When she emerges from the closet and sees the cuffs in my hand, she pauses. Her eyes flick from the cold metal and back to my face again. Fear. That’s all I see, and I know what she’s thinking. That I’m going to take advantage of her, hurt her, but I’m not.
Before I can say anything, she whirls around and rushes out of the room.
Fucking Christ. She’s halfway up the stairs when I enter the living room, and by the time I reach her, she’s screaming and beating her fists on the door as if someone is on the other side coming to let her out.
Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her to my chest and hold her tightly even as she kicks and screams.
“You said you wouldn’t hurt me. You lied! You’re a liar!” She continues to struggle against my hold. Throwing her head back, she smashes it into the side of my face, barely missing my nose. Pain lances across my cheek, and I squeeze her a little tighter. The urge to shake some sense into her is strong.
“I’m not sleeping with you!”
“You’re doing whatever I tell you to,” I snap.
When we reach the bedroom, I’m exhausted, my face hurts, and I’m fed up with her bullshit. I drop her down onto the mattress, and she does her best to crawl away from me, but she’s not fast enough. Grabbing her by the ankle, I drag her back toward me. Her hands claw against the sheets.
She flails against the mattress, trying to kick me, but I roll her over onto her back and force myself between her legs. Grabbing both hands, I press them into the mattress and move her arms so I can hold her wrists with one hand and handcuff her with the other.
Clicking the cuff into place, I release the wrist I cuffed and cuff the other one to my own wrist. The heat of her body seeps into mine. She feels perfect beneath me, even if she isn’t willing to be there.
“Please, Zane! Please, let me go! Please! I won’t tell anyone. I’ll just go back to my apartment, and we can pretend like none of this happened.” The way she says my name… I know it’s out of fear, but I want to hear her say it again.
She’s desperate to escape, to feel safe, but there is no safer place on this planet than right here with me. Tears pool in her eyes, threatening to fall. A tightness fills my chest cavity. I hate when she cries, and this time it’s worse because I’m the reason for those tears.
Looking into her eyes, I lean forward and say my next word with firmness. “I’m never letting you go, and the sooner you come to terms with that, the better things will be.”
“You can’t keep me here. Someone will wonder what happened to me. I have a job and friends.” I’m half tempted to tell her the job was given to her because of me and that I have her phone and can easily text her friends to let them know, but I don’t. I’m done with this conversation now. Easing off of her, I put as much space between us as I can.
“Crawl underneath the covers,” I order.
She tugs against the cuff instead of listening to me, and because I’m so fed up with her, I pick her up, hauling her against my chest and move us both the way I want on the mattress.
Once lying down, she tries to move away, but there is only so far she can go with us cuffed together.
“My wrist hurts.”
My chest rises and falls rapidly, anger and lust pumping through my veins.
“Stop pulling, and it won’t.”
“I don’t want to be cuffed to you.”
“I don’t want you to act out, but you continue to, so I guess neither of us got what we wanted. Now go to sleep, or I’ll find something to gag you.”
“You wouldn’t.” I can hear the shock in her voice, and because I’m an asshole and already pissed off, I feed right into her fears.
“I would, and worse yet, I would enjoy it.”
I hear her gasp and can only imagine how red her cheeks are right now. Thankfully, that shuts her up, and soon silence falls over the room. She tugs against the cuff a few more times, trying to get comfortable but eventually stops moving.
Time passes slowly, but Dove soon falls asleep. Her even breaths giving her away.
Her body gravitates toward mine in the night as if her subconscious knows what her mind doesn’t yet.
That she’s forever safe, in my arms, in my bed, and in my heart.
15
I curl up into a tight ball. Trying to make myself as small as I can, wishing I could just disappear altogether. William is next to me on the mattress, his hand tightly wrapped around mine. Our door is closed, but our foster parents are fighting so loudly, it sounds like they are in our room. The walls shake when someone slams a door shut somewhere inside the house. I jump at the noise, and William holds my hand a little bit tighter as if to tell me he’s here.
“It’s okay, don’t be scared,” he whispers into the dark room. “I won’t let him hurt you.”
Like a warm fuzzy blanket, his words settle over me, giving me warmth and shelter, I wish I could shelter him too. I wish I could protect both of us, but we’re only kids. Our foster parents are supposed to take care of us.
Heavy footfalls meet my ear. Fear trickles down my spine. Larry is coming up the stairs. Coming for us… any time he’s in the room, something bad happens. My stomach tightens with worry. A moment later, the door flies open, and my worst nightmare fills the doorframe.
The light coming from the hallway is almost completely blocked out by his body, but there is a sliver of light that casts through, allowing me to see his face.
His bloodshot eyes tell me he is drunk, no surprise there. I think he’s been out at the bar every day since I arrived, and when he isn’t there, he’s fighting with our foster mom. He sways lightly on his feet as he moves to take a step forward, an evil smile spreading across his face.
“Hey, little bird,” he slurs, stepping inside the room.
I squeeze William’s hand so tightly, it must hurt him, but he doesn’t make a sound. He, like myself, is frozen in place, knowing what’s to come.
“Come here, Dove.” He motions for me to get up, but I can’t move, my limbs are useless, petrified.
“No,” William says, his voice stern and almost… scary. To me, anyway.
“No?” Larry, our foster father, starts laughing. “Did little Will grow some balls overnight?” He shakes his head. “I said come here, Dove. I want to spend some quality father-daughter time in the other room.” He licks his lips, and my stomach churns.
“I said, no!” William growls. “You don’t touch her.”
“What are you gonna do about it, Willy boy?” Larry taunts. “I thought I already taught you a lesson. Obviously, I didn’t beat it into your head hard enough.”
Though drunk, Larry is still fast and crosses the room, coming straight for me with ease. I’m shaking so hard, all I can do is sit there and wait for the inevitable to happen. At the last second, Will lets go of my hand, and moves to stand. He’s sluggish and I know it takes a monumental amount of effort for him to move.
Pain contorts his features, and I want to tell him, no, to stop, but my tongue is too heavy, the words lodged deep in my throat, refusing to come out.
“I said, don’t touch her!” I’ve never seen or heard Will speak so violently, and a new sense of fear washes over me. What if Larry hurts him again? Just as the thought enters my mind, all hell breaks loose.