
She glanced around, hoping and praying he was looking at someone else. Anybody else. Her fingertips trailed absently over the security bracelet, reminding herself over and over that he didn’t have access to the punishment features. She wasn’t sure how a bracelet could have punishment features, but she didn’t want to find out. At the same time, she couldn’t see how someone like this guy would need a piece of technology to harm her. No one had needed it to hurt her at Dmitri’s. Unless this bracelet emitted some force field that anyone but Gabe would bounce off, she couldn’t see how she could be safe from any man who really wanted to hurt her in here.
She took several steps back, but Brian’s approach didn’t slow or falter, and now there could be no question his interest was in her. Her back hit the wall when she ran out of space, knocking a sharp, shocked breath out of her. She flinched when he reached her and smirked.
“Julie, is it?” Brian asked. He stopped mere inches from her, barely giving her the breathing room she needed.
“Y-yes?”
“You’re Gabe’s slave?”
She cringed when he said that word.
“N-no,” she stammered.
He glanced at the silver security bracelet locked around her wrist then quickly pinned her again with his hard gaze. “So you’ll be for sale then?”
Tears begin to gather in her eyes. “N-no! He said he wouldn’t do that!”
Brian continued on mildly, as if he hadn’t caused her distress. “Maybe you’d like to come to my dungeon and play with me then?”
She felt frozen to the spot. A small crowd of curious onlookers was beginning to form around them, but nobody looked interested in getting involved or trying to help her.
“I asked you a question,” he said. “Do you want to come to the dungeon to play with me?”
“I-I don’t know what you mean.” She thought she knew what he meant, but she didn’t have the specific activities list nor did she want to know it. It might be safest to play as dumb as possible.
Brian seemed to be enjoying this. He leaned in closer, his body hovering over hers. He lowered his voice. “I was wondering if you wanted to come down to the dungeon and let me chain you and whip you and fuck you. I promise you’ll never be the same.”
She shook her head quickly. “N-no… I… I mean Gabe wouldn’t like...”
“If you aren’t his slave, Gabe doesn’t care. Trust me.”
A throat cleared behind them. “Brian, what the fuck?” Gabe said. He sounded resigned and annoyed. Not quite the angry, gallant rescue she might have hoped for.
Brian chuckled and backed off. “You know I’m gonna try.”
“Well don’t. How would you feel if I’d done that to Mina when she got here?”
“Mina’s different.”
“Not as different as you think. Look again.”
Brian slowly turned back to Julie. He looked at her for a long time, his eyes locked unnervingly with hers, as if he were trying to uncover the deep dark layers of the things that haunted the inside of her brain. After a moment he seemed to see something he hadn’t seen before. And then he flinched.
“Oh,” was all he said, and then he turned and walked away more quickly than he’d approached.
Julie looked at her shoes. She was beginning to hate this pattern of Gabe rescuing her, because the more he did it the less she knew how she was supposed to act toward him and the more she felt she owed him. Surely he was keeping score as well.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, still unable to meet his eyes. “I’m fine.”
“I think you should go to your room and lie down for a bit. Take a nice nap. Maybe a hot bath. You’ll feel better. I’ll have Phyllis send up some tea.”
“O-okay.” She slipped past him as quickly as possible and went up to her room wondering about the things Gabe had said about Mina. Like she and Mina could be similar? How? Mina was strong and intimidating. Julie jumped at her own shadow these days. She didn’t see the resemblance between them at all.
35
Gabe ordered the tea then followed behind Julie, careful to stay far enough back to avoid spooking her. He didn’t want her to think he was stalking her all over the house. With the things she’d been through, such behavior wouldn’t court her trust.
She wouldn’t have to be spooked at all if he’d kept a better eye on Brian. When he’d spoken with Brian and Mina about the cleanup job at Dmitri’s, they seemed more than happy to accept. But then, Gabe hadn’t expected anything less. Brian was a sadist with a bit of a killing streak. Dangerous, but able to be trained and pointed in the direction they needed when certain unpleasant things had to be done.
Gabe had tried to argue for the right to go on the job with them, but was shot down. They didn’t want to have to train him or worry about an extra inexperienced person. They were right, of course. Gabe might have had the fantasy of going in, guns blazing, and having the personal satisfaction of killing Dmitri for what had been done to Julie, but his fantasy was unlikely to match the reality. If he wanted it done and done right, he needed to stay out of it and let Brian and Mina take care of it. This was about Julie after all, not his own ego gratification.
Brian had wandered off while Gabe was talking to Mina. Gabe wanted to make sure they would get the girls out safely. Though Brian generally didn’t hurt innocent people unless it was a girl who had misbehaved at the house, but Gabe still wanted to make sure things were very clear with Mina. Afterward, he’d excused himself. He suspected Brian might go after Julie to test the waters and the limits of Gabe’s attachment to her. And he was right.
Gabe couldn’t even be that mad. It was Brian. He couldn’t help himself. Mina had softened some of his edges but he was still the borderline sociopath they all loved to hate.
But Brian had looked haunted when he’d really taken a good look into Julie’s eyes. Gabe knew Brian would see it… would see Mina in there. Despite his many flaws, Brian was observant. Very little got past him.
Gabe could only guess at the things Mina had been through, and likewise Brian would only guess at Julie’s history, but at least now he might tolerate her in the house and stay away. Gabe didn’t want to admit it, but he’d developed a grudging respect, maybe even something friendship adjacent when it came to Brian. Watching how he’d cared for Mina changed a lot about what Gabe had thought he’d known about the man.
Gabe slipped into the room next to Julie’s and turned on the flat screen panel on the wall. Her image came into focus, crisp and clean. That girl slept like a rock, which was crazy given her recent captivity. He had wired her room up the previous night when he’d woken from a nightmare involving her. The surveillance was the same as the set up in the rest of the house, but he’d redirected the feed back to his current room. This was creepy as fuck. He knew it was creepy as fuck, but he wanted to watch over her and make sure she was okay. Keep telling yourself that. Keep telling yourself you aren’t trying to get a glimpse of her naked because you think stealth or force is the only way you’ll see it.