I know if I miss or don’t knock him out that I’ll be screwed. There is no coming back from this, but the other option is worse. It forces me to stay here with a man who is what real monsters are made of, and I can’t do that. Wiping my clammy palms against the front of my yoga pants, I walk up to the weight rack and grab a fifteen-pound dumbbell. It should do the job. Nervously, I do my best not to trip or startle Zane as I edge closer to him.
You can do it. For one brief second, I contemplate putting the weight back and walking away. I’m not the type to hurt someone, and this is going to do some damage. It’s going to rip me apart on the inside. I just don’t see a way around it. It’s him or me, and I have to save myself.
The muscles in my stomach tighten as I lift the weight above my head. Closing my eyes—because I can’t look at this—I bring it down in an arch motion. Flinching when the heavy weight makes contact, and his body crashes to the floor with a thud. I lift the weight again, aiming for the back of his head, probably what I should’ve aimed for to begin with.
Except as I lift the weight above my head, Zane rolls over and pushes up onto his feet with lightning speed. Fear grips onto me, causing me to freeze. The dark shadow that casts on his face is terrifying. Zane might care about me, might be obsessed, but right now, all I see is a man who wants to hurt me. My lungs shrivel up, and my throat tightens. It feels like I’m suffocating, and he hasn’t even touched me yet.
He’s going to kill me.
“You just don’t know when to quit, do you?” His lip curls with fury, and he tugs the weight out of my hand, tossing it to the floor behind him like it’s nothing.
I’m going to die. I can feel it. He’s looking at me with murder in his eyes, and I have nowhere to go, no way to escape him. I swallow down the scream building in my throat as he lunges for me, his nostrils flaring like a bull.
Lifting me, he tosses me over his shoulder. I land harshly, and it takes me about a half-second before I start pounding on his back and kicking my feet.
“Keep fighting me, Dove. It makes my cock hard feeling you struggle, and we both know how badly you want me.”
“Let me go! I hate you. I hate you, and I will never let you touch me again. Never.” I’m screaming the words now, my voice cracking from fear and anger.
Before I can grasp onto my bearings, Zane is doing just that, letting me go, but my relief is short-lived when I’m tossed onto the mattress like a rag doll.
His firm body blankets mine in an instant, and I try to move away, but he holds me in place, his fingers digging into the flesh at my hip. “You want me to treat you the way I treat everyone else? You don’t want my kindness? Because that’s all I’ve given you so far. You still fight me and try to escape. I’m doing all of this to protect you, but you don’t see that. You don’t see that the biggest monster isn’t me but someone else. Why can’t you see the truth?”
Like a wounded animal in the clutches of a predator, I twist my body and kick my legs, hoping to land a jab against him. Zane is skilled though and stops my assaults before they can even get started by pressing me deeper into the mattress.
My breaths are coming out in pants, and it’s almost like I’m suffocating. Choking on the fear. The weight of his body is all I can feel. His hard cock is against my stomach, and I think I’m going to be sick. Bile rises in my throat.
Fight. Fight! Digging deep inside myself, I lash out. I catch him right across the face with my hand and drag my nails down across his nose and cheek, leaving deep gouges.
“Fuck!” He takes both of my wrists into one hand and pressing them to my chest. Once he has me trapped, I can hardly move, let alone breathe. When he leans into my face, all I see is the devil looking down at me.
The look in his eyes is pure violence. It promises pain, suffering, agony. This isn’t the Zane I’ve come to know. This is the obsessed man who kills without thought, who will do anything to keep me where he wants me.
“You really shouldn’t have done that, Dove.”
No. This isn’t happening. All of a sudden, this has gotten real. His body against mine. His rock hard cock. The searing heat bubbling between our two bodies. Hate and lust mingle together.
“Please. You don’t have to do this. I’m sorry…”
“Oh, I do… I have to teach you a lesson. I need to show you what you don’t want to admit. We belong together, and it’s time I prove it to you.”
He let’s go of my wrists and starts ripping off my clothes. Fabric tears and cool air kisses my skin as my bra and shirt are ripped from my body. I’m trembling with fear, but still try to shove against his chest as hard as I can to escape. There is no point though. I can’t move him. He’s a steel wall, cold and impenetrable.
Snatching my wrists once more, he pins them above my head this time. With his free hand, he reaches into the drawer beside the bed and pulls out the handcuffs he used on me before. A moment later, the cool metal is fastened around my wrist, and the other end fastened to the headboard. He pulls out another pair and does the same to the other hand.
“Please…” I whimper, but even I know that the time for begging has passed. I’ve dug my own grave, and now I’m going to have to lie in it. “You said you would never hurt me!”
“Shut up,” Zane growls as he makes quick work of my pants, pulling them down right along with my panties, leaving me completely bare to him. “You’ve tried to kill me. How the hell do you think you would have gotten out of here without me? You don’t have the code for the door. You would have died in here!”
My whole body is shaking, my fear only intensifying as he strips out of his clothes. His very hard, very angry cock comes into view, and my fear reaches new heights. It’s so big, the veins bulging out on it, visibly throbbing.
I didn’t think that I would lose my virginity in such a savage way, taken from me without mercy, but there isn’t anything I can do to stop him.
“Is this what you wanted?” He stares down at me. “Did you want me so angry that I take from you? That I take the choice from you, so you don’t have to admit that you want this?”
“I hate you,” I lie. I should, but I can’t, even now. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to shut the world out.
“You try to hate me, but we both know you truly don’t. You can’t, we are too connected, whether you like it or not. We belong together, and I’m about to show you how much.” His lips brush against mine, and I move against him on instinct, seeking out his comfort even with the threat of him hurting me.
“Open your eyes and look at me as I take you. Feel every inch of my cock as I sink deep inside you.” The head of his cock brushes against my entrance, and I freeze, my entire body shutting down. I tell myself to stop feeling. Tears escape my eyes and slide down the sides of my cheeks. I can’t breathe. I can’t swallow. I feel cold all over, broken and scared, so scared. He’s going to hurt me after he told me he wouldn’t, he’s going to. I don’t understand why that matters so much at the moment. His words don’t mean shit, not after what he’s done to me, but deep down, I know that’s a lie.
They mean everything…
A pained cry fills the room. It takes a moment to realize that it came from me. I made that sound. Zane’s body freezes above mine, but I still don’t open my eyes. I can’t. I do want this, but not like this. I don’t want to be a victim of his rage and anger.